Be fuel smart - Part I

Published in Western Canada Highway News:
Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the market reached out and slapped truckers in the face this spring as escalating world market prices for crude oil drove up the price of fuel at the pumps.
For truckers in Western Canada, it meant mid-May diesel prices well above $1.25 per litre, and above $1.40 in Whitehorse. Truckers were paying $1.32 in Winnipeg, $1.30 in Saskatoon and $1.27 in Edmonton. A year earlier, the retail price range in those Prairie cities was 92 to 98 cents, according to M.J. Ervin & Associates.
Add concerns over the environmental impact of carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions, and the reality that our planet has only a finite supply of petroleum, and operators and fleet owners alike have compelling reasons to improve fuel economy.
Luckily, experts have some easily implemented ideas on how you might achieve that objective by changing what you put in the tank, the equipment you use, and what drivers do when they’re on the road.
New fuel additives have been put on the market in recent years with their makers and marketers saying they improve fuel economy. Among those products is the NEUTRO line of additives from PEXT International, which claims NEUTRO products are a “green” way to add as much as 10 per cent to your diesel mileage.
“With America using 375 million gallons of gas a day, the introduction of NEUTRO could not be more timely,” the Deer Park, Wash.-headquartered company declared in a news release this spring. PEXT claims its diesel additive will boost fuel efficiency, improve engine health and reduce emissions.
Similarly, Connecticut-based Stanadyne Corporation and Saskatchewan-based DSG Canada claim their diesel additives reduce fuel consumption for substantial gains in miles per gallon.
Such claims are met with skepticism in some quarters. “We don’t believe in it, that’s for sure,” Imperial Oil senior account executive Jim Noel says from Vancouver. “We’ve looked at all different types of additives over the years and we haven’t found anything that significantly improves fuel economy.”
Stanadyne’s website says the company’s Performance Formula diesel additive has been proven in tests and is approved by Ford, Navistar, General Motors and other leading vehicle manufacturers. Similarly, PEXT International and DSG Canada say their products’ safety and quality have been established through testing and numerous testimonials from satisfied users.
DSG’s additive for heavy-duty diesel trucks sells for about $35 per two-litre bottle. How much you put in varies depending on the product, says DSG president Percy Hoff in Saskatoon. The most common treatment rate is one ounce per 18 gallons (about 82 litres) of fuel.
When considering an additive, “check the label to see what verified claims the manufacturer makes,” Hoff advises. “You should be asking a lot of questions before you go ahead and dump things into your fuel – it could be a costly mistake, or just a waste of money.” He adds that there are a handful of good fuel additives on the market, including the DSG brands.
Biodiesel has been touted and hyped as a way for the transport industry to “go green.” Blends of petroleum diesel with fuel made from vegetable oils certainly do produce less air pollution than conventional diesel, but they don’t improve fuel economy. What’s more, if the motivation for using biofuels is environmental, one might wish to consider the environmental and social costs that go with producing it. Those costs include the energy that goes into producing it and the cropland that’s used for growing fuel instead of food.
Still, whether you think biodiesel is a good idea may be a moot point by the time you read this. Bill C-33, the Renewable Fuels Act, passed in the House of Commons in late May and was headed for approval in the Senate. If passed, it would require diesel sold in Canada to have an average renewable fuel content of two per cent by 2012.