Did you know a truck tire that is 10% underinflated can add as much as 2% extra to your fuel costs, whilst also adding up to 1 ton of additional CO2 into the environment?
A whole fleet of trucks with under or over-inflated tyres will easily cost your business thousands of pounds a year from an avoidable mistake, while also adding extra CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Making important changes
As a palletised distribution company we are trying to make as many changes as possible to help our environment from unnecessary emissions. Last year we decided to look into how some of our small actions can have huge effects on the environment. A simple task such as ensuring our truck’s tyre pressure is correct was going to have a significant impact on our CO2 emissions.
We decided to get Michelin® to audit our tyres to help us understand the best possible way we can help our environment and wallet while keeping our drivers safe. After our audit process was completed we found we were able to save nearly £6000 a year from tyre pressure management alone which is a 25% saving on our yearly tyre spend.
Did you know? 89% of all goods transported by land in Great Britain are moved directly by road (but even the 11% that is not moved by road often needs road haulage to complete journeys to/from ports, airports or rail terminals).
Source: RHA
How to avoid extra costs
Tyre pressure can also affect your truck’s fuel consumption as it increases your rolling resistance, which in turn can add additional CO2 into the atmosphere due to the engine working harder. This can also affect the braking performance of your truck and insufficient inflation can increase your chance of aquaplaning.
Here are some of our top tips when it comes to looking after your truck’s tyres:
- When checking your tyre pressure, ensure the tyre is cold.
- Never deflated hot tyres.
- Remember always to check the pressure of your spare tyres.
- Under-inflated tyres and over-inflated tyres both have damaging effects. Ensure your tyres are at the correct pressure.
- Always use an accurately calibrated gauge to check your tyre’s pressure.
After being audited by Michelin® we have been able to save 1.06 tons of CO2 per year. To offset our emissions from our truck’s tyre pressure we would need to plant 6 trees.
The steps we are taking to reduce carbon emissions
To achieve this the following actions will be undertaken:
- Regular air pressure checks and rectification when necessary
- Improved casing management
- Retreading and regrooving of tyres
We are continually looking to reduce our carbon emissions with the goal of becoming carbon neutral. We are taking other important steps to reduce our carbon emissions, this is just one of the many ways we can adapt to help our environment. It’s important to us to leave a lasting impact on the world – that’s both the community we’re based in, and our industry!