Access and Track Fuel Data To Cut Costs, Gain New Insights
Monitoring fuel data and related metrics offers a wide range of benefits, from cutting costs and monitoring driver performance to getting ahead of potential maintenance issues.
Here are six ways monitoring fuel data can benefit fleets:
Cost Savings: Fuel is among the top expenses fleets face, and saving even pennies on a gallon can create significant gains. By closely monitoring fuel consumption, fleets can identify trends, inefficiencies and areas for improvement, such as optimizing routes, changing driver behavior and altering how they spec equipment.
Driver Behavior: Fuel efficiency is closely tied to driver behavior. By monitoring fuel data, fleets can evaluate individual driver performance related to fuel consumption and identify areas for driver training and coaching. Efficient driving practices such as avoiding sudden acceleration or braking, maintaining a steady speed and optimizing gear shifting can lead to significant fuel savings.
Proactive Maintenance: Fuel data can be correlated with engine performance metrics to predict potential maintenance issues before they become critical. Identifying possible maintenance issues early allows fleet managers to schedule preventive maintenance, reducing the risk of roadside breakdowns. Plus, well-maintained vehicles operate more efficiently, ensuring optimal fuel consumption and minimizing downtime.
Fuel Theft: Tracking fuel usage data can help fleets identify discrepancies over time. If particular trucks are using more fuel than expected or are refueling more frequently than they should, fleets can investigate further to ensure fraud isn’t occurring.
Regulatory Compliance: Commercial vehicles traveling between states are required to track and report fuel purchases and distance traveled in each U.S. state or Canadian province on a weekly or monthly basis to comply with the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), the International Registration Plan (IRP) and the State Weight Distance Tax.
Benchmarking: Benchmarking against established industry standards and similar fleets can provide valuable data and insights that help fleets understand how they perform and how they can improve. Measuring key performance indicators and comparing them to fleets with similar operations helps carriers set realistic goals and targets for continuous improvement.
Fuel Reporting Submission Methods
Penske Truck Leasing makes capturing and reviewing fuel-related data easy for customers. When drivers fuel at a Penske location or use a Penske-designated fuel card at a retail fuel station, fuel records transmit automatically to Penske.
Drivers can submit photographs of their fuel receipts to Penske through the Penske Driver™ App. They can also add paper fuel receipts to a Driver Trip Report form to mail or email to Penske. Fleets that utilize bulk fuel, wet hose or a third-party fuel card can export fuel data to an Excel spreadsheet they can email to Penske Truck Leasing.
All Penske full-service lease and contract maintenance customers can view their current fuel and distance compliance status anytime in Fleet Insight™ and view the metrics dynamically at the fleet or unit level.
Benchmarking Opportunities
With operational costs per mile trending upward, fleets have to take a data-driven approach to uncover inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement. To help fleets get benchmarking figures they can use, Penske has developed a comparative analysis tool. The tool captures critical data from fleets, including the model year of their equipment, the regions where they operate, and other variables, then compares it with similar operations to provide a reliable, meaningful number.
Industry Expertise
Penske has several solutions to help customers manage their fuel economy and increase efficiency. As a neutral voice, Penske associates can sit down with fleets to examine historical data, routes, capacity, freight needs and equipment preferences. Then they can review the benefits and operational considerations of various solutions, including specification changes that can increase fuel efficiency. Customers can make informed decisions about the best solutions for their operations.