Volvo to set up CV driver training centres with customers, announces India FuelWatch 2013 winner

Bangalore, June 19, 2013: Swedish commercial vehicle major Volvo plans to set up driver training centres in association with its customers as part of its driver-specific programmes in India.

At present, the company provides training by Volvo professionals to drivers at its driver training centre near Bangalore. Thus far, Volvo has trained 35,000 drivers in India both through its training centre and on-site training programme. If driver training centres are set up in association with its customers, this number of trained drivers could rise substantially.

Announcing the winner of fourth edition of the ‘India FuelWatch 2013’ at Volvo’s Indian facility in Hosakotte near Bangalore today, A K Birla, executive vice-president (Sales, Marketing & Aftermarket), VE Commercial Vehicles said the company owns a driver training centre with a track at its factory premises near Bangalore. “We are planning to create such driver training centres in association with our large customers to train the drivers. We have identified 2-3 potential customers for this,” he said. Some of the company’s customers operate fleets of up to 300 trucks at mining sites. Thus far, the company has sold around 9,000 heavy duty trucks in India.

Meanwhile, the company has been conducting FuelWatch competition for Volvo drivers since 2010 to select the best driver in terms of saving fuel and driving the vehicle safely and efficiently. The purpose of the programme is to promote both financial and environmental advantages of fuel-efficient driving. This competition aims to acknowledge and reward drivers, who are central to minimising fuel consumption, said Birla.

More than 50 percent of operational cost comes from fuel and the driver has control over saving fuel while driving the vehicle safely. Drivers play a crucial role in overall profitability from the trucks.

In the current season of FuelWatch 2013, 16 drivers from Volvo’s key customers participated. The truck driving competition was held at the public-sector coal mining site, WCL Coal Mine, Naigaon, Chandrapur in Maharastra for two days on June 11-12.

Each of the drivers drove two Volvo tippers – FM 400 8x4 and FMX 440x 8x4 with load and without load for a stretch of around 20km. Atul Pandey, representing heavy duty mining truck operator S S Chhatwal & Co, was adjudged the winner with Varinder Singh of Ranjit BuildCon as the first runner-up and Tileshwar Prasad of Rungta Projects as the second runner-up.

The difference in fuel consumption between the highest and lowest fuel-efficient driver this year was a whopping 24 percent. According to Birla, that emphasises the point that “a good driver can make a lot of difference.”

The winner will participate in the Asian Volvo drivers competition to be held in Australia in October this year; the winners from this competition will participate in the global final competition to be held in Sweden in mid-2014.

JAISHANKAR JAYARAMIAH

Photograph: A K Birla, executive VP (Sales, Marketing & Aftermarket), VE Commercial Vehicles (third from right) and other Volvo officials at Volvo’s driver training centre near Bangalore.