Real-time advice saves fuel

TEXT: CONNY HETTING

Today hauliers have to keep down rising fuel costs at the same time that they maximise efficiency and maintain safety. Driving style is crucial in achieving this, accounting for as much as 40 percent of a haulier’s costs. Well-trained drivers who maintain their skills can help the company save large sums by using a gentler, safer driving style while also reducing the vehicle’s environmental impact.

Scania Driver Support, a new feature in Scania trucks, is a useful support to drivers who are trying to achieve a more economical driving style. The system continuously analyses data from various sensors on the vehicle to monitor the driver’s performance.

“Scania Driver Support encourages all drivers to improve their driving,” says Claes Åkerlund, the man in charge of Scania’s global driver training. “The best results are achieved if use of the system is combined with thorough driver training. Then drivers will more easily embrace the advice they get and will find it easier to maintain their improved driving style.”

During a road trip, Scania Driver Support serves as a computerised personal coach that evaluates events along the road and provides suggestions for improvements in four areas:

• Hill-driving: The system evaluates how the driver negotiates hilly terrain.

• Brake usage: Braking behaviour is evaluated by analysing how auxiliary braking systems are used. Gentler braking is encouraged.

• Anticipation: The driver’s anticipation is rated by analysing the time that elapses between accelerating and braking.

• Choice of gears: The driver’s ability to select the right gear at the right time is evaluated. In the case of manual gearchanging, the system provides suggestions on when and how the driver should change gears in order to achieve optimal driving.

After each trip, Scania Driver Support can provide a summary of a driver’s techniques as well as advice on training needs.

The first version of Scania Driver Support will be standard in all Scania trucks equipped with EBS, a range-splitter gearbox and Scania Retarder. The system is available with menus in 20 languages.

Quick pay-off

• The launch of the Scania Driver Support system coincides with a new European Union directive on mandatory periodic training of truck drivers. The new law requires that driver training must total at least 35 hours per five-year period.
  

• Properly managed, driver training will save 10 percent on vehicle fuel consumption. For a haulier with 20 trucks, each driven 120,000 kilometres per year, this means a reduction of 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and annual cost savings of more than 66,000 euros.

• “Driver training is an unusually good investment that quickly pays for itself - not to mention the reduced environmental impact and safety benefits it achieves,” says Claes Åkerlund, who is in charge of Scania’s global driver training.