Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/187653
BUSINESS Topping 10 mpg A former Trucker of the Year blends driving strategy and special equipment on a fuel-efficiency test run By JACK ROBERTS A re we about to pass the 10-mileper-gallon threshold in longhaul trucking? Owner-operator Henry Albert certainly thinks so. Albert, owner of Albert Transport out of Mooresville, N.C., is a member of Freightliner Trucks' Team Run Smart. These are five drivers who each represent a positive aspect of the owneroperator business and lifestyle. The Team Smart role for Albert, Overdrive's 2007 Trucker of the Year, is proving and promoting Freightliner's fuel-efficient heavy trucks. A big part of that involves the new Cascadia Evolution Albert's been driving since November. In late August, Albert and I left Overdrive's headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Ala., bound for the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. Albert was scheduled there to show his highly aerodynamic tractor-trailer and spread the word about it. My goal in riding with Albert was to verify that he was getting 10 mpg in his daily operations. As it turned out, he's not. He's actually getting 11 mpg. Or at least he did on our run, with a final tally of 11.2 mpg. Pretty impressive, considering our GVWR of about 62,500 pounds. On a day when everything's going right , Albert's getting 12 mpg or better. On bad days, he's around 9 mpg. His average since he's had the truck is a solid 9.5 mpg. A former racecar driver, Albert had to discipline himself to run slow. He'll still go 70 mph if his business requires it, but most days he's cruising at about 62 mph, letting his integrated Detroit Diesel drivetrain and DT12 transmission do most of the work. "Just because the speed limit is 70 mph, you don't have to go that speed," he told me. "People say it's unsafe, but it's not. I settle into the right-hand lane, set my speed and stay there ... If another driver finishes the same 10-hour day and he's another 60 or 80 miles down the road, great. But what has he really accomplished? And was that extra 60, 70 or 80 miles worth the money that went out his smokestacks? I don't think so." During the drive, I updated Overdrive's online readers on our fuel economy numbers. A few naysayers sneered that Albert is using a highly aerodynamic truck. "Of course I'm using a special truck to achieve these numbers," a frustrated Albert responded. "But more than that, I'm actually using the truck to the fullest extent of its potential. I'm buying into the concept, and I'm making it work. But a lot of people don't care about that, because they'd have to change the way they do things, or they wouldn't look 'cool' blasting down the highway. OK, I don't look as cool driving down the highway, but my wife looks pretty cool in Henry Albert gives further insight into his fuel-saving practices in a video compilation of highlights from his drive with Jack Roberts at youtube.com/ OverdriveMag. 20 | Overdrive | October 2013 henry_albert_ride.indd 20 9/30/13 3:54 PM