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NEWS
Volvo Fuel Challenge winners
Australia’s most fuel efficient drivers off to the finals in SwedenThe 2017 Volvo Drivers’ Fuel Challenge has found champions in both on and off-road categories, and both are off to the World Finals in Gothenburg, this September.
Held on July 20-21 at Mount Cotton Training Centre, the Fuel Challenge tested skills on the road with a prime mover and single trailer, and off-road with a rigid tipper.
The winner of the on-road category was Tasmanian Kerri Connors of Caltas, while the off-road title was claimed by Cameron Simpson of Simpson’s Fuel in Victoria.
“Both drivers can be extremely proud of their achievement,” said Mitch Peden, Vice President of Volvo Trucks Australia. “Not least because we think this competition was tougher than usual because of the way we selected the competitors.”
Over the two days, the competition was whittled down from 17 drivers in the semi-final, to nine drivers in the final.
“Highlighting the huge impact every driver has on a company’s fuel consumption, out of the nine drivers in the final, Kerri completed the challenging on-road course using 7.8 per cent less fuel than the least efficient driver in this year’s final, and keeping in mind these are the best of the best,” said Peden. “In a real-world scenario, that equates to massive savings for operators.”
This year, Volvo Trucks identified the competitors using the powerful data of Dynafleet. Instead of running a series of heats around the country, Volvo Trucks compared the Dynafleet scores to identify the nation’s best performing drivers.
“All competitors had consistently demonstrated fuel-efficiency while driving fully-laden trucks on genuine commercial journeys,” said Peden. “Consistency like that over months is a lot harder to achieve than getting lucky on a single day.”
Analysing the data from Dynafleet made it clear that some drivers were using far less fuel than others to take the same load over the same journey. Speed, engine and gear use, anticipation and braking, and idle time are all contributing factors for fuel efficient driving, which was difficult on the challenging Mt Cotton circuits.
“Some may call it a coincidence, but both winners in this year’s competition have received training in the past by Volvo’s expert Product Trainers,” said Mitch Peden. “Which shows how much of an advantage operators can get with some driver training.”
“We’re very proud of the achievement of Kerri Connors and Cameron Simpson, and we’re looking forward to seeing them represent Australia in the final in Gothenburg, Sweden in September.”
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Written byTrucksales Staff
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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