Can anyone give me a realistic mpg difference between a 26t rigid and 44t artic.
Assume both fully loaded and driven carefully.
Thanks
Depends on type of roads and terrain and aerodynamics.
Whilst loaded on decent motorway runs expect 7 to 9mpg (possibly 10) from the 44 tonner, on normal two way roads involving traffic multiple junctions and hill climbing that could drop as low as 5mpg.
Rigid should see 12/14 motorway and 9 to 10 other.
Others will suggest better fuel figures but could be including empty or lightly loaded return journeys and if you run light these figures increase dramatically, but you specifically asked about fully freighted only running which consumes fuel rapidly…eg a typical 44 tonner in top gear pulling hard is doing around 4mpg at best if you check the instant readout, drop a gear or two on a hill as speed reduces and that is down to 3mpg etc, overall journey on good motorway if the 44 tonner returns empty would be between 10 and 12 mostly.
I did a fuel test once using the easy to use on board computer on my regular steed fully freighted at 43+ tons , leaving a MSA on a flat road it used a shade under 3 litres to get to 55 mph, makes you realise the difference in fuel on a journey when you can keep a constant speed in top gear.
Makes vary along with vehicle specification, well driven high power (or rather high torque if geared correctly) engines can and will give better fuel figures than underpowered poorly geared thrashed alternatives, but can use more fuel if not driven competently, the person behind the wheel can make more than a 20% difference to fuel usage, i’ve seen the fuel figures for two similar vehicles over the same hard A road journey, one just over 5 mpg the other around 7.5, only difference was in the way they were driven.
Our 32t rigid vs 44t artic both on heavy plant work do around 6-8mpg, not much to separate either.
Many years ago whilst on a long run empty back from Dorset I experimented with zeroing the trip and running on cruise control at varying speeds. I think it was 86km/h that was noticeably more efficient than 80 / 82 / 85 / 86 / 87 / 88 / 89. I did each for a 20km stretch and duplicated the 86 to check it wasn’t a long downhill that had slewed the figures.
I thought one day if someone got obsessed with fuel saving maybe it would be good knowledge to have. No one has really been bothered so it’s flat to the mat.
Our supermarket have limited ours to 85kph, the 44t’s get about 9-10mpg on the Boston spuds run, the 26t will manage about 12-13mpg. As already mentioned most of the fuel consumption is down to how its driven, rag the nuts off anything and it’ll consume fuel faster than my wife can spend my wage
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Thanks.
Been averaging 9 fully loaded in a newish 450 Scania.
Was considering a rigid due to limited access at collections but the savings on running costs are negligible and are cancelled out by the loss of payload and volume over a trailer.
Those couple of customers in the most awkward locations will have to find someone else I think.