There is no denying that semi-trucks and other freight movers consume a lot of fuel. When fuel prices are high, this puts pressure on transportation companies, the businesses they serve, and ultimately, the end consumer. You can find one way to ease that pressure and operate a greener fleet in a surprising place – your GPS location tracking service.
GPS location tracking offers many obvious benefits, including theft recovery, performance monitoring, route planning, and more. However, you might not have considered the ways it can promote fuel efficiency.
Part of any freight service is waiting. However, idling during pick-ups and deliveries is terrible for vehicles, air quality, and fuel consumption. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), “a long-haul truck idles about 1,800 hours per year using about 1,500 gallons of diesel.” Simply turning off the engine when loading or unloading, doing paperwork, talking on the phone, or sitting in stopped traffic can cut fuel waste.
Erratic doesn’t necessarily mean dangerous, just irregular or unpredictable. But regularity and predictability can save fuel. Practices like slow accelerations, gradual or rolling (legal) stops, maintaining a consistent speed, and keeping an adequate following distance to minimize unnecessary acceleration and deceleration all contribute to those savings.
And since aggressive or erratic driving is also detrimental to engines, that leads to a discussion of vehicle performance on fuel economy.
Regular metrics reporting related to vehicle performance helps drivers and fleet owners make better driving decisions. Measuring fuel consumption, throttle data, odometer reading, engine hours, idling time, and RPM provides insights into overall vehicle health and its effects on fuel efficiency.
Drivers should check tires regularly as part of routine maintenance, but a little help never hurts. Tire pressure can be a huge drag on fuel efficiency, and tire tread can affect driving performance factors like acceleration and stopping distance.
So aside from increasing fuel efficiency, what do these aspects of driver and vehicle performance have in common? You can monitor all of them using your GPS tracking service. From driver behavior and performance to vehicle mileage and maintenance intervals, electronic GPS monitoring can help save fuel, ultimately saving you money.