Improving Fleet Fuel Efficiency

At Certas Energy, we know fuel consumption is a top priority for fleet managers – especially because it’s one of the biggest expenses in the transport and logistics sector.

If you’re focusing on reducing fuel-related costs and your businesses’ environmental goals, improving your fuel efficiency is a great place to start. Let’s take a look at why fuel efficiency is important, best practice and how we can help.

What is fuel efficiency?

Fuel efficiency measures the distance a vehicle can travel on a single litre of petrol or diesel and shows the vehicle’s ability to convert fuel into distance travelled. It’s a really important metric for fleet operators as it contributes to their environment and economic goals.

Efficiency is heavily impacted by weight, speed, aerodynamics, and driving styles – but you can usually see an improvement through fuel-efficient driving and vehicle modifications.

How is fuel efficiency measured?

Typically, you can use metric data to measure fuel efficiency: litres per 100 kilometres (L/100m). This will give you a consistent comparison across various vehicle types and provide a critical metric for assessing vehicle performance.

A few different factors can affect your calculation, such as:
– Vehicle type, as different designs can lead to varying fuel needs 
– Weight, as heavier vehicles typically consume more fuel
– Tyre performance, as well-maintained tyres with optimal pressure can improve efficiency 

Why is fuel efficiency important?

Essentially, a fuel-efficient fleet is a more sustainable one. As your fleets’ fuel efficiency improves, you’ll reduce carbon emissions – and be more likely to comply with environmental standards.

Fuel is also one of the highest expenses for haulage operators, making it a primary driver of profitability. Increased fuel efficiency can significantly reduce your overheads, especially for large fleets.

How can fuel efficiency be put into practice?

There are a few factors to consider when trying to improve fuel efficiency.

– Route planning to help drivers avoid traffic congestion and construction zones, as well as weather checks to ensure driver conditions are stable 
– Monitor driving behaviour like speeding, idling and harsh breaking
– Track fuel usage so you can see any areas that require immediate action
– Ensuring that tyres are in optimal health, with no slow leaks
– Complete regular maintenance to make sure all vehicles are in a great condition

Fuel efficiency methods

To create a fuel-efficient fleet, you need insights about your fleet’s fuel consumption that you can use to build a successful strategy. There are a few actions you can implement in your strategy:

Real-time insights
Using an integrated fleet telematics solution, like FuelTrace, helps track vehicle and driver performance to support effective fleet management. You can access location tracking, improve fuel efficiency, implement geo-fencing, and reporting.

Analyse fuel usage
Using a management dashboard like the one on FuelTrace gives you access to historical data – making it easy to spot any standout trends. This can help you identify where to focus your efforts, such as vehicle performance, driver coaching or route optimisation.

Professional navigation
Ensuring your drivers are on the most efficient routes can have a huge impact on fuel usage. Tracking your vehicles’ movements in real time with FuelTrace allows you to allocate jobs based on proximity to location – saving your drivers time and fuel.

Driver coaching
Keeping your drivers up to date with regular training can improve fuel economy as well as safety. Ensure they know how to anticipate traffic to maintain momentum, reduce harsh braking and acceleration, and minimise idling.

Regular vehicle maintenance
When your fleet is running at its best, it’s naturally more fuel efficient. FuelTrace has automatic defect and maintenance reporting that can reduce road accidents by up to 20%. By knowing when your vehicles are due a service, repair or MOT, you can avoid unplanned downtime by dealing with small fixes before they become costly issues.

How can Certas Energy help with fuel efficiency?

At Certas Energy, we understand what a huge impact fuel efficiency can have on your business – both environmentally and economically.

FuelTrace is our integrated telematics solution that gives you full visibility of vehicle activity, supporting efficient and effective fleet management. You can use it as a standalone solution, or alongside Certas Energy Fuel Card data, for a full view of fleet fuel expenditure and the most accurate MPG measurements on the market.