How to reduce your tractors fuel consumption
How to reduce your tractor's fuel consumption?
Fuel consumption can be a considerable cost to your business, especially when the price of petrol is rising. But if you can't reduce the price per litre, you may be able to reduce your fuel consumption by following our advice. In this article, we'll also highlight the tractor tyres we recommend for optimum fuel consumption.
How to reduce fuel consumption in the field
For field use, there are several ways to optimise your fuel consumption.
Adjust the tyre pressure
To ensure that your machine has good traction in the field, it's important that your tractor tyres are adjusted to the right pressure, i.e. the lowest possible pressure capable of carrying the load. Why is this important? Because with low pressure, the tyre footprint will be larger, which provides better traction. In doing so, you'll reduce slippage which uses unneccesary energy and will therefore reduce your fuel consumption
To do this, you can opt for tractor tyres with MICHELIN Ultraflex technology, such as the MICHELIN AXIOBIB2 tyre, which can operate at low pressure in the field.
Use a Central Tyre Inflation System (CTIS)
As road use requires a higher pressure than in the field in order to reduce your fuel consumption, you can use the CTIS (Central Tyre Inflation System) in order to easily adjust your pressures without leaving your cab when you move from the road to the field or vice versa.
If you don't already have one, you can get it from our affiliated company PTG, which has been an expert in this technology for over 30 years*: Contact CTIS expert
you can easily adjust your pressures with a ctis for an optimised fuel consumption
Make sure your tractor is ballasted properly and the weight is correctly distributed
Properly distributing the weight of your tractor according to its power and the implement being towed can also reduce your fuel consumption. To do this, you may need to add weight at the front, with front weight blocks for example. With the right balance, your traction should be optimised, avoiding unnecessary fuel consumption and saving you money.
Not sure what your tractor's load is? Take a look at our MICHELIN AGROPRESSURE tool: in just a few clicks, it estimates axle loads for you thanks to its database of over 9000 tractor and implement data. So, without needing an axle scale or weighbridge, you can inflate your tyres to the optimum pressure for your load and optimise your fuel costs in the field.
Keep an eye on tyre wear
The less a tyre is worn, the greater the height of its lugs and the better its traction performance.
If you use your tractor mainly in the field, where traction is essential, it is important to check the wear of your tyres and replace them before wheelslip becomes excessive which can led to excessive fuel consumption.
Make sure your tractor is properly ballast
How to reduce fuel consumption on the road
Adjust the tyre pressure
While pressure should be low in the field to improve traction, on the road it's the other way round: for the smooth surface of asphalt, low rolling resistance is preferable so as not to consume more fuel than necessary. To achieve this, we recommend increasing the pressure above that in the field.
Reduce your speed
As with passenger vehicles, the faster you drive, the more fuel you consume. There is no obligation to drive at the maximum speed you are limited to by the road regulations or by your load.
You can save fuel by driving a little slower. This will make your journey slightly longer, but it will reduce your fuel consumption. The savings may seem minimal for each journey, but when added up over the year, they can be significant.
reduce your speed on the road to reduce fuel consumption
Which MICHELIN tractor tyres for a stractegic fuel consumption?
At Michelin, we have studied the needs of farmers in order to offer them a range of tyres that are suited to their specific use, providing the expected performance and required fuel consumption. Depending on your usage, click on the suitable tyre below to find out more.
If you spend most of your time in the field, sometimes in difficult conditions, and are looking for optimised traction and production
If you spend 80% of your time on the road and 20% in the fields, on grounds that are not too difficult:
If you need a tractor tyre that offers a good compromise between performance on the road and in the field:
*Compared to non VF (Very High Flexion) tyre
STAY TUNED
TO THE LATEST NEWS FROM MICHELIN AGRICULTURE!
By providing your email address and clicking on "Send", you agree to receive news and information from Michelin.
You can unsubscribe at any time.
For information on how we process your personal data including on data security, data retention and lawful processing bases, please see our Privacy Policy.
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
Without these details, we cannot process your request.
We are delighted to have you among us.
Need more advice? Discover our tyre choosing guide.