Fuel savings of about 0.4 mile per gallon and minimal maintenance costs for Trailer Tail aerodynamic fairings are reported so far by Mesilla Valley Transportation, which last began retrofitting the folding boat tail devices to its trailer fleet.

About 650 of the carrier's trailers have been equipped with TrailerTails since last August and have logged over 8 million highway miles, said Jimmy Ray, executive vice president and principal. Mesilla Valley is retrofitting its entire fleet of over 3,500 trailers with the devices.

"The high durability and easy-to-operate TrailerTail has proven itself in the day-to-day operations of our fleet," said Royal Jones, president and CEO of Mesilla Valley. "If you multiply the benefits of the TrailerTail across the US long-haul trucking industry, the country would save over $2 billion in fuel costs annually.

"Our drivers and employees are proud to be part of a company which is constantly setting new fuel efficiency standards for the industry."

The carrier's savings are equivalent to 5-6 percent of its fuel bill, said Andrew Smith, CEO of ATDynamics, Inc., which supplies the product.

"Leading U.S. trucking fleets now recognize that rear drag aerodynamics is critical to fleet profitability during a time of volatile oil prices," Smith said. "Pulling a trailer without a TrailerTail will soon become as rare for a high mileage fleet as the box-shaped tractor of days-gone-by."

Mesilla Valley's experience has confirmed projected fuel economy improvements of 0.4 MPG or greater, based on controlled on-road testing procedures, driver fuel log tracking and engine fuel data, Ray said. He also reported that:

* During the first 8 million miles of TrailerTail usage, over 60,000 gallons of fuel, or approximately $180,000 at $3.00 per gallon, was saved by Mesilla Valley Transportation. During the same time period, the total cost of all TrailerTail replacement parts and labor maintenance costs was less than $500.

* TrailerTails were deployed on trailers operating in all 48 states. Over 1 million miles of the on-road sample were logged in harsh winter conditions.

* Average installation time for a device done by two people is 45 minutes.

Eight to 12 TrailerTail retrofits are done per day at facilities in El Paso, Texas, making it the largest retrofit program for the product, Smith said. The program will reduce fuel expenditures by millions of dollars annually while creating dozens of "green" manufacturing and equipment installation jobs in the United States.

TrailerTail has been proven in SAE J1321 third party testing to reduce fuel consumption of tractor-trailers by 6.6% at 65 mph, Smith said.

Made in the USA and verified by the EPA SmartWay program, the TrailerTail Model 2011, the company's latest product, has state-of-the-art aerodynamic design, made of ultra-light and high-durability thermoplastic composite materials. The product was approved for operation on U.S. highways with no length penalty by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2008.