Module IV - Fuel for thought: How to manage fuel consumption and slash fuel costs

Driver behavior has the single most significant impact on your fleet’s fuel consumption. If drivers are frequently speeding or harshly accelerating, your vehicles’ fuel tanks are sure to become depleted faster, requiring more frequent fill-ups.
 

Passive driving behaviors also needlessly consume fuel, such as idling. Idling occurs when a vehicle is turned on and sitting still without actively being driven. Employees may be idling in their assigned vehicles when completing tasks such as paperwork, eating or taking breaks.

Older or larger vehicle models can burn fuel faster than modern alternatives. If your fleet is highly populated with high-emission vehicles, your fuel consumption—and subsequent costs —may be higher than necessary.

Inefficient routing additionally contributes to expensive fuel costs. This can include schedules for your employees that involve driving at sub-optimal times of day, such as during rush hour traffic. Being stuck in congestion can burn unnecessary fuel and also lead to employee frustration and turnover, contributing to higher operational costs overall.

Failing to keep up with proper vehicle maintenance can additionally result in unoptimized fuel costs. Several maintenance practices that have a marked impact on fuel economy include regular tire rotations, tire air fill-ups, vehicle alignment, oil changes and air filter replacements. Ignoring key vehicle alerts like check engine lights also can cause fuel consumption to creep upward.

If you operate a government motorpool, requiring employees to meet in person for vehicle key drop-offs can waste fuel and time. It’s ideal to reserve fuel for other critical facets of operations, rather than unnecessarily burn it on scheduled key exchanges.

Define a time period you want to measure fuel consumption over.

Study fuel reports to identify your highest-emitting vehicles.

Analyze common speeding and acceleration tendencies by your drivers to see which are most responsible for high fuel usage

Examine idling data with custom reports for your fleet that break down instances of true idling versus operational idling. In certain cases, operational idling may be acceptable, such as when warming up a vehicle for use in frigid weather or to supply power for external equipment. Due to these key differences, it’s essential to filter out necessary versus unnecessary idling instances when curbing fuel costs.
 

Compare your fuel consumption metrics against like fleets (similar industry, size, vehicle models and usage patterns) to help you accurately diagnose where your fleet may be over- or underperforming.

Offer personalized and tailored driver support that emphasizes the reduction of speeding, harsh acceleration and idling. Set up designated one-on-one sessions between your fleet managers and your drivers to review their performance, identify areas where fuel efficiency can be improved and give encouraging coaching that drives meaningful, lasting change.

When assigning your agency’s employees new jobs, use a proximity-based approach for scheduling. Task employees with jobs that are all relatively close to one another to prevent longer distance drives that consume high amounts of fuel.

Improve routing by selecting the most optimal driving times to avoid heavy traffic. Driving on clearer roads allows your drivers to make better use of their fuel tanks and make less frequent stops at the pump to refuel, maximizing productivity.

Consider transitioning high-emitting or high-usage vehicles to electric or alternative fuel vehicles in a phased, cost-efficient way. Switching to sustainable fuel sources helps you reduce emissions and save money on gasoline over time.

Set rules in your telematics platform to alert you if any agency vehicles have idled for too long. Enable fleet managers to contact assigned drivers in near real-time to gently remind them of your agency’s policies around idling. For example, the Geotab GO TALK add-on allows your fleet managers to provide in-cab, spoken-word vehicle coaching on demand. Reduce costly fuel expenditures by reaching out to your drivers quickly whenever unnecessary idling is detected.

Monitor month-over-month total fuel consumption after implementing new policies or coaching methods. Study your current month’s fuel consumption compared to a previous month before implementing a new fuel-reducing strategy to see if it’s having intended effects.

In addition to fuel consumption metrics, track greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in your fleet. Back up the reductions in fuel consumption you’re noticing with verifiable proof of a smaller carbon footprint.

If your fleet is transitioning to EVs or even alternative fuel programs, determine the savings by subtracting the initial up-front investment by the fuel savings. For simplicity, use a tool such as Geotab’s Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA) to forecast potential savings from electrification.

Continuously monitor your fleet’s fuel efficiency and performance compared to your benchmarks. This will enable you to measure your fleet’s performance over time relative to like fleets and deduce where further adjustments are needed.

A successful fuel management program relies on buy-in from all aspects of your organization. During the course of your fuel savings journey, always ask for candid driver feedback on new coaching strategies and ideas on how to reduce fuel consumption. Making your drivers feel empowered, involved and listened to throughout the process helps everyone in your agency feel more engaged and motivated to drive efficiently.