Improve Fleet Fuel Economy With These Tips

Fuel consumption is one of the most expensive aspects of fleet management, especially as fuel prices continue to soar. And while you might not have control over the rising prices, optimizing usage can lower the amount of money you spend on fuel. Simple practices like maintaining your tires and filters can help in this regard.

By improving fuel economy, you can subsequently reduce operational costs and make your goods or services price-friendly for consumers. This boosts sales, shifts your bottom line, and ultimately translates to business profitability.

Here are five tips for improving your fleet fuel economy:

Perform Ongoing Fleet Maintenance

Regular maintenance helps determine minor or major faults that impede a vehicle’s fuel efficiency. For instance, if there’s a Volvo D13 engine in your fleet, it’s crucial to properly maintain your Volvo D13 DPF filter. The primary purpose of the diesel particulate filter (DPF) is to remove soot from the exhaust system through filtration.  

However, when diesel particulates accumulate in the DPF, it can restrict system flow and generate significant back pressure, which can cause various problems, including melted filters, plugged or cracked DPF, or worse, overall engine damage. So, to avoid such issues, you must embrace efficient cleaning practices. A properly functioning DPF reduces the energy required to power a vehicle, resulting in less fuel consumption.  

Here are other maintenance tips to keep your fleet in good shape:

• Maintain proper tire pressure: Under-inflated tires cause increased rolling resistance. This increases your vehicle’s drag, causing your engine to work extra hard and increasing fuel consumption. So, keeping tires properly inflated before trucks go out on the road is vital.
• Fix your fuel filter: Replacing and cleaning your fuel filter regularly prevents unnecessary strain on your engine and fuel system, improving fuel efficiency.
• Get routine oil changes: Fresh oil improves the lubrication of the engine parts, helping them run more efficiently with less work. Thus, it won’t eat up too much gas.

Most importantly, consider hiring a dedicated team of experts to maintain your fleet. These professionals can set up a strong upkeep program, helping you stay on top of your fleet’s maintenance needs and improving fuel efficiency.  

Leverage Fuel Tracking Technology

Fuel management software can help you monitor fleet fuel consumption in real-time and identify areas of improvement. Below are some of its incredible features:

• GPS tracking to track each vehicle on the road and provide real-time data on fuel consumption
• Monitoring systems that identify and communicate suspicious fuel consumption patterns, such as questionable fuel transactions
• Exporting data for further analysis, like examining and comparing driver fuel consumption patterns
• An online portal that enables instant access to valuable data anywhere and anytime provided there’s an Internet connection

Leveraging an automated fuel management system gives you a robust understanding of all fueling activities to optimize fuel efficiency. For example, tracking details like run and idle time can help you identify opportunities for improved driver training to reduce wasted fuel.

Choose More Efficient Routes

Choosing efficient routes is another effective way to improve fuel efficiency. Bypassing congested or accident-prone routes ensures minimal stops, increasing your miles per gallon. Fortunately, you can invest in route optimization software for efficient route planning. It uses algorithms and GPS tracking systems to streamline operations. It considers factors like fuel usage, traffic patterns, and weather conditions to plan the best routes possible.

The following are some best practices to consider when planning routes:

• Make heavy-traffic roads off-limits. However, if it’s the only available route, encourage drivers to work during off-peak traffic to minimize idling time.
• Go for routes with flat terrain. Those with complex topography, like uneven roads and hills, may consume more fuel. 

Also, opt for high-quality roads. Rougher roads can cause your trucks to burn more energy, increasing fuel consumption. 

Encourage Safe Driving

Aggressive driving habits such as harsh acceleration and braking waste fuel and wear out vehicle parts such as brakes and tires. Therefore, it’s essential to encourage your fleet drivers to adopt fuel-efficient driving techniques to improve fuel efficiency. These include the following:

• Avoiding sudden speed increases
• Using four-wheel drive only when necessary
• Minimizing idling
• Adhering to speed limits
• Using cruise control, especially on highways, to ensure a steady speed

Over time, the above driving techniques can significantly reduce your overall fuel consumption, reducing the strain on your business budget.

Eliminate Unnecessary Weight

Generally, heavy vehicles consume more fuel than lighter ones because the engines work harder. So, to improve fuel efficiency, it’s best to eliminate unnecessary weight.

Ensure your trucks only ship the necessary cargoes to their destinations. Also, note that your truck uses too much effort to carry an uneven load. For instance, if most of your cargo is located at the back end of the truck, this particular side will be heavier and use more energy to move. Therefore, distributing your load evenly is a good idea to boost fuel efficiency.

Conclusion

Reducing fuel expenses can significantly improve business profitability. So, if you operate a fleet of vehicles, looking into how you can improve fuel efficiency is crucial. The above are some strategies to help you achieve it—use them to your advantage!