Feature: Volvo Fuel Challenge

Fuel economy competitions have become commonplace, driven mainly by European manufacturers where reduced fuel burn has become necessary for two reasons.

Firstly, selling trucks to clients with a significant potential for increased fuel economy is part of modern corporate business and marketing plans. It has become obvious that a close partnership between the manufacturer and the fleet owner is necessary to work on the last big cost variable – the driver's right foot.

The second reason is perhaps causing European manufacturers in particular to focus on fuel burn. In Europe the industry is heading full tilt towards the next step of 'clean' fuel burning with significant reductions in carbon output looming – the 2020 goals.

At this stage there is only one further practical method of reducing carbon with traditional fossil fuels, and that is to reduce the fuel burn. And so the European manufacturers are jockeying into position to meet these targets with today's fuel-efficient trucks.

LIGHT-FOOT OR LEAD-FOOT?
Volvo Trucks Australia recently staged its fourth Australian Drivers' Fuel Challenge, with the finals held at the Australian Automotive Research Centre at Anglesea in Victoria on Friday, June 12. Six winners out of a pool of more than 100 competitors Australia-wide were brought together to battle out the light-foot stakes to determine Australia's most fuel-efficient driver.

At Anglesea, drivers were given two runs over an 11 kilometre track, using two Volvo FH 540 trucks hooked up to loaded trailers. The first run was analysed by Volvo's telematics technician and the fuel coaches. Feedback on the results was given to the drivers. Then, armed with refreshed or additional knowledge, the drivers had a crack at the second lap.

The day was spent with drivers taking the trucks on the circuit, each accompanied by a Volvo adjudicator. The trucks were driven for maximum fuel economy while maintaining enough speed to complete the circuit in the required 15 minutes.

As a sidelight to the day, six of the country's truck-driving transport journalists were invited to participate in their own competition, providing an insight into what the Challenge entails.

For my sins my name was the first out of the hat, meaning I had to break the ice for the day with the first drive by journos or the serious competitors. I kept my foot light of course, driving as I might in normal road conditions. Coming home, completing the 11 kilometres in 14 minutes, yes – I reckon I did pretty good!

But apparently not good enough. When the results were sorted out via Volvo’s telematics it seemed I was coming stone motherless last, recording 53.8L/100km. Definitely not good enough!

Volvo Safety and Fuel Coach Paul Munro (pictured, yellow safety vest, with author) pointed out, without any sensitivity for my feelings, that the difference between the best and the worst (me) was an extra litre burned on the short lap.

"One driver used one litre more fuel than the best," he said, skewering me with his steely blues.

"That would be 100 litres over 1000 kilometres, which is at least $150. That could be a factor in whether a fleet makes a profit or not."

BIG BUCKS
The math was rolling in my head: 20,000 litres in an average year's driving. Perhaps costing $30,000 more than the best driver. I had to do something about it – where is this Munro bloke?

"We can give every driver the skills and the knowledge and they can demonstrate they can carry out these skills, but their attitude determines whether they use them back in the truck under everyday conditions," he said.

"It’s attitude, it's all about attitude. That’s the biggest issue."

He tells me that using more revs than necessary is common, as is underutilising the technology with which Volvo trucks are equipped.

"Volvo trucks are highly intelligent vehicles with a selection of features and benefits," he said.

"Some drivers seem to think they can drive better. We've got engineers that spend a lot of time setting rpm ranges and such things yet drivers still think they are smarter. Not every driver. A lot of drivers now are adjusting their habits to using the electronics and the smarts of the Volvo."

So what are these 'smarts'? I listened to Munro. I listened to the other drivers talking, veterans of these economy competitions.

An important element in improving economy is allowing the momentum of the truck to do a lot of the work. Foot off the throttle, just coast. I dragged out the screwed-up printout of my morning's effort. I spent 20 per cent of the drive coasting – not a good result, I was told without sympathy.

Scratching up an I-Shift automatic transmission brochure on the iPhone, I found Eco-Roll, a feature of the truck's 'smarts' that uses the truck's motion, or kinetic energy, to make the vehicle more efficient when running in hilly conditions with a possible saving of up to two per cent in fuel usage.

With this function the transmission disengages the engine when I-Shift is in auto and the driver's foot is off the throttle – sort of like a safe version of running in angel gear. This is what they are all calling I-Roll.

And coasting is doing just that, using the truck's mass and speed to carry it wherever possible. Take the foot off the throttle before reaching a peak so the momentum carries the truck over and allows gravity to accelerate the vehicle back up to road speed on the other side.

Click here to read more about the many technologically advanced systems found in the latest crop of Volvo trucks, which was unveiled last year.

ROUND TWO
After lunch it's time for the final round. This time I'm last out of the shute. Talk about feathering the throttle; I regress to the old pre-OH&S days and take my right boot off. Driving with bare feet is my natural environment – I'll show 'em feathering the throttle!

With Volvo Coach Craig Pareezer as the adjudicator, I pull the I-Shift lever towards me, straight through the auto position into manual. I ease the truck around the corner and the revs are building. Too much. Bloody thing's not changing gear. I look at the shift lever, curse and push it one notch up into auto. The truck starts behaving but I've made my first mistake and haven't gone a hundred metres.

The first leg is a five per cent descent. I let momentum carry me over the lip before the drop by taking my foot off the throttle. It's in I-Roll. I use the engine brake in position ‘3’ only when I need it. 'No fuel is being burned while the engine brake is working,' echo Paul Munro's words in my mind.

Through the hills, I sweep around the give-way sign onto the track. The stop sign is a good five or six hundred metres ahead; I take my foot off the throttle and let it coast in I-Roll, so I crawl up to the stop sign at walking speed and it needs only a touch of the brake for a full stop.

Pull out onto the main track and ease the speed up to 60, 70, 75km/h. A 40km/h speed section is 500 hundred metres ahead. Let it cruise and decelerate up the slight climb, then through the speed zone and build up and swing around for the final lap.

With a powerful, modern European truck with a GCM of probably only 36 or so tonnes, it's hard to tell the pulls and the drops on a road you don't know, but I try to use gravity. And once more ahead is the 40km/h zone and the end of the run. I take my foot off the throttle and let the thing roll. It slows. And slows. I wonder if it will make it. It crawls into the witches hats at a walking pace.

This type of driving is a little alien to me: it's more about the competition than getting the load through. I finished the course in the same speed that I had completed round one.

Through the afternoon the 'real' drivers took the trucks around the same course. The competition was friendly but there was no doubting the presence of the will to win. The cold evening rolled in, a cool wind whipping off Bass Strait.

WINNERS' CIRCLE
At the awards dinner the winners were crowned. Scott Chandler (pictured, with Volvo Trucks Australia Vice President – Sales, Mitch Peden) of Brisbane's Connect Trading Transport won the event and is travelling to Thailand for the Asia-Pacific finals. Anthony Mansell of Newcastle-based AJM Transport came in second with Glen Goldthorpe (Caltex) third, each winning Caltex fuel vouchers and Michelin tyres.

Steve Wastell of Brisbane's Blu Logistics was the most improved competition driver between the first and second rounds, with an efficiency improvement of 16 per cent.

Me? Yeah, I picked up most improved driver with a 20 per cent improvement between circuit one and two. And from my 20 per cent coasting time in round one, I picked up the most coasting time in round two with a significant improvement. Something must have sunk in.

In spite of the difference between driving for competition and out in the real world, Volvo's Drivers' Fuel Challenge performs an important service, raising awareness of driving for economy, learning skills that are portable and can be taken out on the highway. And, perhaps, this is a glimpse into the future of truck driving in the 2020s – when carbon emissions have been drastically reduced by law from today's levels.