Where truck fuel energy goes

To control and reduce fuel energy use and its cost in road transport operations, one must know how and why fuel energy is being consumed. It is not sufficient to equip vehicles with the latest engines and fuel saving devices, but rather one needs to assess the particular needs of the operation to determine the applicability of such technologies to the particular mission needs. This paper illustrates energy flow patterns in typical urban and interstate trucks to provide examples of how a fleet operator can establish effective measures to reduce operating costs by reducing unproductive fuel energy consumption (a).