Lillibridge Transportation has won the Continental Tire North America fuel savings contest after averaging 7.01 mpg while using Continental tires.
The "Beat the Best" competition was open to fleets in all NAFTA countries. The contest required fleets to track fuel consumption and mileage on two comparable trucks with comparable applications, one equipped with Continental HSL2TM (heavy steer long haul) and HDL Eco PlusTM (heavy drive long haul) tires and one equipped with new tires from any other brand. Each truck had to travel at least 10,000 mi. during the 10-week contest.
The winning fleets reported a average of 0.42 mpg increase on the trucks operating with the Continental tires, the company said. Overall, fuel consumption was 6.39 mpg.
Lillibridge was also the Midwest regional winner. Other regional winners included: Houff Transfer, Inc. of Weyers Cave, VA (north region); Southern Cal Transport of Birmingham, Ala. (south region); BJ Trucking of Phoenix, Ariz. (west region); Scotlynn Commodities of Vittorio, Ontario (Canada) and Transportes Unidas Mexicanos (Mexico). Regional winners posted an average mpg of 6.74.
Four staff members from Lillibridge, a dry goods long-haul and regional fleet from Urbana, IA, will receive a trip to the ContiSpeed event near Charlotte, NC, with opportunities to participate in autocross, karting and stock car driving at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
"We were able to run the Continentals from coast to coast in rain, snow and ice and we were impressed by how they were able to perform," said Robert Tucker, fleet maintenance manager. "I also had the drivers collect a lot of data that I requested including idle time, weight and cruise usage, so we were able to pattern our drivers’ fuel mileage to their location, weather and load. The result was that with the Continental tires, our driver was able to increase his mileage but his driving style never changed."
