• Time: Many drivers do not spend enough time adjusting their seats properly. Allow yourself a couple of minutes to really take advantage of all the possibilities before driving.
• Variation: Many drivers ‘get stuck’ in the same driving position. Try to vary the position – “the best driving position is the next position.”

Source: Vehicle ergonomics department at Scania

Scania Fuel Efficiency Duel drivers Hanna Fange and Peter Röder in Vordingborg, Denmark.

Show Scania fuel duel 2011 on a map.

Scania Fleet Management reports on several parameters. The table below includes a list of some of the most relevant criteria including average fuel consumption (AFC), Scania Driver Support percentage (SDS), location, distance and average speed. The target values for AFC and SDS are 26.0 l/100 km and 85 %, respectively.

Note: Updated values reflect accumulating trip averages.

Read more about the drivers.

Day 2, 27 May 2011

Time	Hanna Fange	Peter Röder
12:18 (finish)	22.7 l/100 km 97 % Södertälje, Sweden 677 km 78.0 km/h	22.4 l/100 km 79 % Södertälje, Sweden 678 km 77.3 km/h
12:00	22.7 l/100 km 97 % Järna, Sweden 665 km 79.5 km/h	22.3 l/100 km 81 % Järna, Sweden 668 km 79.0 km/h
11:00	23.0 l/100 km 96 % Jönåker, Sweden 583 km 79.1 km/h	22.4 l/100 km 81 % Jönåker, Sweden 585 km 78.4 km/h
10:00	23.4 l/100 km 94 % Linköping, Sweden 503 km 78.7 km/h	22.5 l/100 km 79 % Linköping, Sweden 504 km 77.8 km/h
09:00	24.6 l/100 km 93 % Gränna, Sweden 420 km 78.0 km/h	23.5 l/100 km 78 % Gränna, Sweden 421 km 76.9 km/h
08:00	25.2 l/100 km 91 % Skillingaryd, Sweden 339 km 77.2 km/h	23.4 l/100 km 76 % Skillingaryd, Sweden 339 km 75.7 km/h
07:00	25.0 l/100 km 91 % Klevshult, Sweden 333 km 77.7 km/h	23.3 l/100 km 76 % Klevshult, Sweden 333 km 76.2 km/h
06:00	25.5 l/100 km 91 % Hamneda, Sweden 264 km 77.3 km/h	23.6 l/100 km 76 % Hamneda, Sweden 263 km 75.6 km/h
05:00	26.0 l/100 km 85 % Östra Ljungby, Sweden 182 km 75.2 km/h	24.4 l/100 km 72 % Östra Ljungby, Sweden 181 km 73.0 km/h
04:00	24.6 l/100 km 77 % Helsingør, Denmark 136 km 76.4 km/h	23.1 l/100 km 65 % Helsingør, Denmark 136 km 74.4 km/h
03:00	24.4 l/100 km 100 % Greve Strand, Denmark 79 km 79.3 km/h	23.3 l/100 km 70 % Greve Strand, Denmark 78 km 75.8 km/h
02:00 (start)	- l/100 km - % Vordingborg, Denmark 0 km - km/h	- l/100 km - % Vordingborg, Denmark 0 km - km/h

Follow the duel here!

Name:		Hanna Fange		Peter Röder
Age:		31		49
Nationality:		Swedish		German
Employer:		Scania Transport Laboratory, Södertälje, Sweden		TSL GmbH, Groß-Umstadt, Germany
Years in the profession:		4		29
Best quality as a truck driver:		“I am attentive and have good anticipatory skills. I always think ‘traffic’ and ‘flow’ even when I am walking.”		“I am a very relaxed driver, I always treat the truck with care and respect and I am very reliable.”
Favourite Scania model:		“Driving the customised Scania Blue Shark V8 was fantastic.”		Scania R 500 V8
Mileage per year (kilometres):		100,000		160,000
Favourite truck stop:		Cloppenburg in northern Germany		Schwarmstedt, Germany
What I like about driving as a profession:		“I have always wanted to be a truck driver, so it’s difficult to say what I like the best. I like driving far distances and being ‘King of the Road’ in a big machine. Also, I learn new things and tricks all the time, thanks to great colleagues.”		“The freedom and that I can be somewhat independent.”
Hobbies:		Reading, listening to music, spending time with my girlfriend		Working in the garden

The YETD 2010 winner Andreas Söderström takes part in building his own prize - a brand new Scania R-series truck. Click on the image to read more about the truck being built.

To date, more than 100,000 truck drivers from all over the world have participated in Scania Driver Competitions, making it the world’s largest truck driver competition and training event. The fifth edition, planned for 2012, will be organised in more than 40 countries.

Fuel economy, road safety and maneuvering tests as well as knowledge about securing cargo are just a few of the things drivers will have to master to be successful at Scania Driver Competitions 2012.

“Scania Driver Competitions’ goal is to increase the interest in, and subsequently attract more people to, a profession that in recent years has become highly demanding,” says Erik Ljungberg, Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations, Scania.

By participating in the high-profile Scania Driver Competitions, drivers focus on enhancing their driving skills. Consequently, road safety increases and the environmental impact caused by hauling is reduced. This latter point will be crucial in the near future as transport volumes are likely to increase.

“Scania wants to be a part of the solution to increase road safety and decrease the transport industry’s environmental impact,” Ljungberg says. “Scania Driver Competitions focuses on the single most important factor to meet these challenges: the driver.”

According to the European Parliament study “Shortage of Qualified Personnel in Road Freight Transport”, skilled drivers will be in high demand over the next few years. In 2008, the shortage of drivers in Europe was estimated at 70,000. The study suggests a set of measures to address the shortage, such as improving the image of the sector and improving driver skills and qualifications.

The quest for the world’s best heavy truck driver begins in December this year when applicants from all over the world will be invited to register for the Scania Driver Competitions 2012.

“A three percent saving will lower fuel cost by close to EUR 1,500 per vehicle each year,” writes Hamish Bennett, product manager at Scania.

It is possible to save fuel by choosing a faster rear axle ratio, thus lowering the number of engine revs per minute at cruising speed. If the propshaft needs to rotate fewer times to cover a given stretch of road, energy losses in the powertrain will be correspondingly less. And so will fuel consumption.

Aside from propelling the vehicle and its cargo, a truck engine must also overcome resistance in the powertrain, such as friction and other losses. It also has to drive all auxiliary systems, for example the alternator and water pump. At cruising speed on flat ground, this is about 15 percent of total losses, also including air and rolling resistance.

Today an overall gear ratio of 3.08 is common, which means that the propshaft must rotate 3.08 times in order for the rear wheels to rotate once. If we choose a ratio of 2.59, this lowers the number of engine revs at a given speed. In top gear at a cruising speed of 89 kilometres per hour, it means approximately 200 fewer revs per minute.

This reduces fuel consumption by three percent or more − in some applications by up to ten percent. In long-haulage, an annual mileage of 150,000 km is not uncommon. Assuming an average fuel consumption of slightly above 30 litres per 100 km and a typical diesel price of more than EUR 1 per litre, a three percent saving will lower fuel cost by close to EUR 15,000 per vehicle each year. That level is not possible in all transport applications, but for a haulier with many trucks, this adds up to major savings.

New Scania Opticruise enables economy gearing for cruising down to 1,020 r/min.

So what needs to be done to implement such a change in practice? Above all, two things: Choosing a different rear axle ratio, and persuading drivers to accept a slightly different driving experience. In some markets this is already standard on long-haul trucks, for example in Great Britain, Poland and Spain. Elsewhere this trend has only just begun. It is naturally impossible to lump together all transport applications and to uncritically choose a specification that lowers engine revs in an entire fleet of vehicles. When the engine frequently needs to operate at maximum output due to hilly terrain, or when a vehicle often carries the maximum permitted payload, there may be reason not to choose a faster rear axle ratio. The fuel savings are less, and perhaps the vehicle owner wants to prioritise gradeability in top gear or other characteristics. When we choose a ratio of 2.59 instead of 3.08, many people believe this makes a truck feel less powerful. But the gearbox takes care of this difference in rear axle ratio, and with automated gearchanging, the driver can relax. This means that using a 2.59 rear axle ratio, a vehicle may even have more power at the wheels since it is operating in a lower gear.

A vehicle that normally maintains a cruising speed of 89 km/h on a typical European highway is using only a fraction of its maximum engine output. An engine with the most common output of 440 hp often uses thirty percent of maximum output on flat routes. Here operators can save fuel by maintaining lower engine revs, and this applies to between eighty and ninety percent of road transport in Europe.

For a driver, using lower engine revs means a quieter cab. It also means that the driving experience may be different, since taking maximum advantage of a new rear axle ratio requires that the vehicle be equipped with the Scania Opticruise automated gearchanging system. The vehicle also moves a bit faster when manoeuvring at terminals, but drivers soon become accustomed to this.

Hill climbing ability in top gear at cruising speed is admittedly somewhat lower. One noticeable difference is that the Scania Opticruise downshifts sooner up-hill. But this in itself is no disadvantage as an early downshift can result in higher speed in the hills. It is transport time that counts, and this does not increase with the new specification.
Powertrain specifications are increasingly important, and in many cases hauliers can no longer specify vehicles in the conventional way. It is necessary to optimise the powertrain for each user’s transport task, thereby minimising the environmental impact and the fuel bill.

Some hauliers also save a lot of money by applying a policy of 85 or even 80 km/h cruising speeds. Major savings are possible due to both lower engine revs and less air resistance at slower speeds.

Significant savings

Engine revs at cruising speed (per minute) - Engine revs per hour

• 1,300 - 78,000
• 1,100 - 66,000

Difference 12,000 revs for the same stretch of road

Fuel savings 3–10 percent (depending on application)

Hauliers have to keep down rising fuel costs at the same time that they maximise efficiency and maintain safety. Driving style is crucial in achieving this, accounting for as much as 40 percent of a haulier’s costs. Well-trained drivers can help the company save large sums by using a gentler, safer driving style while also reducing the vehicle’s environmental impact.

Scania Driver Support is a useful support to drivers who are trying to achieve a more economical driving style. The system continuously analyses data from various sensors on the vehicle to monitor the driver’s performance.

“Scania Driver Support encourages all drivers to improve their driving,” says Claes Åkerlund, the man in charge of Scania’s global driver training. “The best results are achieved if use of the system is combined with thorough driver training. Then drivers will more easily embrace the advice they get and will find it easier to maintain their improved driving style.”

During a road trip, Scania Driver Support serves as a computerised personal coach that evaluates events along the road and provides suggestions for improvements in the following areas: hill-driving, brake usage, anticipation, and choice of gears.

After each trip, Scania Driver Support can provide a summary of a driver’s techniques as well as advice on training needs.

On display. The Scania Driver Support system analyses the performance of the driver and suggests how to further improve driving.

A challenge. Field test driver Lars Åström says he works to get the highest possible rating from Scania Driver Support system.

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube

Critical assignment. Driver Thomas Wolf is on the job, field testing the functionality of the Scania R 620.

For two years, Thomas Wolf has been field testing a partly new product for Scania. His experience has led to many improvements during development. Driver opinions are valuable, and Wolf himself has enjoyed his role as a link to Scania’s product developers.

Wolf, who is employed by haulier Guyan AG Schiers in Switzerland, has been assigned to field test a Scania R 620 over a two-year period to evaluate its new functionality and the cab’s interior fittings. His opinions are conveyed to Scania’s development engineers, who re-evaluate and adapt the product.

Interviewing the test driver

Today Wolf is meeting Scania field test engineer Lars Johansson at Scania Schumont AG, a dealership in the small village of Rüthi. Here, with livestock grazing nearby, Wolf and Johansson can converse without interruption.

“Do you like the feel when you open and close this new storage box next to the driver’s seat?” Johansson asks.

“Yes, I do, but it would be better if it could stay open so that I can read an address or peek at a map while driving,” Wolf replies. Johansson notes these opinions in his computer.

When Wolf’s boss asked him if he wanted to be a test driver, Wolf was both surprised and pleased. He had worked at the company for less than a year.

“This assignment is an honour,” Wolf says. “It shows that my boss has confidence in me.”

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube

Designers, stylists and ergonomists have helped make the driver’s environment in the new R-series as comfortable, ergonomic, safe and modern as possible.

The objective has been to improve every aspect of driver environment. To help the driver while on the road, designers have found smart solutions for easily accessible storage, and have improved the design of controls and instruments.

The whole interior is characterised by higher-quality materials and harmonious colour schemes, with a wide range of options to adapt the style to personal taste.

The truck also offers substantially improved sleeping comfort.

A stable, completely flat foldout table on the passenger side for working on a laptop computer or having a meal.

New steering wheel buttons give the driver access to cruise control, radio and on-board computer functions.

A coffee maker that can be factory-installed on the dashboard.

An extendable bed with adjustable width and hardness (730 to 900 millimetres).

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube

Hanna Johansson, Head of Vehicle Ergonomics

What did you hope to achieve with the new interior?
“A comprehensive approach to the driver’s environment. The new interior feels fresh, and its functionality has been adapted to a driver’s everyday needs. The choice of materials also provides a solid sense of quality.”

What do the innovations in the interior mean to Scania’s customers?
“A substantially better, safer and more comfortable working environment. We have retained the features that drivers appreciate, for example Scania’s unique driving position, while greatly improving the functionality of the driver environment. We have grouped functions together and improved storage spaces easily accessible to drivers, in order to minimise the time that their eyes are not on the road.”

What are you most proud of?
“The collaboration between different departments. Form, function, design and market specialists have worked together with a focus on the customer. The best example is our innovative solution for the extendable bed. Our driving ambition has been to live up to the wishes of our customers. They are worth it.”

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube