1. Train and Educate Your Drivers: It starts with the people who have their foot on the gas pedal. Your drivers can control fuel consumption each time they fire up their engines.
Proper training can improve fuel efficiency, economy and emissions. Hard acceleration, speeding and idling are the biggest causes of fuel waste, so initiate a training course for drivers and reward their participation.
2. Decrease Idling: Be aware of the time engines idle. Excessive idling adds to your fuel costs by as much as 50 percent, and can shorten the life of engine oil by 75 percent.
Allowing an engine to idle more than three minutes causes expensive damage that can harm efficiency, shortens engine life and increases maintenance costs. It all adds up, so begin a campaign to reduce idling time.
3. Start Off Slower: Another lesson your drivers must be taught is that jackrabbit starts waste fuel and save less than three minutes per hour driving, but they can result in using 40 percent more fuel while increasing toxic emissions by 400 percent. What’s the rush? Ease up on the gas pedal and your efficiencies will improve.
4. Slow Down: Speeding is not only dangerous, but it wastes fuel and creates higher levels of toxic emissions. Speeds of more than 60 miles per hour drastically impact fuel efficiencies. For example, cars traveling at 75 mph use 20 percent more fuel, while trucks traveling at 75 mph use 50 percent more fuel, and also emit 100 percent more carbon monoxide, 50 percent more hydrocarbons and 31 percent more nitrogen oxides.
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5. Lose Weight: Excess weight places unnecessary strain on your vehicle’s engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency. By removing as little as 100 pounds, you can significantly improve your gas mileage. Check each vehicle and ditch the unnecessary weight.
6. Use a Fuel Management System: This is the most powerful way to lower fuel costs and increase productivity. Available systems range from basic onsite refueling, which saves up to 20 minutes in wasted time and fuel each day, per vehicle; to automated fuel tracking, which details every gallon pumped into every vehicle by date, time, quantity and fuel type; to telematics, which measure overall fuel efficiency, vehicle performance, track fuel waste due to idling and speeding, and can identify critical areas to improve efficiency and reduce fuel costs and emissions. The technology exists, so you can stay on top of your fuel consumption – one vehicle at a time.
7. Upgrade Your Fleet: Whenever possible, invest in modern, fuel-efficient vehicles. Modern diesel engines are far more fuel-efficient and perform better with modern diesel fuels such as ultra-low sulfur diesel and biodiesel. Though it may seem expensive, new diesel vehicles can save thousands of dollars in maintenance and fuel per vehicle. Measure each piece of equipment for fuel efficiency and get rid of the bad ones. Replace and upgrade your equipment regularly. It may hurt now, but it will pay off in the long run.
8. Tune up Vehicles Regularly: Do you have a stringent, well-managed maintenance policy? Many companies “fix it when it breaks” but this attitude costs too much in wasted fuel. A well-maintained vehicle performs better, improves fuel efficiency, reduces toxic emissions and, in the end, will cost less to maintain.
9. Pump It Up: Proper tire inflation improves gas mileage. At 4Refuel, our statistics show improperly inflated tires can cost up to two weeks worth of fuel per year. How big is your fleet? Two weeks per year per vehicle adds up to thousands of dollars in lost profits. In addition, proper inflation results in improved vehicle and braking performance, and increased tire life.
10. Implement Advanced Mobile Asset Management Technology: Wow, that’s a mouthful, but you can measure and manage your fleet better when you have the right information.
The ability to track miles traveled, average speed and engine efficiency is critical to cutting fuel costs. This information will help your drivers and managers optimize routes with better planning. Mapping and global positioning system software will eliminate thousands of unnecessary miles per week; and less time on the road means less fuel consumed, less wear on vehicles, decreased expenditures and an overall increase in productivity – not to mention lower toxic emissions.
Once you have made a total commitment to managing your fuel better along with changing some of your bad fuel habits, results will soon follow. Stick with it!
Jack Lee is the CEO of 4Refuel Ltd., a franchised fuel management business.
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