Improve efficiency in just one day

Drivers who are trained to drive efficiently not only save their businesses money, they’re safer and happier too. The Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving New Zealand (SAFED NZ) is a comprehensive one-day driver training scheme for heavy vehicle drivers. You can train drivers in-house or use external driver trainers.

Lower carbon means lower speeds

Control fuel consumption by adopting a no-speeding culture. Set a clear expectation for everyone – not just drivers but managers and dispatch staff too.

  • Tell drivers not to speed. Use staff meetings and posters in the lunch room or dispatch offices to remind both drivers and dispatch.
  • If your vehicles have GPS or other tracking technology, monitor speeding events and give drivers feedback. Reward the group for significant progress.
  • Use speed limiters.
  • Take pressure off drivers by looking for other ways to save time, such as route planning software or more efficient loading and unloading.
  • Work with clients to get flexibility in arrival times. Call ahead to alert a customer to a delay so the driver can focus on driving safely instead of watching the clock.

Reducing peak speed by just 8 km/h saves 10-15% in fuel consumption.

The future of trucks | OECD, 2017

Keep it smooth

A heavy vehicle uses 20% less energy to move at 90 km/h than 100 km/h. So drivers save more fuel and emissions by maintaining an average speed, rather than speeding up and braking.

Drivers often feel less tired and stressed when they reduce sudden stops and starts – and even report savings in trip time.

Improve your driving style(external link)

Stopped for 3 minutes? Switch off

An idling diesel heavy vehicle uses 2 litres of fuel an hour. By cutting idling you can save up to 5% of your fuel bill – it could be worth thousands of dollars a year.

Modern diesel engines only need to idle while air pressure builds up. It makes sense to leave the engine running for short stops – but if a driver expects to park for more than 3 minutes, just switch off.

Use telematics to reduce idle time

The average idle time of a vehicle is 25% of its overall operation time per day, with heavy equipment and plant seeing up to 40% of their time idling.

IPWEA, 2017

Fill up with biofuels

Sustainably produced biofuels produce fewer net greenhouse gas emissions than diesel or petrol.

All diesel vehicles can safely use B5, which has 5% biodiesel, and many can use a 7% blend (B7). Buses and trucks can use higher blends such as B20 and up to B100 (100% biodiesel), if a few simple steps are followed.

You can switch between biodiesel blends and regular diesel at any time – it’s no problem to mix them in your tank.

Biofuel

Shut cab windows on the motorway

Opening cab windows at higher speeds causes drag that can increase fuel consumption by as much as 7%. Air conditioning has no significant impact on heavy vehicle fuel economy, so it’s the more efficient way to keep cool on the motorway.