Trucking Efficiency: Is The Industry Running Cleaner?

Shell’s Vice President of Commercial Lubricants recently spoke of a movement to ensure trucking efficiency as the industry looks to the future. Despite the negative rap the industry gets, trucking efficiency is at an all-time high, with many efforts to continue that momentum for decades to come.

Trucking Efficiency And Clean Air

From the outside, there are very few who think that trucks are “clean” vehicles. The rumble of the engine. The amount of fuel it takes to fill the tank. At first glance, how trucks work has not changed much over the past few decades. But the have. Regarding trucking efficiency, manufacturers are constantly improving engine design. In fact, trucks today run 99 percent cleaner than they did in the 1970s and 80s. What is under the hood greatly impacts trucking efficiency.

The Challenge To Run On Less

Right now, Shell is tracking drivers as they go about their regular routes to measure trucking efficiency. Fuel economy and engine use will play a big part in this challenge. The goal is to reach a very idealistic 9 miles per gallon. By comparing use and engine functionality, manufacturers will be able to look forward and design better trucks which run cleaner and more efficiently.

Shell’s Take On Trucking Efficiency

Shell has a big stake in trucking efficiency. Apart from engineering cleaner burning fuels, Shell also created lubricants to reduce wear and tear on engines and increase trucking efficiency. Regardless of what is reported about the oil industry, the big players realize that petroleum is a finite resource, and they are very aware of the impact oil has had on the environment in past decades. On the commercial end of the scale, trucking efficiency is of the utmost importance for fleets. The United States relies on trucks to move goods from place to place. When engines are running inefficiently, it not only creates a healthier environment, but it lowers costs for everyone, while increasing revenue.

Wanting a cleaner environment does not mean eliminating large industries. There are gentler and more cost-effective methods, which can improve efficiency acrodd the freight industry while providing a cleaner future. Even if we can, as an industry, improve trucking efficiency by just one percent, that will reduce gas consumption by millions of gallons per year. We can go green and save a lot of money in the process.