Studies show that companies that install vehicle gps tracking devices reduce their fuel expenses by up to 13.4%. The savings thus generated far outweigh the cost of implementing a fleet tracking system. These systems can work in different ways to help with fuel cost reduction. This includes keeping track of speeding and excessive engine idling and preventing unauthorized vehicle usage.
Explore the different ways that GPS fleet tracking can help you reduce fuel consumption and save money.
Driver Behavior Monitoring & Engine Idle Tracking
Engine idling is a big contributor to unnecessary fuel consumption in fleet operation. Even if you have a few vehicles in your fleet, when engines run without covering distance, there is no productive benefit of burning fuel.
GPS tracking can help you monitor engine idling across your fleet. You can set up alerts for excessive idling to address the issue. You can implement policies to reduce any instances of unnecessary engine idling. Even for equipment such as generators, you can use idle tracking to optimize running times, ensuring they operate only when needed.
Besides tracking idle time, GPS tracking can also assist with driver behavior monitoring. When integrated with a telematics system, fleet tracking can help track different aspects of driving habits that affect fuel consumption. This includes:
- Over-Speeding: Driving at high speeds can dramatically increase fuel consumption.
- Excessive Engine Idling: As mentioned above, engine idling has a direct and significant impact on fuel wastage.
- Aggressive Acceleration & Braking: Besides wasting fuel, aggressive acceleration and braking can increase the wear and tear on your vehicles. This can further lead to increase in maintenance costs.
- Route Deviation: When drivers deviate from planned routes, it can result in unnecessary increase in mileage and fuel usage.
According to studies, when these driving behaviors are addressed, fleet operations can experience up to 33% improvement in fuel economy on highways.
Route Optimization
When powered by advanced algorithms, GPS tracking systems can help you plan optimal routes for your fleet. Such systems take into account different factors that affect fuel consumption. This includes:
- Road types, such as city streets and highway
- Real-time traffic conditions and patterns
- Vehicle-based factors such as fuel efficiency and load capacity
- Changes in elevation
Using such data factors, tracking systems can reduce the miles your vehicles have to travel. This can further boost productivity by enabling more jobs to be completed.
Detecting Fuel Theft
Gas prices have risen significantly over the past few years. Businesses that rely on fleets have felt the greatest impact. Even the smallest factor that increases fuel consumption across a fleet can have a big impact on your business’ bottom-line. Fuel theft is a big concern for fleet operators. Using vehicle GPS tracking devices, you can receive instant alerts if any activity seems suspicious. This can allow you to take immediate action.
Maintaining Accurate Records
Fuel is among the biggest operating expenses for businesses that operate fleets. The national fuel theft rate for gasoline-powered fleet operations is 3% of the total company fuel budget. While fuel management programs help manage fuel costs, these systems are only a part of effective fuel management. If you want to optimize the benefits of such systems, it is important to implement GPS tracking. Fleet tracking can make it easier to capture mileage and fuel purchase data and maintain accurate records. You can monitor the frequency of fuel purchases and explore cost-saving opportunities. Vehicle tracking systems can provide key info to fleet managers, such as the location of authorized fueling stations and route tracking reviews. All this data can make it much simpler to manage your business.
With fleet tracking, you can also bring an end to any instances of after-hours or unauthorized vehicle usage. These factors can cost fleets in the thousands, not just in the form of extra fuel costs but also in terms of vehicle wear and tear. The right GPS tracking system can alert you whenever your vehicles are used outside their authorized schedules or locations. Thus, there are many different ways that fleet tracking systems can help reduce fuel expenses.
