How Better Fleet Fuel Performance Saves Money and the Environment

One of the main contributors to the success of a company's fleet is its fuel performance. With fuel prices constantly on the rise and consumers paying more attention to a company's sustainability efforts, many fleets are looking for ways to save money, become more environmentally friendly, and boost their brand image. Here is how fleet fuel performance can save money and the environment.

What is Fleet Fuel Performance?

Simply put, fuel performance is a measure of the fuel economy of your fleet. It’s typically measured as the average miles per gallon (mpg) of your fleet vehicles in a year. The higher the number, the better your fleet vehicle fuel efficiency and the better your overall fleet performance is.

There are several ways you can improve fleet fuel efficiency. But before you start, you need to know what it currently is so you have a baseline. You can measure your fleet’s fuel efficiency by taking the total number of miles your fleet vehicles have driven in a year and dividing that number by the total number of gallons of fuel purchased in the same year.

Better fleet fuel performance helps the environment while saving you money. 

Save Money on Fuel Costs

As a fleet manager, you're well aware that the cost of fuel is one of the largest line items in your budget. In fact, fuel expenses can average up to 60% of a company's fleet operating budget. Managing the fuel efficiency of your fleet vehicles is one of the simplest and most effective ways to lower fuel costs for your fleet. 

You can accomplish this with effective fleet management software which includes idle reduction, customizable speed limiters, and adjustments to transmission shifting parameters. These features reduce the amount of fuel consumed by your fleet vehicles without having to manage driver behavior.

Improve Vehicle Lifespan

It can take years to recover the cost of a new fleet vehicle, so the longer it stays on the road, the better. By improving fuel performance, you can reduce wear and tear on your vehicles. This means fewer breakdowns and less frequent maintenance. It also extends the lifespan of your fleet, which reduces the overall cost of vehicle ownership.

Improve Fleet Productivity

Since better fleet vehicle performance reduces vehicle breakdowns, maintenance needs and vehicle replacements, a company's fleet will naturally be more productive. And a fleet manager can use the money saved by improved fuel performance for other investments in the company's fleet or employees. 

Here are a few things a fleet manager can invest that money into to strengthen their fleet:

• Newer, state-of-the art equipment or software that can improve fleet operations.
• Raises or bonuses to employees who have helped improve fleet fuel efficiency, which will make them happier and more productive.

Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions

It's no mystery that greenhouse gas emissions are wreaking havoc on the planet's climate. Any efforts fleet managers can make to reduce carbon emissions across their fleet can benefit both the environment and the sustainability of your company. Better fleet fuel performance and higher fuel efficiency reduces the amount of fuel burned per mile of driving. And less fuel burned means lower greenhouse gas emissions. 

For example, Comcast recently installed the Derive VQ platform across all their fleet vehicles. This included installing speed limiters, eco-adjustment, and idle reduction. In just 4.5 years, Comcast reduced their fuel consumption by 16.8 million gallons, and cut their CO2 emissions by 154 thousand metric tons.

Read more about Comcast’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction here.

Show Environmental Leadership

There's something to be said about being a trend setter, even in the field of fleet management. Companies that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability by improving their fleet fuel performance and efficiency practices can stand out as industry leaders. These fleet companies can set an example for others and improve its reputation as an environmentally responsible business.

Leading the way in sustainability can have the added benefits of attracting new employees and investors, making company shareholders happy, reducing waste, increasing productivity, and improving a fleet company's brand image.

Improve Brand Equity

Fleet sustainability isn't a trend. It's a necessary way to conduct business. In 2018, more than 90% of company CEOs said that sustainability was essential to success. And sustainability is deeply ingrained into the minds of modern consumers today and well into the future. In fact, a recent study found that eco-friendliness was as important as price and product features in consumers' decisions about what to buy. Consumers care about which companies are committed to sustainability and which ones are not. So it makes sense that there’s a connection between brand equity and a company's efforts to be eco-friendly.

The more effective you are at lowering emissions and the cleaner your overall fleet infrastructure, the more your brand equity will grow. One of the easiest ways to work toward lower emissions is by improving fleet fuel performance and fuel efficiency.

The Bottom Line

It's important to understand that fuel performance is not just about saving money on fuel costs--it can also improve vehicle lifespan, increase productivity and lower greenhouse gas emissions. By improving fleet fuel performance, you can show environmental leadership with minimal effort or investment.

Derive VQ is the customizable fleet management solution trusted by fleets for more than 25 years that improves fleet fuel performance and fuel efficiency. Derive VQ provides three key features that contribute to fleet fuel performance and efficiency: idle reduction, speed governor, and eco-adjustment.

• Idle reduction can significantly reduce the idle revolutions per minute (RPMs) of each fleet vehicle while it is stopped with the engine still running. This results in less fuel consumed and fewer emissions released.
• The speed governor limits the top speed of the fleet vehicle to match company policy, reducing fuel wasted from driving too fast.
• Eco-adjustment adjusts the fleet vehicle's shifting parameters, reducing the amount of fuel burned during acceleration.

All of these features contribute to better fleet fuel performance, saving your fleet money while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

If just 15% of the fleet vehicles in the U.S. used Derive VQ, we could remove so much CO2 emissions from the environment that it would be like removing 75,000 vehicles from the road. Learn more about Derive VQ’s 15% club.