By Taking some immediate actions, fleets can reduce harmful greenhouse emissions while lowering operating costs. The objective is to lessen fleet miles traveled and the amount of fuel burned. This can often best be achieved by using the capabilities afforded by wireless fleet management.
That is the subject of a white paper, Go Green and Save Green, that details how wireless fleet management with diagnostic monitoring can provide easily accessible vehicle information that can be quickly analyzed to yield benefits in efficiency and cost reductions.
The focus is on some of the key areas that have the most impact: engine idling, vehicle maintenance, vehicle speed, vehicle usage, routing, and emissions monitoring.
The white paper also provides examples of how small, medium, and large fleets decreased their fuel usage from between 3,000 to 58,000 gallons per year, while reducing total emissions from nearly 69,000 to more than 1.3 million pounds annually.
The report was produced by Networkcar, a San Diego, California, headquartered provider of services for remotely monitoring the performance and location of fleet vehicles.
“Lowering vehicle emissions is closely tied to reducing fuel costs and improving operating efficiency,” said Networkcar president Keith Schneider. “To have the most impact, fleets need to go beyond systems that only monitor GPS location to those that also monitor engine diagnostics.”
Wireless fleet management systems that connect directly to the vehicle's engine computer can provide information such as exact fuel consumption, mileage, speed, and idle time for each vehicle, he said. “This information is essential to achieving a green fleet.”
Among the highlights of the white paper:
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Reduce idling - Excessive idling not only wastes fuel (heavy-duty vehicles consume 0.82 gallons of fuel for every hour of idle-time), it increases vehicle emissions and affects engine wear. Wireless fleet management systems can track and report idle time by vehicle and compare miles per gallon across vehicles.
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Improve vehicle maintenance - Wireless fleet management with diagnostic monitoring can automatically send notification of any engine problems, and provide access to accurate mileage information. This enables fleets to schedule regular maintenance using odometer e-mail alerts when vehicles reach predetermined maintenance intervals, helping ensure timely maintenance and repairs that reduce emissions and extend vehicle life.
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Reduce speeding - Reducing speeding lowers fuel consumption, which translates into lower emissions by lessening the amount of fuel burned. The ability to monitor actual speed provides fleets with the precise information needed to counsel drivers and change their behavior. Some wireless engine monitoring systems can send alerts when drivers exceed a predetermined speed.
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Reduce unauthorized vehicle usage - Fleets can reduce unauthorized or unnecessary vehicle use by monitoring vehicle movement and location, as well as hours of operation.
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Optimize routing - By analyzing driving patterns and historical location reports, fleets can choose routes that reduce miles and optimize driving schedules for increased productivity. Wireless fleet management systems also let dispatchers view vehicles on a map so they can choose the closest vehicle to a particular customer site.
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Continuous emissions monitoring - By ongoing monitoring of emissions using a diagnostics-based wireless fleet management system, fleets can reduce harmful emissions and lower maintenance costs by identifying polluting vehicles faster and fixing problems early.
The entire white paper, Go Green and Save Green - Wireless Fleet Management Systems Cuts Emissions While Reducing Operating Costs, can be downloaded for free at http://www.networkcar.com/networkcar/pub/whitepaper.
