Improving bad driving habits can lead to fuel savings in military vehicles.

• Author: Beidel, Eric
• Position: Tactical Vehicles

The Defense Department has been putting increased emphasis on fuel efficiency, but officials are finding out that saving on gas can be quite expensive.

The military can't rely solely on total overhauls of vehicle engines and other expensive technology to save on fuel. These solutions take time and money which is getting harder to come by inside the Pentagon.

Increasingly, experts are focusing on smaller changes--both to the vehicles and how they are operated. This includes taking a hard look at who is driving them.

In the Marine Corps, the typical driver of a tactical vehicle is between the ages of 19 and 23 and has about the same amount of driving experience as any member of the civilian population at that age. But Marines most likely have not operated anything as heavy and large as a tank, said David Karcher, director of energy systems and counter improvised explosive devices at Marine Corps Systems Command.

The military has the difficult job of teaching young service members how to efficiently drive vehicles such as the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected variety that weigh more than 14 tons. The education has to extend from the steering wheel all way the back down the logistics tail, officials said. Marines are being taught lessons on everything from idling engines to how to properly load equipment to cut down on the number of vehicles needed in convoys and transport. They also must learn about selecting the appropriate equipment for the task at hand, officials said. For example, it would be more appropriate to move 10 cases of field rations using a Humvee rather than an armored vehicle that weighs more than 12 tons.

There are selective hardware changes the services can make here and there short of overhauling an entire vehicle or replacing its engine: low-rolling resistant tires, polished gears in the drive train, improved fuel injector systems and lightweight materials such as aluminum for some components. The Army is putting a Fuel Efficiency Demonstrator through tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. Using the Humvee as an example, the Army is trying different approaches and changing out parts on the demonstrator in an attempt to gain a 30-percent increase in fuel economy. Officials have found that every decision matters when seeking more miles per gallon.

"Simple things like tire selection gave us an 8.5-percent increase in our fuel efficiency," Grace Bochenek, director of Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering...