Funded by Sustainability Victoria and supported by the Australian Trucking Association and the Victorian Transport Association, the Cement Industry Federation led a project designed to assess the potential benefits of an ecodriving training program for heavy vehicle drivers. Currently popular in Europe, ecodriving is a driving style that emphasises smooth driving that results from “flowing” the vehicle, anticipating potential interactions, and looking further down the traffic stream. Drivers should also skip gears when changing up when possible, change at lower engine revolutions, and brake less forcefully and less often. The project was funded as an exploratory pilot to assess the potential for improvement in variables such as gear changes, braking applications and fuel consumption.
Meeting the requirement for a strong collaborative partnership, four key partners were chosen to deliver this project:
- Cement Industry Federation
- Blue Circle Southern Cement
- Monash University
- Strategix Driver Training.
During testing, the B-double drivers were accompanied by an assessor as they drove a 30 km open circuit in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. The circuit incorporated a mixture of traffic and driving conditions, including freeway and arterial (urban and rural) driving, and residential and strip shopping areas. Speed limits ranged from 60 km/h to 100 km/h. Two essentially identical Mack 68 tonne B-double trucks fully laden with cement were used. Each circuit started and finished at a fuel station and the fuel tanks were topped off to the same point after each drive to measure fuel consumption. The driving behaviours of the fully trained group were assessed for the variables of interest prior to and immediately after the training session, then at six weeks post training, and again at 12 weeks after the training session.
Compared to their pre-course measures, the fully trained group reduced their fuel consumption by 27%, the number of gear changes by 29%, and the number of brake applications by 41%. Importantly, the benefits do not seem to have lost any strength 12 weeks after the training, at which point the pilot trial concluded.
Encouraged by the initial results, the Cement Industry Federation is eager to roll out a training program nationally and is eager to share the knowledge gained with other heavy vehicle fleet owners. With an ever-increasing national freight task and upwardly spiralling fuel prices, even small fuel savings are potentially very valuable, though the results here suggest the benefits may be significant rather than small.
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