Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/139399
EQUINOX BUSINESS SOLUTIONS By: Scott Christensen, Vice President of Tax Services at EQUINOX Owner-Operator Solutions The Leader in Business Services for Transportation Save Money By Improving Fuel Efficiency On The Road A ccording to AAA, the national average price of diesel is $3.888 - call it $3.89 - per gallon at the time of this writing. Given that your truck likely has a fuel capacity of 150 to 300 gallons, it would cost $583 to over $1,167 per fill-up at the current rate. In other words, as you may have already noticed, fueling up for a long-haul is quite expensive! Fortunately, there are several ways to improve fuel efficiency. Doing so will result in less fuel usage, which will improve your bottom line. Let's take a look at how to improve fuel efficiency on the road. Manage Your Speed While seeing the many sights across the US and beyond may be great, driving day after day can be a chore. It may be tempting to drive as fast as possible from point A to point B to get it over with or earn extra money. However, doing so has a major downside - more money spent on diesel. On average, every 1 mile per hour (mph) increase in speed results in a 0.14 miles per gallon (mpg) decrease in fuel economy. Now, suppose that you drive 2,500 miles per week and decide to increase your average speed by 10 mph to save time. As the average 18-wheeler gets 5.9 mpg, your truck's fuel economy would drop to 4.5 mpg. Thus, by increasing your average speed by 10 mph, your truck would consume approximately 132 extra gallons of fuel at a cost of nearly $513. Is that 10 mph increase really worth $513 per week? According to Jim Phillips, Quality Service / OWNER OPERATOR/ JULY 2013 / / 26 OO 0713 edit 26 6/5/13 9:48 AM