By Kevin Dennehy, Editor, Location Business News
Fleet companies are in a quandary about adding more environmentally friendly technology. While many believe that it is a good thing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, others believe that the cost is too high, particularly with higher fuel prices and associated costs.
One company believes that technology can play a crucial role in helping fleets to mitigate the impact of higher fuel costs. In fact, Trimble Transportation says the average carrier runs 15 percent of their miles empty—without a load—and eight percent of their miles out of route.
“Implementing technology can help fleets eliminate some of this waste and help accelerate a faster return on their investment. For example, if a 1,000-truck fleet were to make a one percentage point improvement in empty miles, they could reduce miles driven by one million, save $2 million in gross margin and eliminating three million pounds of CO2,” said Chris Orban, Trimble Transportation vice president and business area manager of supply chain insights.
“We also help fleets accelerate their ROI with pricing options that can eliminate upfront capital costs. This allows customers to begin realizing the benefits of our solutions while managing their technology spend over time.”
Another company, fleet telematics giant Geotab, prioritizes proving ROI with data-driven tools to show companies what makes sense for each individualized sustainability journey, said Charlotte Argue, Geotab’s senior manager for sustainable mobility.
“Going green can look different from company to company. That’s why we offer a variety of tools to help our customers implement effective carbon reduction strategies and improve their operational efficiency by revealing insights from real-world data,” she said. “For example, a company can curb fuel-wasting driving habits such as speeding and harsh acceleration with live, in-vehicle verbal feedback or buzzer alerts with [a] fleet fuel management system.”
Geotab offers a Green Fleet Dashboard that features detailed fuel economy, idling reports, fuel consumption, tracks total miles driven from the vehicle odometer and monitors CO2 emissions.
Geotab found that, in an aggregated study of more than 404,000 fleet pickup trucks, 45 percent of vehicles would save the fleet money if they were replaced by an electric vehicle—even before government incentives.
Geotab says it will support companies looking to transition to electric vehicles. It offers an EV Suitability Assessment to allow companies to see if going electric can do the job for less money, the company said. This assessment looks into what vehicles can be replaced by EVs, range requirements and total cost of ownership.
In a recent case study with DB Regio Bus, Geotab said it was able to reduce the company’s fleet’s idling times by approximately 40 percent, which equates to 1,400 tons of CO2 reduction in environmental impact.
For its part, Trimble’s environmental solutions include in-cab technology to help drivers automate workflows, electronically manage their hours of service, and navigate their routes.
Earlier this month, Trimble and Geotab announced that they were committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that follow the recent Paris Agreement goals. The agreement’s requirements are to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
About the Author
Kevin Dennehy is editor of Location Business News. He has covered location technology for 30 years and operated the annual GPS-Wireless and Driverless conferences.
