Excessive idling can waste fuel without creating an obvious problem in individual fueling transactions. Without a clear view of consumption trends across your fleet, it can be difficult to tell normal fuel use from patterns that need attention.
You can spot idle-related waste by combining a fuel management system with fleet tracking data. In this article, you’ll learn how to use FuelForce fleet solutions to spot potential fuel waste, identify vehicles that need attention, and take steps to improve fuel efficiency.
Why Is Excessive Fuel Usage Hard to Spot?
Excessive fuel use can be hard to spot because it’s difficult to separate it from normal fuel use. If a vehicle burns extra fuel while idling, you may only see that it needed more fuel at its next fill-up, but the transaction itself doesn’t explain why. The challenge becomes even greater across a large fleet. Vehicles travel different distances, carry different loads, follow different routes, and operate under different conditions. A small increase in one vehicle’s fuel use may not look unusual on its own, even when the same problem happens repeatedly.
How Can You Use a Fuel Management System and Fleet Tracking to Identify Vehicles That Use Excessive Fuel?
You can use a fuel management system and fleet tracking software to narrow excessive fuel use down to specific vehicles. Start by reviewing fuel consumption over a set period and compare vehicles based on metrics such as gallons used and MPG. This will give you a baseline for what normal fuel use looks like versus vehicles that overconsume.
Once you identify a vehicle with unusual fuel consumption, check its telematics data for additional context. Look at factors such as idle time, mileage, routes, and operating hours. If fuel consumption increased during the same period that idle time increased, excessive idling may be contributing to the problem.
What Can You Do About Idle-Related Fuel Waste?
Once you identify a vehicle with unusual fuel consumption, investigate what changed. Compare its fuel use with available fleet or telematics data and review factors such as idle time, routes, schedules, mileage, and operating conditions.
From there, you can address the cause. You might coach a driver on reducing unnecessary idling, adjust a route or schedule to reduce wait times, or inspect the vehicle for a maintenance problem. After making the change, use the same metrics to measure the results and compare against the baseline you previously established. Continue monitoring the data to spot new patterns, investigate their causes, and make adjustments as needed.
Turn Fuel Data Into Action With FuelForce
Idle-related fuel waste can be difficult to spot when you look at individual transactions. The key is to look at fuel use over time, identify unusual patterns, and use vehicle and telematics data to investigate what may be causing them. From there, you can make a targeted change and track performance to see whether it worked.
FuelForce makes that process easier by giving you greater visibility into where and when fuel is dispensed and how consumption changes over time. With fueling transactions that are automatically recorded and fuel data that is centralized and stored in cloud-based reporting tools, you can find more opportunities to reduce waste.
Learn more about FuelForce’s fleet fuel management software.