How much fuel does an APU use?

I see some carriers go with automatic transmissions because they say it's better fuel economy. The initial cost, cost of repairs seem to be high, much more then a manually transmission.

At the same time, they don't invest in a APU that can also save them money.

 

If you said it I missed it
But idling an emissions truck has a ton of other issues like plugging the Dpf

And. If you park your truck for any amount of time while home etc it will keep everything charged up

 

Those companies also don't allow idling the truck and say screw the driver. They aren't losing money by not having an APU, they just aren't spending it at all.

 

They want one size fits all minimum skill required trucks. Coming out and saying "we dont care who or what drives for us and just want warm bodies" is a bad look. So they instead say "better fuel economy" any neandrathal with at least a single functioning brain cell can drive an auto, it takes at least the cordination of a drunk brain damaged chimp with cerebral palsy to drive a manual. Most new drivers dont even live up to that towering bar.

I didnt i more implied it then anything. That said yup. You do NOT want to idle a def truck more then absolutely nessesary. Thats how you get the red light of doom.

 

Show me a manual transmission truck that can get over 9 mpg at 78-80,000 lbs going 65 mph.

They *do* get better fuel economy, period.

 

Ok. this was my frog running my friends van trailer for a few days as a favor.



It averaged about 10 for the few days. Granted when i got my end dump on its closer to 6.5-7.5 depending on where im at. If you dont drive a manual like a moron they work nearly as good as an auto at a fraction of the price to maintain.

Oh and before you ask i was averageing about 72K

 

The automatic can do one thing that you legally cannot do: e-coast. It basically drops into neutral going downhill until you exceed the set speed by a preset margin (ours are 5 mph). Only then will it engage the transmission again and apply the engine brake if needed. If the hill is mild enough, it can coast from 65-69 mph and then slowly back to 65 without using any more fuel than idle.

Basically a legalized version of a Georgia Overdrive.

And I don't believe readouts on the dash, as they are notoriously wrong. Fill up, drive, fill up a second time. Take the miles driven and divide by the second fill. That's your real fuel economy.

 

I do, i have a 5 inch notebook i write down mileage every fillup, how many gallons and the miles i got for taxes, also write down my weekly average and monthly in the back. Also have my hub temps, tire temps and depth, axle temps, turbo temps and block temps via laser. the pic was more a case in point. My average is 6.8 for my dump over the last 3 months. and that week was 8.7 with the days with the van at 10.2. And yes autos ecoast but again if you drive a manual right they are nearly as good as autos.

Diffrence is even a brain dead chimp can get good auto mileage. A manual requires work.

 

Exactly.

A few weeks ago, I posted the last month's weekly fuel economy of 2 2021 trucks in our fleet, one unit apart, same date of manufacture. One driver was getting 9-11 mpg, the other 8-9 mpg.

The brain-dead one still got 8.6 overall, while the efficient driver got 9.5 overall for the month. Both hauling reefer, similar lanes, similar loads, similar weights.

 

So in essence you agree with my original point that companys buy autos because even an idiot can drive one while a manual takes more then a single functioning brain cell then? So why are we argueing?