LBC in Malmö are investing ”heavily” in EcoDriving
With smoother driving techniques and more advanced planning, a lorry or truck can save up to 30% of fuel consumption on any given route. That could mean tens of thousands of Swedish kronors saved every year. Who said that environment and economy can’t work nicely hand in hand?Rickard Olsson,a lorry driver at Malmö Lorry Central, Malmö LBC, was trained in EcoDriving by Mats-Ola Forsvik from “The professional traffic school”, Yrkestrafikskolan, in EcoDriving.
Mats-Ola informed us: “ We have now conducted training for some 150 LBC chauffeurs and in average their fuel consumption decrease with some 15%. The last chauffeur that went through the training decreased his fuel consumption by 26%, showing that there are variations of course.”Richard starts by driving on a specific course with a load of 7 tons on his lorry and without any driving instructions. The Mats-Ola and Richard go through the route and discuss changes and improvements that can be made. Mats-Ola explains to; “Accelerate smoothly but quickly up to about 50km/h, after that you need to plan you driving better in advance, let go of the accelerator well in advance of an obstacle, do not make any unnecessary breaking. Besides, when you can roll without accelerating, it is actually for free…” EcoDriving is no mystery, but simply a way of driving that minimise fuel consumption. You do not need any investments or specific technology, you only need to read up, train and learn which will get you a better environment and more money in your pocket. Rickard Olsson and his colleagues driving heavy vehicles at LBC Malmö get a course differing slightly from the one private persons get. The CIVITAS SMILE project has developed some other aspects that are fitted better with their type of vehicles and driving. They also get training in work environment, traffic security and health. Mats-Ola also explains ”You should always respect speed limits, but on a 90km/h road, if you drive 80km/h instead, you actually save 10% more on fuel.”But can a transport company such as LBC really deliver on time if you don’t drive at maximum speed all the time? Mats-Ola replies, “We need to get rid of the completely incorrect image of driving in a hurry all the time. EcoDriving actually give you a time gain of 3%. With less stress, you can work longer in life, stay more healthy, so actually there are no negative effects, can you save 1 litre of fuel every 30min, there is really nothing to discuss.”
