The Fleet Business Authority
Issue link: http://heavydutytrucking.epubxp.com/i/221397
Tires&Wheels; Adopting tire inflation systems PHOTOS BY JIM PARK ATIS and TPMS do more than prevent good tires from coming apart. ROI also includes improved fuel economy, longer tread life and higher casing value. Why are adoption rates for proven fuel-saving technologies so low? It looks like a classic case of stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime. t Talk about perseverance. Pressure Systems International is celebrating 20 years in business this year. PSI began pumping its automatic tire inflation systems into the market in 1996. Since then, with about 675,000 units delivered worldwide, PSI Executive Vice President Frank Sonzala estimates the company has captured maybe 25% of the total available trailer market in North America. Sonzala says the first years in the market, 1996 to 2004, were challenging. Fuel was still relatively cheap, and tires were too. Few but the really forward-thinking fleets even let him in the door, so to speak. After partnering with Meritor in 1999, it was another four years before things began moving. Since 2005, except for the Great Recession, the graph has been climbing steadily. While PSI deserves credit – as would any company – for remaining in business 20 years, it's shocking that a product with relatively tame upfront costs that can save fleets money in so many ways has taken so long to catch on. deep fleet survey and dozens of follow-up interviews, NACFE identified five key bottlenecks to nationwide implementation of available technologies that could deliver thousands of dollars in fuel savings. The The doors are opening up more easily today than they once did. It was data that made the difference. The story is similar at all the suppliers of tire inflation and pressure management systems, not just PSI. In July, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, in partnership with Cascade Sierra Solutions, released a report called Barriers to the Increased Adoption of Fuel Efficiency Technologies in the North American On‐Road Freight Sector. Using results from a hundreds- first report, focusing on tire pressure monitoring systems and automatic inflation systems, cites a lack of credible information on payback as the largest hurdle. That was followed by a lack of access to capital, insufficient reliability, the high initial cost of trucks and unavailability of technology. The pool from which the NACFE survey drew its conclusions contains 40,000 tractors and about 60,000 Jim Park • Equipment Editor 56 HDT • DECEMBER 2013 www.truckinginfo.com