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Hewlett’s Vans Go ‘Greener’ And Save Money On Fuel

Anyone choosing to drive at sensible, energy-saving speeds generally runs the risk of being mocked on Top Gear, but in present conditions the drivers at Hewlett Civil Engineering based in Leeds consider it a badge of honour.

The leading privately owned company has reported significant fuel savings after fitting speed limiters to a number of its commercial vehicles.  The company introduced the device last year to increase fuel economy and limit van speeds but also in a bid to cut the CO2 emissions levels of its vans.

Says Andy Preston at Hewlett: “In the current economic climate, we, like so many other businesses, are looking for new ways to reduce costs. And an ever growing cost for most organisations is fuel. All our drivers are aware that safety and environmentally-friendly driving go hand-in-hand and help deliver fuel savings and reduce CO2 emissions.”

Hewlett has been trialling the speed limiter on four of its vans before deciding whether to roll it out to the fleet. The four vehicles with limiters fitted have been compared to vans without over a certain period. The vehicles travel a wide variety of journeys, from in-town work to motorway travel and the speed limiter has been set at 70mph.

Continues Andy Preston: “It is too early to quantify them exactly, but savings in both CO2 emissions and finances should be significant and will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Our initial calculations show there has been a 13% improvement in mpg on the vehicles fitted with speed limiters versus the ones that weren’t. It’s difficult to judge the exact savings, but we have calculated average cost savings equate to £100,000 on our current annual fuel spend.”

Hewlett’s vehicles do many miles on motor ways and dual carriage ways. The speed limiter has shown to dramatically reduce fuel consumption, especially if drivers are going above the speed limit.

Industry tests have been conducted on a variety of vehicles at various speeds to see how fuel usage is related to speed. The results do vary but the common theme is that less speed = less fuel used. Research also suggests that if you want to cut costs, the optimum speed for most drivers is 56 mph.

Hewlett operates a fleet of 150 light commercial vehicles.