Into the Clouds:
Today, rising costs are affecting every industry. Just walk into a local grocery store and the higher prices will make your eyes water.
Another commodity that has substantially increased in price over the last year is fuel. In fact, between 2021 and 2022, fuel prices increased by approximately 50%. While this is bad enough for individuals, any business that operates a fleet of vehicles is sure to be feeling the effects of the higher prices. Whether it’s a service-based HVAC business, a transportation and logistics company, or a public works department with fleets of city work vehicles, fuel is a necessary cost of operating that must be accounted for in budgets and service pricing.
The good news is that businesses that rely on fleets of vehicles can improve fuel efficiency by using a telematics solution. Telematics solutions incorporate GPS and IoT technologies to enable vehicles to be tracked and monitored in real-time. Many telematics solutions include engine diagnostics that provide insight into engine status (on/off), run time, speed, acceleration, and more. With full visibility into the status of vehicles and driving behaviours that use unnecessary fuel, businesses can work with drivers to improve operations and fuel consumption.
Let’s take a closer look at three ways telematics can help improve your fleet’s fuel efficiency.
Many telematics solutions provide alerts and notifications when a certain threshold making it easy for managers to monitor driver speed and acceleration. When an alert is received, managers or dispatchers can check in with drivers to quickly correct the issue. Not only does this real-time insight help to conserve fuel, but it also helps to improve safety.
It’s no secret that idling burns fuel. Sometimes it’s necessary when a driver is waiting to approach a loading dock, for example. However, many times idling is unnecessary. With a telematics solution, managers can monitor engine run time and understand when a vehicle is in use, stopped, or idling. With historical data available at any time, managers can also review vehicle use over a period of time to identify idling trends and patterns. With this information at hand, it’s possible to correct bad habits and provide guidance to drivers to prevent unnecessary idling and fuel consumption.
Another perk of being able to monitor the status of your fleet in real-time is the ability to better utilize vehicles. Not only by ensuring your drivers take the fastest route to their destination, but also by helping you make better planning decisions. For example, many telematics solutions include sensors that can track cargo volume in trailers. With this information, transportation companies can accommodate additional or last-minute pick-ups to reduce empty drive miles.
The cost of living and doing business is undoubtably getting more expensive with the cost of fuel being no exception. For businesses with fleets of vehicles, telematics solutions can help you correct driving behaviors that unnecessarily burn fuel as well as help you make better planning decisions to get more out of every mile.