Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolferz
Yup, that's peak torque at 7,000 Rip'ems. I never bothered to check fuel economy when packing twin 100 gallon saddle tanks. Just stopped and filled them when the gauge said you're near "E"  All I know is we went a long way between fill ups.
Our trucks are so unique that they turn German tourists into Japanese shutterbugs.  |
I was responsible for the fuel economy of our trucks and had to talk to drivers who were using too much fuel for their trips that's why I know the mpg of our Volvo and MAN trucks. I'm amazed that a US driver can be completely oblivious to the fuel economy of his truck and that obviously no one checks on that.
Over here Diesel costs made about 25% of all costs the company had so we had to be careful and try to refuel in countries where Diesel was cheaper than in Germany and avoid to refuel in those where it's more expensive. Our drivers always had to ask where they could refuel and the dispatcher would tell them were to go and how much to refuel. No way they could just fill up without permission. (That might sound stupid for you but the driver usually just knows the next one or two trips he's supposed to do and the next one could bring him to a country with cheaper fuel so he should only fill up enough to get into that country and top of there again. The difference in fuel costs are sometimes pretty big from country to country).
Most 40 ton trucks in Europe look like this (this one isn't of the company I worked for):
That's so because they mustn't be longer than 18,75m (roughly 20 yards) so most will have a flat nose to make the tractor as short as possible and the trailer as long as possible. US trucks look often times quiet differently and are therefore "exotic" photo motives to Europeans.