Question:Are financial rewards most effective of all?Answer:There are of course good arguments for a clear scheme rewarding savings 1:1 with money. However if your service quality lives from the team spirit the so called extrinsic motivation might act negatively on it. The second problem with pure financial rewarding is that sometimes it is seen as part of the standard payroll. Therefore we recommend blending with so called intrinsic motivation, offering recognition for co-operation.RECODRIVE has worked out more detailed guideline for rewarding and recognition schemes, please mail to G. Cebrat, FGM Do you
Question:Today's vehicles have very low air resistance, so does it no longer matter what speed I go?Answer:Passenger cars:You are right, the drag at a given velocity is lower for sport cars with low height, pushing the point of equal rolling resistance and air drag to higher velocities. So the air drag not only refers to the aerodynamic drag coefficient but also the cross-sectional area. If you mount low rolling resistance tires or switch from 4WD to 2WD this point moves backward. You have also to account for acceleration power demand. Faster cars are often heavier to make them safer and they have bigger engines adding to weight and inefficiency. So a low air drag coefficient is a possibility go for higher velocities at the same fuel efficiency in theory only. In reality sports cars are not build to save fuel. Anyhow we recommend 110-120 km/h for trunk roads. This way you also may react in time to preceding events avoiding wasting energy by braking. Cargo Vans and Trucks The acceleration force is higher because of the load. However the given maximal length leads to very in-aerodynamic designs in Europe. This leads to a bad drag coefficient. Deflectors on the cabin are only a mild repair but nevertheless may help, but lower velocities save much more. For trucks with the possibility to reduce the cross-sectional area-try to do so. Do you
Question:I want to go further modding my vehicle so it consumes less. What can I do?Answer:In principle you have to check whether changes are violating the homologation. You can so far only use parts which have the ok from the car manufacturer. But the ideas are manifold.Passenger cars You may replace engine hood or other hull parts by aluminium duplicates. You may remove rear seats saving weight. You may cover the rims evenly (not if you need heavy cooling of the brakes) , cover the gap of unused doors and mount vortex generators on the roof reducing air drag. Last but not least you may exchange your engine with a smaller one, covering the unneeded air cooler intakes and mount air baffles under the engine. When mounting baffles please check whether the measures put your safety at risk. This concerns cooling of brakes, engine and exhaust system. Cargo vans and trucks Carrying around unused packaging and load fastening material is adding to the fuel consumption. You might remove that easily. The easiest way to improve mileage is to improve the trucks aerodynamics. Here there are many possibilities:
Do you
Question:I have heard that accelerating starting from low RPM damages the bearings,is this true?Answer:Passenger carsIf you drive more with the first gear (which may be dimensioned for less than 100 hours) this might damage the gearbox more than using higher torque at lower RPM. In the old days spark ignition engines did stall- that was the only problem - newer engines have an electronic motor management avoiding any conditions damaging the engine. Of course you shall not alter the setting of the chip by reprogramming it since this help you then to exceed the allowed conditions. Vans and trucks Low RPM is not really an issue for diesel powered vehicles since they are dimensioned for that. If you want to care about the vehicle, avoid abrupt load changes. If you skip gears when accelerating in the recommended pace, you might change the order to wear all of them equally e.g. 1-3-5... and 1-2-4.. Do you
Question:Is there a weakening of the savings with time, which needs dynamic/adaptive targets?Answer:The question contains two interesting topics:First of all it is true that the savings which are seen shortly after the test training on a track separated from traffic are unique. Therefore the training should be in real traffic. Secondly the dynamic targets are problematic, since you lower the potential rewards for the staff. If you introduce adapting targets, which you should do for sure if the vehicles change, you should monitor the standard deviation of the fuel consumption in the fleet. A smaller standard deviation means that the rewards per saving should be higher in order not to frustrate the staff. It is of utmost importance giving everybody a fair chance to profit from the rewarding scheme. Do you
Question:Is there a higher consumption with smaller cars when used on motor ways?Answer:Passenger CarsThis question may arise when checking fuel consumption against the new European driving cycle NEDC. Unfortunately the existing ECE figures are not of very accurate for modern driving styles ending at 120 km/h and therefore very small vehicles may have higher figures in the NEDC. But Ecodriving is a holistic approach - you buy a car with adequate power and adapt your driving style accordingly. So you will never run into a situation where you consume more than a car with more powerful engine. You will operate the engine near its best point and refrain from speeding. This saves also because of the reduced drag. To conclude this means that most of the taxis operating in cities only with max. velocities of 60 km/h and may be 100 km/h on the way to the airport need less power compared to a typical family car. When reducing the power of course the taxi having a smaller engine then should not be operated on trunk roads pushing it to 130 km/h. Cargo Vans and Trucks The demand is very different with empty or fully loaded vehicles. It certainly makes sense having tractors with different power and use them adequately for the jobs. But the area of high efficiency is broader with diesel engines, so less problems are to be expected compared to spark ignition engines with cars. Do you
Question:How to determine the most important factor?Answer:The Answer is "Multivariant Analysis". The problem with it is that you either need very similar conditions when comparing the standard with the improved settings or you need a big sample. Variance, accuracy and sample size are depending on each other. So we give some examples:
For trucking logistics tops all in terms of savings. Do you
Question:Is is possible to surpass 10% fuel savings?Answer:The savings comprise vehicle performance, logistics (vehicle use), driving behaviour and vehicle maintenance and of course and enforcement or rewarding and recognition schemes. The better your fleet management with regards to the above listed topics the lower the savings if you introduce additional measures. Instead of benchmarking savings it makes sense to compare the consumption with others running their vehicles in similar environments.If you are starting with ecodriving you might save 7% with changing drivers behaviour only if rewarding and recognition is in place. To reach 10% some compromise in the procurement is necessary. It is important that fuel consumption is included twice in the evaluation scheme of the tenders. Firstly it is contributing to a better fuel economy and secondly better performance adds to a positive company face. It is of course necessary to make this visible. Aerodynamic modifications may serve as eye catcher to trigger that. Is is possible to surpass 10% fuel savings?
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Beyond eco-driving - fuel savings multiply when fleet management meets eco-driving for all kinds of fleets