3 Ways Fleets Can Reduce Fuel Costs
Fuel costs are a large part of fleet operating expenses and are highly volatile. To be precise, they make up over 60% of a fleet’s total operating costs1. As current gas prices have elevated beyond pre-pandemic levels and are amongst the highest retail gas prices in the past 5 years2, fleet managers are challenged to reduce fuel costs and keep their business profitable. Here are 3 ways that fleets can save money by decreasing fuel costs:
1. Use hybrid vehicles or clean diesel engines
One logical way to reduce the amount you spend on fuel is to use vehicles that need less fuel to run themselves. As technology advances and the transportation industry makes larger efforts to be greener and more environmentally friendly, hybrid vehicles are becoming a more popular choice for fleet owners. These vehicles run more miles to the gallon, which means fewer stops at the gas station and an overall lower operating cost.
2. Improve driver performance and behavior
Seeing as retail gas prices are not in our control and, once on the road, the amount of gas a specific vehicle requires is also not in our control, it begs the question of “What can I control to boost fuel efficiency?” Quite a lot, actually. Drivers and their behaviors have about a 30% impact on fuel efficiency3. Hard acceleration and braking, inconsistent speeds, reckless driving, and excessive use of A/C and other in-cab features contribute to larger fuel costs. Monitoring and reducing these behaviors, in turn, lowers operating expenses and makes your fleet safer and more profitable.
3. Reduce idle time
Long-duration idling not only increases fuel costs, but also hurts vehicle maintenance and engine life. The average truck idles about 1,000 hours per year4, which is valuable downtime that can be cut to reduce fuel consumption and reallocated to time spent driving. Reducing idling maintains better engine health and enables drivers to get more done per day. This involves having real-time visibility into each of your trucks and making adjustments to boost efficiency.
Making these changes in your business requires having the right data and insights to identify long-duration idling incidents, reckless driving behaviors, and maintenance issues. Fleet managers are leveraging telematics solutions to pinpoint these areas for cost savings and optimize their fleet. If you are looking for an all-in-one solution that gives you 24×7 visibility into your vehicles, helps you coach your drivers, and maximizes fuel efficiency, check out Spireon FleetLocate here.
Sources: