Researchers in Canada have found that for logging truck operators, fuel represents, on average, 35 to 40 percent of total operating costs, depending on current prices. Those same researchers have gone on to find ways to reduce those costs by cutting fuel consumption and improving trucking efficiency – in all sorts of ways.

Andrew Hickman, a former truck driver and now a 10-year hands-on veteran of transportation research at FPInnovations–Feric (Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada, a division of FPInnovations), says he’s seen all types of drivers in all types of industries and those who work in the forest “know their vehicles, and they’re unbelievably skilled.” Still, he notes, “profit margins are so low now that you really have to do everything you can to try and maximize.”

Over the years, FPInnovations – Feric has developed a range of tools for cost-effective trucking – a kind of Swiss Army knife of vehicle maximization. It includes programs like Star Trucks, which turns standard trucks into star performers; Spec+, which allows truckers to estimate the cost-benefit of various vehicle components; OTTO, for simulating a vehicle’s performance on actual roads; and TPCS, a spreadsheet fuel consumption calculator. SmartDriver for Forestry Trucks, developed in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, helps increase driver safety and reduce fuel consumption.

Step one in maximizing your trucking operation is choosing the right truck with the right specs for your operation, says Andrew. Spec+ is the tool to use for that. The Star Truck Program can then help you incorporate technologies and design elements to boost your truck’s performance. Lightweight components and smaller engines, traction aids like TPCS (tire pressure control systems), monitoring technologies such as onboard dataloggers – these are just some elements that can make a major difference.

For example, says Andrew, “We’ve seen improvements in regards to tire pressure control systems in mud and sand. In mud it can be up to 30 percent savings. This is for a couple of reasons: you’re not spinning your tires – you actually have enough traction with a lower tire pressure to move the truck, and your trailer axles don’t sink as much in the mud because with lower pressure you get more floatation. The footprint of the tire increases. Of course,” he notes, “that’s based on speed and load. You can’t drive at 45 psi and 110 km/h fully loaded.”

Tire pressure also impacts driver comfort on the road, as demonstrated by the tennis ball test in the cab. “What they did is attach a tennis ball to a flexible metal bar, then ran the truck and watched this tennis ball bounce,” Andrew describes. “On regular high pressure it just bounced unbelievably, and you have to think, if that tennis ball is bouncing what’s the rest of the truck doing? They lowered the psi and the tennis ball barely moved.”  This indicates that lower tire pressure translates into more comfort and consequently less fatigue for the driver.