Owens Road Services expects £10,000 fuel saving per Renault truck 16 August 2011

Owens Road Services has taken delivery of eight Renault Premium 460.25 6x2 tractor units, complete with the Optidriver automated gearbox—and expects to save £10,000 per year per truck.

The investment takes the South Wales-based operator's fleet to 225 vehicles, and follows a four-way competitive tendering process.

Contract hire firm Commercial Vehicle Solutions (CVS) was awarded the contract, with fuel economy of the Renault Premium and flexibility of CVS cited as clinching the deal.

Commenting on the evaluation criteria for the tender process, Barry Evans, purchasing manager for Owens says: "Fuel is our number one priority, it accounts for 38% of our operating costs and the excellent [economy] of the Renault Premium demonstrator was a key factor in our decision."

And he adds: "While some of our older vehicles are achieving between 7.5 and 7.9mpg on our double shift run from Llanelli to Midlands, the Renault demonstrator achieved 8.46mpg."

Evans calculates that the Renault Premium trucks could each save Owens up to £10,000 a year, operating a double shift.

"It's all about mpg," he says. "We spend £12m on fuel per annum, so we are doing everything we can to reduce consumption, by investing in driver training and better vehicles."

The Premiums are the first new trucks to join Owens' fleet since 2009 and will be used on a range of operations including steel work in Port Talbot and national distribution.

All the trucks will be maintained by Renault Trucks Cardiff.

Author
John Challen

Related Companies
Renault Trucks UK Ltd

This material is protected by MA Business copyright
See Terms and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the sales team.