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Charlotte Haye 8th March 2017

4 Small Ways To Save Fuel In Your HGV

Fuel efficiency is fast becoming one of the most important factors in modern road transport. Even in the age of electric cars and hyper-efficient engines, fuel is still a number 1 concern for professional drivers, particularly as fuel prices keep creeping higher and higher. But unless your company has decided to equip your HGV with the latest aerodynamic kit, the fuel efficiency of your journeys is largely down to you as a driver. So this month, we bring you a few tips to help you make the most of your fuel and save some pennies in the process.

Master Block Changing

Block changing gears is one of those things that we sometimes do without thinking about it, but we don’t do it nearly enough. It is essentially the practice of missing out the gears that aren’t relevant to the speed you’re travelling at. So instead of working linearly up or down the gears, you miss some out and skip straight to the gear you need to be in. So you might skip from second to fourth, or down from fifth to third. Studies have shown that drivers who block change gears, particularly when moving up, save more on fuel than those who change gears linearly. This is because your engine isn’t having to work harder to get through unnecessary gears, reducing the revs and saving money on fuel. It also means your hands spend more time on the wheel than on the gearstick, which is an advantage for safety.

Hit Cruise Control

Most modern vehicles will come with cruise control capability built in, which means there is no excuse not to utilise it. Cruise control helps keep your vehicle at a constant speed, reducing unnecessary revs, acceleration and braking. Every time you press the accelerator, even lightly, uses a little more fuel, and tiny fluctuations in the movement of your feet can unwittingly cause these unnecessary revs. Over a long journey, this lack of acceleration can save you a huge amount of fuel.

Harnessing Resistance

Resistance is one of those things that every driver comes across, and the bigger your vehicle the more you encounter. When you’re carrying heavy loads over long distances, the resistance form the air, gradient and rolling-resistance means you end up using more fuel to propel your HGV forward. While this is a difficult thing to combat, there are a few changes that will help reduce the impact. Choosing less hilly routes is always a good start, as this will reduce gradient resistance. Invest in a complete set of low-rolling resistance tyres for your HGV to combat that, and keep them fully inflated at all times. These specialist tyres can lead to fuel savings of up to 6%, but every drop in 10 psi reduces that efficiency by 1%.

Don’t Stand Idle

It’s a very tempting thing during the winter months to leave your engine idling so that the heater stays on as you take a quick break, or to keep it going so you have something to listen to. But every minute you spend idling your HGV engine is money you are just throwing away. Research has been done into the fuel consumption rate of idling engines, and the results are quite starling. For example, a standard 420HP engine will consume fuel at a rate of 2 litres per hour when stationary and idling.

For HGV drivers, there are many things that would help improve your fuel efficiency, but most of them are expensive and time consuming to do. These simple tips will help you save money on fuel over long haul journeys through minor changes to your driving style, instead of spending a lot of money on aerodynamic bodies. If you have any tips we haven’t included here, we’d love to hear them! Leave us a comment or get in touch with one of our team today.

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