Greener Driving | The Courier Shop

How are you coping with increased fuel costs?

November 20, 2009 By sarah

One of the biggest costs of a courier, haulier or transport industry business is fuel.

Does the price of fuel affect the way you drive? the amount of goods you order online? or is it business as usual for you?

: Image by Roby© via Flickr

Everything has to be delivered at some stage, from the manufacturer to the warehouse, to the supermarket, to the shops – you get the picture. Margins for hauliers are quite small, often just 4 or 5%, so when fuel increases by 26% in a year so the chances of a profit are relatively small and with fuel set to increase again, more are going to go bust. For the courier that means one less source of overflow work, as hauliers and couriers work in partnership all the time, contracting and subcontracting to each other.

I have listed here several greener, fuel saving articles as well as the guest blog about the hydrocharger system. Fuel saving driving isn’t just for when the fuel price is high, it’s for all the time so practising the techniques and refreshing your memory of them is a good idea.

The recession isn’t over yet and the Government needs to ensure that UK hauliers, the safest in Europe can compete fairly with other EU haulage companies and heavy fuel taxes isn’t doing anything positive for UK industry, in fact it’s keeping us in recession.

Kevin

Fuel saving driving, part three

October 12, 2009 By sarah

The third part in our series of blogs on driving greener to save more fuel.

Go…. When Driving -

: Image via Wikipedia

* Drive smoothly – pulling away fast can use 60 percent more fuel.

* Slow down. Drive at the speed limit. Driving at 70mph can use up to 30 percent more petrol than driving at 50mph.

* Think ahead to avoid sharp braking – it just throws away energy and money.

* Avoid using the air conditioning, open the air vents instead! Air con uses 15 percent more fuel than the air vents. All on board electronics are also using extra fuel, the rear screen heater for example adds 5 percent to the fuel consumption. Switch them off if you don’t need them.

* Change gear between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm – this can save up to 30 percent of fuel. Listen to your engine.

* It’s better to switch your engine off when in stationary traffic. You use more fuel with the engine idling for 60 seconds than if you switched off and restarted 60 seconds later.

* Did you know….. traffic lights are programmed to change according to the speed limit. If you are stopped at one red light but then drive on at the correct speed you will usually find that by the time you reach the next few sets of lights, they will be turning green for you. Try it and see.

* Careful motorway driving will improve safety and traffic flow. The concertina effect caused by one motorist breaking sharply often results in traffic slowing to a near stop due to the delayed reaction of drivers behind. If we drive pro-actively, and try to observe the car three or four ahead. Then we can give ourselves some distance from the car in front. We can anticipate and judge the necessary speed. When you see a car up ahead start to brake, simply remove your foot off the accelerator. By the time you get close to the car in front the chances are that they will have accelerated and moved further on.

Driving greener and safer saves you fuel, and the welcome side effect is you are helping to save the planet in ways other drivers cannot be bothered with.

Sarah

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How are you coping with increased fuel costs?

Fuel saving driving, part three

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