Conti Talks Fuel Savings With Fleet Managers

Continental Tire North America recently offered truck fleet customers the chance to go inside the complexities of fuel efficiency during the tyremaker’s “Beat the Best” fuel savings workshop at its proving grounds in Uvalde, Texas. Fleet executives from both potential and existing customers learned about all the factors that impact truck tyre fuel efficiency, said Clif Armstrong, CTNA’s director of truck tyre marketing, including tyre-, vehicle- and driver-related aspects.

“While originally conceived as a fuel savings competition, ‘Beat the Best’ today is more than just a contest,” Armstrong said. “It represents everything that Continental can do to help our fleet customers lower their driving costs, including education and evaluation.

“At the ‘Beat the Best’ workshop in Uvalde, we gave fleets a thorough understanding of the factors that affect fuel efficiency and how their truck tyres are an integral part of the equation. Our goal was to demonstrate in the workshop, and out on the track, that fuel savings is not only the most impactful strategy to lower driving costs, but that it is more easily attainable than they might think,” Armstrong said.

The “Beat the Best” workshops included a presentation and question/answer session from Continental truck tyre research and development, who discussed the aerodynamic, driving and rolling resistance factors that work together to determine a truck’s fuel consumption. The engineers also discussed potential technologies being pursued that could further decrease rolling resistance without sacrificing durability.

Continental also performed fuel consumption tests on competing brands, including retreaded medium truck radials. (Tire Review)