Fleets Of Efficiency
Let’s say you manage a fleet of vehicles, and your bosses want it updated. “Make it cleaner,” they say, “more efficient.” There any number of hucksters (and their hard-won tax breaks) out there who will try to convince you that ethanol is cheaper and sends the right PR message. What they won’t tell you (until it’s too late) is that converting to E85 costs money and reduces efficiency. Converting to hybrids will come with a sphincter-clenching price tag, if you can even find enough Priora for sale. So what’s a fleet manager to do? Invest in education. A Ford-sponsored study at Green Car Congress shows that lessons in eco-driving techniques can bring down fleet fuel economy by as much as 26 percent. That’s right folks, an automaker-sponsored study shows that you can save gas without necessarily buying some gimmicky product they’re hocking! That 26 percent average reduction came after four days of testing by 48 drivers. Individually, efficiency improved between 6 to 50 percent with instruction. Screw the overhyped technical innovations; this is the real game-changer. Too bad Detroit can’t put it in a bottle and sell it. But since they don’t have any Priora to sell, this may just have to do.