Tips For Better Fuel Efficiency?

My friend from Amity Island is correct. Prime pays fuel bonus based on cost per mile.

As Chief also mentioned, BK, hitting the "gas" as the truck begins to coast at the top of hills pretty much becomes a Pavlovian response as soon as you hear/feel the RPMs drop. While driving at night or with very light traffic I'd let it do it's thing. But in moderate traffic I'd hit the pedal immediately so as not to inconvenience the vehicle behind me. When driving reefer while teaming with a student making the best available time was not a priority. Someone always had the hours to keep moving. Getting a $150 fuel bonus each week made it worthwhile to try and minimize fuel costs😉

Different trucks might utilize cruise control more efficiently, PackRat. At Prime orientation, it was a point of emphasis in reference to Freightliners to make sure we used cruise control as much as possible to SAVE FUEL🤷

At knight our fuel bonus is based on miles on route divided by gallons consumed and compliance with our scheduled fuel stops. So I don't care either. Our trucks seldom idle because of control settings unless you choose to tape a hand warmer over the temp sensor on the bottom of the mirror and cover it with a beanie.

Since we're governed at 63 on the pedal, 65 on cruise with a plus 2 on the pass smart, it's necessary to use cruise almost all the time. If the pedal is pushed all the way to the floor it will bypass the collision avoidance. We have auto coast on the pedal and CC all the time. It's an annoyance most of the time although I use it. My goal is maximum speed as well when it's safe to do so. 71 is our max before we will get hit on our smart drive score. I keep it at 70 as long and as much as possible using hills and manipulation of the controls and pass smart. Again, only when safe to do so.

Basically due to the limitations placed on our trucks by programming, I drive by buttons on the wheel using it like a quarter turn throttle. I leave the Jake on, as soon as CC is cancelled the Jake deploys. Hit resume and it accelerates. I use manual mode to keep it from auto coasting on mild grades where it will coast down to 63 before engaging throttle.

Gives me something to do on long straight sections of interstate. Adverse conditions and city traffic I don't use CC as well as curvy and mountains.

When I drove for Schneider, using cruise control was a big deal. At my new company it is also, but not as much. For me, I’m more in PackRat’s mentality. Getting from point A to point B is my number one priority, fuel efficiency is important, but not my main focus. I think using CC is a judgement call drivers learn with experience. I’ve driven through so much rain lately, that CC was not even an option and my fuel efficiency number has not moved either up or down.

I drive by buttons on the wheel

I totally agree! I often tell people I control my speed more with my right hand than I do with my right foot. (Well I used to anyway...before I got stuck in an International)

Thanks all for your thoughtful comments.

Chief Brody - I’m having to read yours over a few times to wrap my engineering brain around it. I just woke up.

What prompted my question is that the contract that I signed to drive 12 months for Prime to payoff the cost of my CDL training includes a clause regarding fuel efficiency.

Basically it says that I agree to maintain an average fuel efficiency >8 mpg in order to remain eligible to drive.

I appreciate the comments from the Prime drivers about how fuel efficiency bonus is calculated. I’ll study that further.

I never use the cruise. It's a fuel mileage killer. All the computer control recognizes is "maintain the programmed speed no matter what", so all hills, it's burning it up to maintain. Very inefficient.

Another one I left out is tire pressure, especially on the trailer. Most trailers and trucks are running underinflated tires.

The under inflated tire part of your comment caught my interest. How do you deal with this? Do you air up your tires to maximum inflation pressure? Please elaborate , thanks

Just keep the tires inflated. Grab dropped trailers for the next two weeks and check the tire pressures. I'm willing to bet more than half the tires will be at least 20 PSI low.

Dennis, please realize that Chief Brody is not only a driver but also a lawyer. What he tells you is hard to interpret. Right, Chief?

Well, I used CC more than the pedal, unless heavier traffic etc. set my cruise to 72 and roll. Upon any incline, even as small as 1% it would lose speed, so I'd mash the pedal, I found out before on my 2019 FLs it does increase power a very small amount, almost unnoticeable. I never worried about the MPG either, like chief, I just wanted to get in as many miles as possible per day/night. And averaged around 7-7.5 mpg most of the time, and got the fuel bonus my last 2 months @ Legends, a whole $120-$150 respectively.

Plus they didn't want us OTR guys fueling in Calif. So I'd do that when I needed to, as soon as I crossed into AZ/NM. We didn't get fuel solutions/stops for the loads, just fuel as needed at Pilot/FJ's. Their point system sucked ! .5 points per 50+ gallon fills. I thought damn, I'm fueling 90-130 gallons should get the point boost every 50 gal. fill hahahaha Spent all my points on food etc before I quit driving. Love's reward points were a LOT better, so I was always, near max limits.

And while on CC I would use the buttons on the steering wheel to go up n down on speeds as needed. Prime's trucks from what I've heard, and seen, are governed slow (62?) And the cruise had a +5, when coming to downhills, I'd use the up/down button to adjust my speeds....It's all about judgement for the road conditions, weather, hills, curves. The front radar sucked at times, slowing me when it picked up the tar thing they fill cracks with... It acted like it was the shoulder white line..

Or vehicles on exit ramps, when they hit their brakes, the radar acted like they were in front of me and applied my brakes too hard. Last 2 weeks, I blocked it off, so it wouldn't do those stupid things, so I was in control of my following distances...Removed the aluminum plate I made for that, before turning in my truck lol ......I think the front radar @ some instances, can be more of a hazard, than a help, especially when it might over brake you, when there's no reason for it, especially if it is wet out hmmmm

What prompted my question is that the contract that I signed to drive 12 months for Prime to payoff the cost of my CDL training includes a clause regarding fuel efficiency.

Basically it says that I agree to maintain an average fuel efficiency >8 mpg in order to remain eligible to drive.

I don't think you have to worry about that. There are plenty of drivers who don't hit that 8mpg mark. As long as you aren't idling excessively or running up against the governor limit (62mpg as Steve Reno mentioned) constantly, you won't hear anything about your fuel consumption. My FM would send me my idle% and tell me to keep it under...I-forget-what-the-target-is... if I was idling too much. She would also send out fleetwide msgs once a week or so reminding her drivers not to run constantly at 62mph.

Pack Rat

Our Prime trailers have the automatic tire pressure maintenance systems to keep 100 psi. We also have a TPMS system.