{"id":2255,"date":"2020-02-18T01:47:27","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T01:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quicktransportsolutions.com\/blog\/?p=2255"},"modified":"2020-02-18T01:47:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T01:47:29","slug":"using-diligence-and-technology-to-reduce-your-fleets-fuel-consumption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quicktransportsolutions.com\/blog\/using-diligence-and-technology-to-reduce-your-fleets-fuel-consumption\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Diligence and Technology to Reduce Your Fleets\u2019 Fuel Consumption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fuel can put a large dent in a company\u2019s budget, being that it represents approximately 60% of a fleet\u2019s total operating costs<\/a>. It can be a difficult cost to pin down as fuel prices fluctuate depending on a variety of factors, leaving everyone at the mercy of the pump. Unfortunately, it\u2019s a necessary evil that all fleets must deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cost of fuel is by far the most obvious concern, but\nfleets also must take their environmental impact into account as well as\ncompliance with regulations, such as the greenhouse gas (GHG) and fuel\nconsumption standards for heavy- and medium-duty vehicles. The three above\nissues should be enough to motivate you to closely monitor how much fuel your\nfleet is consuming and then implement actions to reduce it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you can take action to become more cost effective and\nenvironmentally minded with your fuel consumption, you need to know where your\nfleet currently stands. You can do this by calculating your miles per gallon\n(MPG), prior to implementing any fuel saving measures. This helps to establish\na baseline for all your vehicles\u2019 fuel consumption so that when you do act, you\ncan see whether it\u2019s working or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low-Hanging Fuel Savings Fruit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you using a telematics solution to automatically measure\nyour fleet\u2019s fuel usage.? The reason for this is because it connects directly\nto a vehicle\u2019s engine, ensuring that results are more accurate than when you\nmeasure fuel consumption manually. Also, it packages the results into reports\nso it\u2019s much easier to get both the big picture as well as drill down to the\ndetails (for example, the fuel usage profile of a specific driver).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you are still on the fence about getting a\nsolution or want to go the manual route as well, start with these methods.\nFirst, select the vehicles you want to monitor and have your drivers fill up\ntheir gas tanks. Make a note of each vehicle\u2019s current mileage as displayed on\ntheir odometers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then have the drivers operate their vehicles as normal until\ntheir gas tank is approximately halfway. As soon as that happens, the driver\nshould fill up again and a note must be made of the updated odometer reading as\nwell as how many gallons it took to fill up the gas tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subtract the first mileage number from the second one. This\nnumber is the total mileage traveled on that amount of gas. Divide the number\ncalculated in step 3 by the number of gallons it took to fill up the tank. The\nnumber you will get is your miles per gallon (MPG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufacturers also provide their own fuel consumption\nfigures as obtained from laboratory tests. However, these figures rarely\nreflect real-world situations so don\u2019t rely on them to guide you. There are\nmany unpredictable things that come into play and no mile driven is ever the\nsame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n