Revealing fuel savings
Catalyst Centre graduate company Dynamon is working closely with retailer Asda to optimise cost savings across its delivery vehicle fleet by identifying a tyre policy which balances both fuel performance and price per kilometre tyre price. It follows a successful track test which demonstrated the considerable fuel costs savings that can be delivered through the use of Dynamon’s unique analytics software.
Both a test vehicle and a control vehicle were loaded to 70% of their trailer weight capacity, and both sets of tyres were given a 3 hour run-in period prior to testing. On the first day of testing, the test vehicle was fitted with the fuel-efficient tyres, and on the second day of testing the test vehicle was fitted with the hard-wearing deep-tread low cost tyres. The control vehicle kept the same tyres throughout. This guaranteed that the fuel saving measured on the test vehicle was only due to tyre changes and not some other factor such as the weather. Driving at exactly 52mph in cruise control, both vehicles went around a two-mile circuit for journeys lasting 30 minutes, 1.5 hours and 3 hours.
The track test demonstrated that tyre choice has a major impact on fuel consumption. An impressive 18.4% fuel saving was measured for the 30 minute journey and a 17% fuel saving was recorded for both the 1.5 hour and 3 hour journeys.
Dynamon CEO, Dr Angus Webb, said: “Most fleets look for the cheapest tyre price but we set out to show that this purchasing policy often costs significantly more than you might think. Whilst tyres with hard wearing rubber compounds and deep tread last longer, this type of tyre significantly increases fuel consumption, often negating any cost saving.
Huge cost savings are available from modern tyre technology. However, identifying the ideal tyres for minimum whole life tyre cost, in real-world driving conditions, is not a simple financial choice. Getting the balance right between tyre price and fuel performance is a complex science and is unique to each fleet operation. It requires a detailed analysis of telematics data, tyre performance data, fleet specific tyre damage rates, and price per kilometre tyre price which is where our analytics software comes in.”
A case study and full technical white paper is available on the Dynamon website.
