A Midlands truck dealer is helping customers to make substantial savings on fuel with a free driving styles programme for its customers.
Greenhous Commercials (in Wolverhampton) (in Shrewsbury) supplies and maintains fleets of DAF trucks for hauliers and firms right across the region. It created this initiative - which makes drivers aware of techniques to achieve the best economy from their vehicles - in response to a customer request.
The company's Service Director, Wayne Fletcher, explained: "The latest generation of truck engines are generally more powerful at lower revs than older ones. This means drivers can be more gentle with their engines to achieve the similar performance, at the same time as saving fuel.
"Greenhous provides familiarisation and driving style instruction at the handover of every new vehicle, but since any particular vehicle will most likely have several drivers, the benefit may not reach all of them. It is these drivers who we are trying to reach with this extra training.
BBC Science & Environment Correspondent Dr David Gregory was one of the first to undergo driving style training for BBC Midlands Today, the regional TV news programme. The test vehicle was an empty 7.5 tonne DAF LF truck driven around a shot test route on urban roads. Driving as he would his car, the truck was returning 16.1 mpg. Following instruction from a Greenhous trainer, David's refined driving style showed an improvement to 20.2 mpg. Around a 20 per cent improvement.
Wayne Fletcher said: "David clearly enjoyed his time behind the wheel, and achieved a more substantial saving than we would normally expect. He declared that he didn't intend to 'carry on trucking' but said it was clear to see how driving styles can heavily influence fuel economy.
Greenhous customers can benefit from this free training by contacting their service department at either Shrewsbury or Wolverhampton.
ENDS
Caption: BBC Science & Environment Correspondent Dr David Gregory (centre) interviews Wayne Fletcher.
Caption: BBC Science & Environment Correspondent Dr David Gregory at the wheel of a DAF LF truck for the first time.
Editors Notes
Every litre of diesel used releases 2.6304kg of CO2 regardless of how it is consumed (source DEFRA)
In properly managed and maintained truck fleets, the biggest influence on fuel consumption is the driver
Driving style can affect fuel consumption by up to 10%
Individual maintenance factors can also influence consumption by up to 10%, but since all commercial vehicles should be inspected/serviced every 6 weeks (according to hauliers operators licence), there is little opportunity for maintenance to affect things for long.
Greenhous Commercials (Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury), independent van and truck dealer provides familiarisation and driving style instruction at the handover of all new vehicles, but one vehicle can have many drivers.
Greenhous has extended the offer of FREE driver re-familiarisation to all of its service customers in an effort to help them economise.
New commercial vehicles have to comply with Euro 4 regulations, a phased reduction of emissions since 1988. Next phase is 2009. 2013 phase will be huge leap in reductions.
Emissions are reduced by engineering advancements within the engine and through chemical treatment of exhaust gasses with AdBlue.
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