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My plan was to waste no time getting back into my groove of running round-trips from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, with some local runs sprinkled in on the Los Angeles side for some extra “easy money” to fill in my hours.  Getting back into an IDP (Integrated Detroit Powertrain) truck was a bit of a shock to the senses at first.  After running CNG-powered trucks for so long and always having to have the RPM’s up a bit higher, the lugging of this powertrain and smoothness was much different than I had become accustomed to for nearly 3 years.  To feel that this new engine likes to hang out around the 1050-1100 RPM mark, while still having plenty of power, was remarkable to say the least!  The biggest thing for me to try and get past was not pushing the throttle pedal past the “detent”, which after a week, I think I have finally got down pretty well.

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In the past I have struggled to attain numbers close to those of my fellow OTR Team Run Smart Pros.  Although I may never see 10 MPG sitting in hours of Los Angeles traffic each day and climbing Baker Grade and the humongous hill coming Southbound on I-15 from Primm, NV back into California, I would not be surprised if I can pull 8.5-9 MPG on several tank-full readings once I get used to driving this wonderful marvel of trucking efficiency!  The fact that I was able to squeeze 8.219 MPG out of my first week rings true that this truck was designed to better the numbers attained by its predecessor, the Cascadia Evolution, or as it is known now the Classic Cascadia.  Another remarkable fact is that I was not hauling “sailboat fuel” either, since I was not under 72,000 pounds for all but one of my loads and had minimal deadhead, planning my reloads only a few miles from my unloads.  It also happened to be that desert afternoon headwinds were in great abundance this week, which didn’t work towards my advantage in wanting to hit that 8.5 MPG mark!

There are a lot of useful tools I have found this past week while driving my New Cascadia that I hope I can use to push my numbers even higher, in an effort to prove to myself and others that local and regional hauling can be just as fuel efficient as OTR trucking.  It was not that long ago that I was piloting a brand new Cascadia Evolution and boasting of being able to reach 7-7.5 MPG on occasion in comparison to the higher numbers of my OTR counterparts, doing the same runs I am doing now.  If this is what I am able to do in my New Cascadia while still getting used to it, I can not wait to see what it does once I have it all dialed in and can properly utilize the full suite of tools that I have spec’d this truck with to help maximize my profitability!  Local hauling may not be as fuel efficient as OTR, but I aim to narrow the gap as much as possible!

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Jimmy Nevarez

Jimmy Nevarez is the Owner/President of Angus Transportation, Inc., based in Chino, California.  Jimmy pulls a 53' dry van hauling general dry freight for his own small fleet, operating on its own authority throughout all of Southern California and Southern Nevada.

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