fleet data

Fleets often need to be able to quantify a return on investment for their transportation-related sustainability initiatives, and the ROI can depend on several factors. Determining the ROI begins with understanding a fleet’s motivation. While some fleets pursue cost savings through increased fuel efficiency, others may be motivated by meeting corporate targets or customer and employee expectations.

Fuel economy improvements offer the most direct and measurable return for fleets. Burning less fuel results in reduced emissions and lower operating costs. Fleet operators can achieve fuel savings through a combination of equipment upgrades and operational strategies, such as:

Vehicle conversions: Some trucks in a fleet could burn more fuel than others, and replacing units or changing equipment specs could improve MPG.

Aerodynamic devices: Trailer skirts, tails and other aerodynamic devices can help improve gas mileage for over-the-road fleets. They are less beneficial in urban delivery operations.

Tire maintenance and selection: Tires significantly impact fuel efficiency and something as simple as proper tire inflation can increase fuel economy and reduce wear. Tires running just 10 pounds underinflated can impact fuel economy by as much as 1%. Fleets can also consider spec’ing low-rolling resistance tires depending on their application.

Idle reduction: Cutting down on idling can have an immediate impact on MPG. Understanding why drivers are idling, such as waiting for extended periods at customer locations, can help fleets identify solutions to reduce it. If idling occurs during driver rest periods, auxiliary power units, or APUs, can provide climate control and electronics without idling the main engine, saving fuel.

Adaptive cruise control: Adaptive cruise control automatically applies the brake or accelerator based on the driver’s following distance and reduces the need for sudden braking and acceleration.

Speed governors: Speed governors enforce a maximum speed limit, which can keep the engine operating at the optimal range and improve fuel economy.

Preventive maintenance: A well-maintained fleet ensures equipment works like it should, improving fuel efficiency. For example, air leaks cause the air compressor to run all of the time and worn brake parts or brakes that are out of adjustment can cause brakes to drag, increasing fuel use.

Network optimization: The greenest mile is one that isn’t run, and optimizing routes can help fleets reduce unnecessary mileage.

Backhauls: Filling backhauls helps fleets achieve better fuel efficiency on a freight-ton-per-gallon basis. It also allows companies to make better use of the equipment and drivers already on the road, essentially reducing the need for additional trips and eliminating miles.

Some sustainability strategies don’t deliver immediate financial returns but offer value by helping companies meet corporate commitments or customer-driven environmental targets. One option is transitioning to renewable diesel, a clean-burning, sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based diesel. It can be used as a drop-in fuel for diesel and is available in certain markets throughout the U.S.

For fleets that are willing to invest in a long-term solution, adding electric vehicles can contribute to overall sustainability goals. While Class 8 trucks often get a lot of attention, the logical place for many fleets to start is light- and medium-duty equipment.

How Penske Can Help

Penske can help fleets meet their sustainability initiatives and quantify their results through a wide range of reporting and solutions. These include:

Equipment specifications: Penske works with customers to spec the right vehicles for their fleets’ applications and goals. This can include the ideal size of equipment, onboard technology, APUs and tires.

Benchmarking reporting: Fleets can gain access to reporting and benchmarking tools through Fleet Insight™ and Catalyst AI™ to get specific information on fuel efficiency and equipment utilization, and to gain actionable insights to drive improvements. Fleets can look at specific assets and hubs and also compare their operations to similar fleets.

Network optimization: Penske Logistics provides value-based consulting to help fleets optimize their network as well as their routes.

Renewable diesel: Penske currently offers renewable diesel fuel at multiple locations on the West Coast.

Electric vehicles: Penske works with customers to determine where EVs could fit within their network, test EV technology, and validate an operational fit before a full-scale rollout. Currently, the Penske Truck Leasing EV Evaluation Fleet includes a variety of light, medium and heavy duty EVs.

Fleet data is becoming increasingly important in improving performance, managing costs and increasing efficiency, but data alone isn’t enough. Having the ability to analyze current and historical data turns information into knowledge that can uncover actionable insights. Artificial intelligence is taking data analysis a step further and mining enormous datasets to identify patterns and opportunities to improve that would be difficult for humans alone to spot.

Through Penske’s Fleet Insight™, customers can access the AI-driven comparative insights feature, Catalyst AI™. Catalyst AI analyzes hundreds of thousands of datasets and automatically identifies similar fleets so fleet managers can create internal benchmarks while comparing their performance to like operations. There are more than 20 reports within Fleet Insight and Catalyst AI and some of the most useful reports are related to fuel efficiency and utilization.

Improving Fuel Efficiency

Fuel is one of the most significant operating expenses for any trucking company, and even small improvements in miles per gallon can improve margins and sustainability. Several factors affect a vehicle’s fuel economy, from driver behavior and maintenance to idling time.

With Catalyst AI, fleet managers can view MPG for their fleet or by vehicle or operating hub location to see how certain equipment specifications, routes or freight impacts fuel efficiency. The system then compares the fleet’s average miles per gallon to those of similar fleets to help them better understand how they are performing. The system drills down to identify specific vehicles or hubs that are underperforming compared to internal and external benchmarks. More importantly, Catalyst AI recommends specific corrective actions fleets can take to improve their MPG.

Fleets can also run reports in Fleet Insight, Penske’s online customer portal, on idling and maintenance, including maintenance compliance and the status of vehicle maintenance, to help identify how those issues could affect fuel efficiency.

Driving Increased Utilization

Maximizing fleet utilization is one of the most effective ways for fleets to improve profitability without adding equipment or drivers. Utilization can be complex, and it is important for fleet managers to understand not only which equipment is being used but also afc how it is being used. Several factors impact utilization, including routing, load planning, drivers’ hours-of-service and maintenance downtime.

Catalyst AI lets fleet managers view their utilization performance and identify which vehicles are consistently underutilized based on key metrics such as vehicle type and age. It changes hourly and daily utilization to similar fleets and recommends steps to take to improve utilization, such as reassigning underperforming assets or optimizing preventive maintenance.

Turning Insights Into Action

To learn more about how Fleet Insight and Catalyst AI can provide new insights into fleet performance, contact Penske Customer Success at hello@penskecustomersuccess.com or 1-844-426-4555.

Penske Truck Leasing today launched the latest evolution of Catalyst AI™, the artificial intelligence engine transforming commercial fleet management. Built in-house and powered by over 100 billion data points and more than 300 real-time models, Catalyst AI marks a major leap in data-driven decision-making—from the individual vehicle to the entire hub.

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Fleets have data coming at them from multiple sources, including electronic logging devices and the engine.

When managed properly, information can be used to improve operations and increase efficiency. Otherwise, the vast amount of data can be overwhelming to private fleets, leading to paralysis by analysis.

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Fleet Insight™

Fleet Insight provides you with real-time data-driven insights to help you monitor every vehicle, move your fleet more efficiently, stay ahead of maintenance, customize reporting and make proactive decisions to keep your fleet and your business moving forward. You can:

With Penske Driver™, your drivers can easily complete daily tasks to stay safe and compliant. Tasks like logging Hours of Service (HOS) in a Penske rental and completing eDTR are made easy and paperless. You can even manage your drivers' access through a secure online website.

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With Fleet Insight™, Penske customers can manage their fleet on their own time. This tool provides you with real-time visibility, saving valuable time and money. You can monitor every vehicle and move your fleet and your business forward.

Learn more about how Penske customers are using Fleet Insight to effectively manage their fleet.

“Fleet Insight is the backbone of all of our Penske fleet discussions.” – Customer Case Studies, "Fleet Insight Guide"


Highlights include:

  • View and customize your dashboard
  • Invoice management through improved accessibility
  • Manage roadside assistance requests and maintenance
  • Easily report mileage for timely and accurate billing
  • Gain access to all rental documents, invoices and more
  • Get insights through comparative reports

Penske Driver is a free app, providing drivers with the tools to complete their daily tasks, and keep them compliant with the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate when in Penske rental trucks in the U.S. and Canada.

Today, Penske Truck Leasing announced the launch of Fleet Insight™, a proprietary website designed exclusively for Penske customers to save them time and provide visibility and control. Fleet Insight is part of Penske’s overall connected fleet suite of products, offering customers a connected, streamlined, and customizable home for their data.

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Today, Penske Truck Leasing announced the launch of Fleet Insight™, a proprietary website designed exclusively for Penske customers to save them time and provide visibility and control. Fleet Insight is part of Penske’s overall connected fleet suite of products, offering customers a connected, streamlined, and customizable home for their data.

[Read more...]Show less

Strategic decision making relies on data, and business leaders want to know they can trust the information they receive. The 2017 U.S. CEO Outlook published by KPMG reported that 49% of CEOs said they are concerned about the integrity of the data they receive.

Penske Truck Leasing collects a vast amount of information from its vehicles, which can be used to help fleets improve fuel economy, properly spec vehicles, improve operations and shape driver behavior. The data comes directly from a heavy-duty truck’s engine control module (ECM), and Penske executives have verified its accuracy.

“We did a fuel study, measuring everything from a fuel economy standpoint, such as road speeds and how much time we drove and the consumption of fuel,” said Mike Hasinec, vice president of maintenance support for Penske Truck Leasing.

The data was compared to information coming from the ECM, and Penske found that the data was 95 to 96% accurate. “As long as you can read the tea leaves, you can make a lot of good decisions,” Hasinec said.

Penske compiles data and presents it to its customers in a usable fashion. The ECM data can be used in several ways.

Improve Fuel Economy

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The reports Penske compiles include several line items that provide insight into fuel economy. Those data points include the gear in which drivers operate as well as how often the driver uses cruise control. “Most people will tell you if you use cruise control, you’ll get better fuel economy,” Hasinec said, adding that fleets could use the data to coach drivers that don’t use cruise control.

Reduce Idling

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Penske tracks the percentage of idle time. “Idle is literally a waste of fuel,” Hasinec said, adding that fleets can work with drivers who have a high idle time to change driver behavior.

Improve Safety

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Penske’s reports provide information on speeding, and fleets can create the bands they want to monitor. Drivers exceeding those bands could benefit from individual coaching.

The reports also capture information on hard braking, which most OEMs consider a deceleration rate of seven miles-per-hour per second. “If you decelerate at seven miles-per-hour per second, you’re on the brakes pretty hard and probably tailgating,” Hasinec said, adding that fleets can use the information to coach drivers.

Spec the Right Vehicle

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The ECM reports average drive load. “That is how hard the vehicle is working, and that tells you about the application,” Hasinec said.

The average drive load could vary based on the route or the weight of the truck, but the numbers can provide insight into whether or not the vehicle is well-suited for the application. “You can look at the data and figure out very quickly if we have the vehicle set up right from a road-speed standpoint,” Hasinec said.

Improve Utilization

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Data on engine utilization provide insight into the duration of the trip and the amount of time the vehicle was active. The information could help uncover inefficiencies and offer insight into whether the asset was being used to the best of its ability.

By digging into the data, a private fleet could uncover, for example, if a driver was delayed when stopping for fuel at a truck stop. If that is the case, Penske customers could choose to fuel at Penske locations. “There aren’t the same distractions at a Penske facility as there are at a truck stop,” Hasinec said.

Schedule Maintenance

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The engines in Class 8 tractors can have as many as 1,000 fault codes, but only 20 to 30 of them are mission critical, Hasinec said. Capturing and deciphering the fault codes can allow Penske and its customers to schedule repairs to maximize uptime and keep trucks moving.