Green Driving Tips To Help Save Money While Moving Your Food Truck

Driving technique has a lot to do with your fuel economy. By modifying some of your driving habits, you can increase your food truck’s fuel efficiency and use less gas, bringing monthly fuel costs down. So how much can you save? With the simple green driving tips we’ve put together, you can increase your food truck’s fuel economy a lot.

Green Driving Tips For Food Truck Owners

Drive green. Our first green driving tip is actually how you drive your truck. Avoid sudden starts and stops and go the speed limit. Not only does speeding and herky-jerky driving kill your MPG, it’s dangerous. As a general rule of thumb, keep your engine speeds between 1,200 – 3,000 RPMs, and up-shift between 2,000 – 2500 RPMs (if applicable).
Get rid of excessive weight. Eliminating weight can go a long way toward increasing your food truck’s fuel efficiency. Now, before you rip off your bumper, there are probably less drastic steps you can take. Do you have kitchen equipment you rarely use? Unless you’re going to use it on your next stop, remove it. The EPA estimates that for every extra 100 pounds your vehicle caries, it loses 2 percent in fuel economy.
Keep your tires inflated properly. Proper tire maintenance is an often overlooked way to increase your food truck’s fuel economy. The easiest way to use your tires to save money is to make sure they’re properly inflated. Tires that are under inflated negatively affect fuel efficiency.
Use bio diesel. Alternative fuels, like bio-diesel, allow an engine to run off of natural, renewable fuel sources like plant or animal oils. These oils, like peanut or vegetable oil, or even leftover french fry grease, have to undergo some processing to turn their fat into energy an engine can use, but once they do, they can power a standard diesel engine.
Cut out side trips. Minimize unnecessary miles by doing errands in in your truck. Use your personal vehicle (which in almost every case will be much more green than your truck) to drive anywhere other than the commissary or your next truck stop.

The Bottom Line

As a food truck owner you will be spending a lot of money initially to get on the road. Once you eventually get on the road, its time to start economizing on the other costs and make back some of that money. Green driving is one of these steps. Taking a green approach towards driving can help save money and a lot of headaches. Even if no one gets hurt in an accident, how green is it to get a new bumper or have your truck re-painted or re-wrapped?

Do you have any additional green driving tips? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section or social media. Facebook | Twitter

About the Author: Richard Myrick

Richard Myrick is an architect by degree (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan) who began his career in real estate development and architectural planning. In September of 2010 he created Mobile Cuisine Magazine to fill an information void he found when he began researching how to start a mobile hotdog cart in Chicago. Richard found that there was no central repository of mobile street food information anywhere on the internet, and with that, the idea for MCM was born. Richard also wrote the "Running a Food Truck for Dummies" available in bookstores everywhere and Amazon. You can reach out to Richard by email at: [email protected].