Fleet management has become a challenging profession with mounting pressure on the fleet manager. For most fleet managers, “green issues” are hardly taken into consideration. Today, it has become really important for any business to monitor their carbon foot print and work out strategies to manage it and reduce it.
Let us view this issue from two perspectives. First is the cost of fuel and second is the impact on the environment. Most of the times, cost of fuel escalates and companies have to spend much money on fuel. Fuel consumption contributes to environmental pollution. Environmental laws are focused on reducing environmental pollution.
A good fleet management with focus on cost cutback and reduction of the negative impact on environment can be achieved through careful planning. You must consider your fleet and its operation under two headings:
- The fleet which is the “fixed” element. Fixed in the sense that it can not be changed overnight and requires a long term planning for positive result.
- The way the fleet operates is the “flexible” element. This can be managed to save cost and reduce environmental pollution.
The fixed element can be managed by purchasing or leasing eco-friendly fleet. Your fleet replacement policy should have eco-friendliness as a core theme. Automobile manufacturers are in fierce competition to produce “greener vehicles”. Conventional combustion engines are being modified to save fuel and reduce environmental pollution. Manufacture of electric vehicles promises zero emission. You can take advantage of evolving technologies to work out solutions that will meet your needs. However, you need some vital information at your fingertips. You should know the distance covered by your vehicles on daily basis, the routes they ply and their activities on arrival. This information is obtainable through a vehicle tracking system. A vehicle tracker is an electronic device which provides information about the location of a vehicle where it is installed as well as easy traceability of the vehicle location. With a tracker, the daily activities of the driver can be monitored. This has a dual benefit. First, to ensure the driver operates within the company’s policy and secondly, for the security of the driver and vehicle.
You should also consider the government incentives aimed at encouraging greener fleets. These include subsidy on new vehicles and lower taxation on better quality fuel being used as well as free parking in designated centers.
A quicker method to get a good result is to tackle the “flexible” elements through eco-friendly operation of the fleet like:
- Job allocation and scheduling, which should be done wisely to reduce total mileage and environmental problems.
- An eco-friendly driving style aimed at saving fuel and reducing carbon IV oxide emission.
Smart scheduling can be achieved through adequate information. It enables you send the right person to the right job. Adequate information will help you know the current location and level of traffic. These factors will help you reduce idling time, total mileage as well as carbon IV oxide emission. A connected navigation system from TomTom WORK will help you achieve best results. Nearest and available vehicles can be selected for a job. Wasted mileage is avoided by analyzing historical trip data. Satellite navigation will help direct your drivers to the shortest route and the use of live information such as HD Traffic will enable drivers avoid traffic hold-ups and ensure you are on the optimum route. Yes, it is better to drive on a longer route if there is a heavy traffic on a shorter route. So, you use less fuel, release less carbon IV oxide and your journey is more predictable and ensuring accurate ETA’s for your customers. The TomTom Work connected navigation system is the needed technology for best decisions.
Driving behavior determines the level of fuel consumption and carbon IV oxide emission. Excessive speeding, heavy acceleration and breaking could have a lot of negative effect. The company should work out a green driving policy to be strictly enforced and adhered to. Tracking devices with built-in accelerometer will enable you monitor driving events and ensures that drivers comply with the set standards.
To help business organizations to conduct themselves responsibly, new technologies are developed within the vehicles, as well as in those that are used to manage the vehicles to ensure reduced carbon footprint. The best way to achieve this is to work out an easy-to-manage policy with clear KPI’s (key performance indicators) to monitor performance. With the daily KPI’s at your fingertips you are set to achieve set goals.
Thanks the Techstore Team