Trucks make up a large part of how industry works in Australia. They do this by transporting good from location to location more reliably than most other methods such as trains (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002). This is because there are not railway tracks to everywhere in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002). Thus, there are many freight trucks traveling between the many capital cities in Australia. However, this commodity is not free, as there are many costs associated with truck such as their fuel and maintenance. Due to this, transport companies spend large amounts of time creating models which can be used to minimise the costs of each trip. An example of such a model is demonstrated below.
A trucking company runs
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Drivers wage = $25/h
Fuel = $1.30/L
Truck maintenance = $15/h
The truck consumes a single litre of fuel every 5km, however, this increases by 0.2L every 1km/h increase in speed after 110km/h.
Using this information, it is possible to calculate the cost of the trip, if the truck were to travel at an average 110km/h. The time of the trip can be found using the following calculation. Therefore, the total cost be determined by the following. Thus, the total cost of a truck running from Adelaide to Sydney traveling at 110km/h is $873.10. It is possible to change this equation so that it can be used for any speed. Analysing the equation above, shows that the truck drivers cost and the maintenance costs follow the same equation, cost * distance. Therefore, it is possible to make them part of a single equation as shown below (Where ). The variable x is used to describe the speed of the truck. Therefore, it is possible to use this equation to work out how much both the truck driver and truck cost per trip. However, that is not everything as there are also the costs of fuel. Per the information provided above, the truck uses a single litre of fuel every 5 km, however, this increases by 0.2 for every km/h above 110. Using this information, the following statement can be
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Therefore, a new limitation needs to be applied to the equation. Per the Australian road rules, the maximum speed that a heavy vehicle (truck) can travel is 100km/h (Roads and Maritimes, 2015). Therefore, the equation needs to be limited one more times as shown below. This model has many limitations, for example, it assumes that the truck will stay at the same speed for the entire trip. This is not possible as the truck must slow down when travel through towns and cities. Furthermore, it also assumes that the truck will travel straight between Adelaide and Sydney without turning. This again cannot happen as the road has many twist and turns and often detours. Thus, this equation is at best only able to estimate the costs of a trip, not determine the exact value.
There is a problem with this model for determining the cost of a truck trip between Adelaide and Sydney which is the fact the equation does not consider the trucks cargo. Similar to how increasing speed decreases the distance per litre of fuel, every freight that the truck must carry reduces its fuel efficiency by 1.2km per litre. It is possible to include this variation, as shown in the equation