Trucking company gives away new cars to drivers who can get ~10 MPG

[MetroMPG]

Spoiler alert: the prize given away each quarter is a new Nissan Versa. I hope they at least give away the manual transmission version.

Mario Enriquez averaged 9.74 miles per gallon from February to April in an International ProStar... For that, his employer, Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT), awarded him a Nissan Versa compact car. Enriquez wasn't even the best of the company's drivers in the latest quarter, but no driver is allowed to win more than once and all those ahead of him were previous winners.

You can tell the really good drivers have already won, because Enriquez says there's no real trick to getting good mileage. "Just take it easy."

Here's the REALLY interesting part of the story though: the company's trucks are governed to 62 mph...

...but any driver who gets over 8 miles per gallon is allowed to go up to 65 miles per hour.

Neat incentive!

Full article: FEATURE-Truckers' secret to fuel efficiency: take it easy | Reuters

[BabyDiesel]

It is a great thing to see a trucking company taking such an incentive in order to boost fuel efficiency!

I was asking my daddy what kind of FE he gets when hauling a full load of sweet potatoes or tobacco. He said around 6. Assuming 6 mpg is typical of these trucks, this company is saving over 60% in fuel cost!

At 10,000 miles/month, the savings of 6 to 10 mpg @ $3.50 fuel cost is $2,333.33/month! It would not take long for a Versa to be paid off.

[gone-ot]

The USArmy Condor instrumentation van I drove from Yuma, AZ, to Fayetteville, NC, got only 6 mpg (at 55 mph)...but it also had 300 gallon fuel tank capacity! The HUGE tank was there to feed the Onan generator which powered all the instrumentation electronics at 'remote' locations for long periods.

[Xist]

Someone posted on Reddit that the gun trucks we drove in Afghanistan only got 2 MPG. When I learned how to operate my fuel truck, we were told that it had a range of 600 miles on its 300-gallon tank--then we would need to refill from our 2,500-gallon tank. Gun trucks were big, I just did not understand why they would get the same mileage as cargo trucks, which were far larger.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Xist

Someone posted on Reddit that the gun trucks we drove in Afghanistan only got 2 MPG. When I learned how to operate my fuel truck, we were told that it had a range of 600 miles on its 300-gallon tank--then we would need to refill from our 2,500-gallon tank. Gun trucks were big, I just did not understand why they would get the same mileage as cargo trucks, which were far larger.

600hp of 2 stroke superturbocharged 8 wheel drive lockers on sand with 50,000lbs doesn't do too well.

Ah well.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

But are the trucks of this company somehow tuned for higher efficiency? A jump from 6 to 10 MPG doesn't seem that easily achievable.

[Miller88]

The trailers have some sort of aero modifications and the trucks are limited to a lower top speed. They probably have taller gearing and low output engines.

[niky]

That's pure genius.

Nice to see companies tackling the "nut-behind-the-wheel".

[dirtydave]

I wonder how much money the driver is losing driving less miles a day.

did the driver lower his cruising speed?
does he have a scangauge?
it is hard not to floor it when you have a deadline. leaving early is not always an option.

massive money to be made if you get a 500 mile load bill out 6mpg and get 9mpg.

that is what my brother is planning to do soon with a lease owner operator program.

[Baltothewolf]

MVT is a company based out of Las Crucis iirc. They have extensive aero mods, trailer tail, side skirts, moon disks, single wide tires, and more. They save over 1 million gallons of diesel a year combined throughout the fleet due to all the aero mods.