Five ways to cut fuel costs
Barney Goffer, UK product manager at Teletrac Navman UK, explains how proactive fleet fuel management can help reduce outgoings
Running costs, fuel in particular, is one of the main challenges UK fleets face today causing fleet managers to continuously look for cost control and fuel management strategies.
As such, now, more than ever, there is a need for proactive fuel management and monitoring, regardless of the fleet size. Implementing fuel efficiency programmes and leveraging telematics to better manage consumptions could provide major savings and help make a fleet more efficient across the board.
To effectively enact policies to cut fuel costs, it’s necessary to have an accurate picture of a fleet’s fuel consumption. In this scenario, only a detailed fleet fuel management system can provide a business with the information it needs.
Fleet fuel management basics
In order to create a fleet fuel management plan, you need actionable data. Measuring fuel consumption accurately is vital, as is consistent application across your entire fleet.
With standards in place, it’s possible to begin measuring fleet performance. Detailed data can help you establish baselines, which can in turn highlight anomalies in a fleet’s fuel consumption. This data also allows for the creation of improvement goals as well as the strategies necessary to achieve them.
Five ways to create a better fleet fuel management system with telematics
Fleet management software can provide many insights into your fleet fuel management beyond basic miles per gallon measurements. Here are some of the key metrics that vehicle software can track and the ways in which you can use these pieces of data to create a better fuel management system for your business:
1. Better route planning
Fleet management software simplifies the route planning process and, with real-time access to information, fleet managers can strategically avoid traffic and other delays that can increase time on the road.
In larger fleets with dispatch teams, access to real-time information can allow for better job assignment. By assigning jobs or deliveries to the nearest drivers, the number of travel miles can be significantly reduced.
2. Reducing idle time
Unnecessary idling increases a vehicle’s engine wear and wastes fuel. The DfT continuously reports that unnecessary idling in HGVs wastes significant fuel, increases operating costs, and leads to higher emissions, with some reports citing estimates near 2L of diesel per hour for idling HGVs.
By tracking engine idle time, a fleet manager can more effectively enforce anti-idle policies among the fleet. When combined with better route planning provided by GPS tracking, more operation time can be spent in service rather than inefficiently running the engine.
3. Driver monitoring
Driver behaviour is a major factor in fuel economy. Speeding, aggressive driving and other poor driving habits are not only driver safety concerns, but inefficiencies too.
With fleet management software, operations managers can use driver scorecards to quickly and accurately identify concerning trends within their fleet. This can lead to more effective training opportunities, development plans and performance goals. With data, managers can see if improvements are being made or if further training is needed.
Conversely, fleet management software can also identify safe and efficient drivers within a fleet. These drivers can then be recognised for their work and rewarded with increased compensation or other incentives.
4. Vehicle condition monitoring
Vehicles that are not in optimal condition can often be a source of unnecessary fuel waste. Poorly inflated tyres, loose fuel caps and vehicle damage can all lead to poor fuel economy and increased ownership costs.
Pre-trip checklists are a key piece of any fleet fuel management system. By identifying problems in real-time, managers can address small inefficiencies as they arise, keep operations running smoothly and conveniently capture data for increased visibility.
5. Better service schedules
While vehicle monitoring systems can identify unexpected problems that arise during normal operations, consistent maintenance schedules can reduce the frequency of these inconvenient events. Additionally, a well-maintained vehicle can operate at maximum efficiency to help fuel dollars stretch farther.
Telematics can provide automated maintenance schedules for all fleet vehicles to ensure optimal maintenance. With effective maintenance schedules, vehicle wear-and-tear is minimised and the likelihood of costly downtime from significant mechanical problems is reduced.
With no immediate impact to high fuel prices other than a freeze on tax increases in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, controlling fuel costs is an operational necessity. While some companies may only see smaller margins, others may face uncertain futures without a way to manage fuel costs, making fleet fuel management systems an important investment for companies big and small.
