06-11-2014

The more weight your van carries, the more fuel it will consume.

Every driver knows this.

However, many still routinely overload their vans, probably because this concept of an ‘overweight’ van seems quite subjective and intangible.

To help demystify this area, this article will give a quick overview of the research findings made by Cenex and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

The VW Caddy and the Peugeot Boxer

Cenex found that a fully loaded car-derived van such as the VW Caddy used 26% more fuel than when empty. They also found that by reducing the load by 150kg, the fuel saving was 5%.

With a fully loaded Peugeot Boxer - a larger panel van - fuel consumption was 33% higher than when empty. And a 150kg reduction in load size resulted in a 3% fuel saving.

Making these results a bit more tangible, consider this.

The Caddy has a 60-litre tank. And at, for example, £1.34 per litre, would cost £80 to fill up. A 26% reduction in fuel consumption would be a 26% reduction in your fuel costs, which is the equivalent of about £21.

Or put another way, driving an ‘overweight’ van is the equivalent of taking a £20 note out of your wallet, putting it on the ground, and walking away from it.

So keep this in mind when you’re next loading up your van, and see if you really do need it to carry all that weight.