Understanding Fleet Data for Fuel and Energy Management
July 2, 2021 by Dionne Carlos
The Basics: Monitoring Energy Usage for a Greener Fleet
The move to sustainability is something we all recognize as necessary for our planet and future. Times can be challenging with technology and data constantly evolving rapidly. It is even more important than ever for fleets to utilize Fuel and Energy Management tools with gas prices at an all-time high. Since many data points are available to help track and monitor green fleet initiatives, it is critical to have the right tools to easily view, filter, and report pertinent data for a more efficient and greener fleet.
Fuel Data
Fuel is the most significant ongoing expense for fleet operations. Being proactive with fuel analytics is key to reducing cost, pollution, and emissions for a fuel-efficient fleet. With several assets spread over multiple locations, manually tracking fuel costs can be daunting. With a fleet management system, you can automate this process to manage fuel usage and cost, compare traditional and alternative fuel usage data and identify ways of improving cost and emissions. Being proactive on fuel management will have a tremendous impact on budgeting and provide valuable insight into your fleet’s fuel economy, which can aid in a buying strategy for either electric vehicles or fuel alternatives.
EV Data
Like a traditional fleet, items that warrant repairs and miles traveled will still need to be monitored. In addition, tracking charging transactions, considering battery optimization under extreme weather conditions, and monitoring battery lifecycle will be on top of the list.
Be sure to look for a fleet management system that already provides solutions for tracking and monitoring energy consumption without a costly customization for data integration.
Tip: Data integrations and customizations can be costly. Choose a fleet management system with integration “add-ons” to help reduce the cost of Telematics and Fuel data integrations.
Viewing telematics data such as location, and alerts can help optimize the life of your electric vehicles. For example, location data can show if the EV was garaged at night and protected from weather conditions; alert data can bring in fault codes related to battery issues that automatically create necessary work orders or alerts against the asset.
Engine Idling Data
Engine idling causes additional costs from unnecessary wear and tear, reduces fuel economy, impacts air quality, contributes to climate change, damages engine components, and shortens the life of the engine.
If not monitored, it can become a bad habit and destructive to a green fleet operation. To help keep it under control, consider using this data in a training program rewarding drivers who idle less and providing additional training and encouragement to drivers idling above the norm.
The bottom line: whether you run a small to a large fleet, it should be a priority to reduce idling to run your fleet more reliably and efficiently. Be sure to leverage a fleet management system that allows you to view telematics data for meters to include engine idling.