4refuel

Ten Ways to Cut Fuel Costs-

Ask The Fuel Expert

By: Jack Lee

Remember the good old days…about a year and a half ago?Prices at the pumps were hover-ing below one dollar per litre andthey stayed the same for weeks.Well the good old days are goneforever and today we live in aworld where fuel prices seem togo up by the hour. Now punditsspeculate on living with

oil prices running up to $200 USper barrel.

As consumers many of us haveadjusted our lifestyles. We try todrive less. Some have chosen tocar pool, while others get

rid of their gas-guzzlers and optfor more fuel-efficient vehicles in-cluding hybrids.

For companies, the good olddays meant fuel up and go. Littleattention was paid to managingfuel. But in the past year the

Canadian Trucking Magazine December 2008

price of oil has doubled cuttingdeeper than ever into profitscausing owners and managers toadopt a new fuel consciousness.Fuel Management is a necessity.

You can’t control the price of fuel,

but you can control your fuel con-sumption. The answer is FuelManagement.

Any company can improve theirfuel efficiencies. It takes workand commitment from the headoffice to your people on the roadand at the job sites. More andmore companies are makingchanges in their operating prac-tices to cut costs now and to beprepared for even higher costs in

the future.

To help you adjust, here are TenWays to Cut Fuel Costs:

1. Train and educate your driv-ers: It starts with the people whohave their foot on the gas pedal.Your drivers can control fuel con-sumption each time they fire uptheir engines, and proper trainingcan improve fuel efficiency, econ-omy and emissions. Hard accel-eration, speeding and idling arethe biggest causes of fuel waste.Initiate a training course for driv-ers and reward participation.

2. Decrease Idling: Be awareof the time engines idle. Nolonger can we leave machineryand equipment running all daylong. Stop your engines! Exces-sive idling adds to your fuel costsby as much as 50% and canshorten the life of engine oil by75%, adding more costs. Initiatea campaign to reduce idling timeand reward participants. Allowingan engine to idle more than 3minutes causes expensive dam-age which harms efficiency,shortens engine life and in-creases maintenance costs. It alladds up.

3. Start off slower: This is an-other lesson your drivers must be


3. Start off slower: This is an-

other lesson your drivers must be

taught. Jackrabbit starts waste

fuel and save less than 3 minutes

per hour driving, but can result in

using 40% more fuel and in-

crease toxic emissions by 400%!

What’s the rush? Ease up on the

gas pedal and your efficiencies

will improve.

4. Slow down: Speeding is

dangerous, it wastes fuel and

creates higher levels of toxic

emissions. Speeds over 100

km/hour drastically impact fuel ef-

ficiencies – cars travelling at 120

km/hour use 20% more fuel.

Trucks travelling at 120

km/hour use 50% more fuel and

they also emit 100% more carbon

monoxide, 50% more hydrocar-

bons and 31% more nitrogen ox-

ides.

5. Lose Weight: Excess weight

places unnecessary strain on

your vehicle’s engine and greatly

affects its fuel efficiency. By re-

moving as little as 100 pounds

you can significantly improve

your gas mileage. Check each

vehicle and pitch out that unnec-

essary weight!

6. Use a Fuel Management

System: This is the most powerful

way to lower fuel costs and in-

crease productivity. Available

systems range from basic onsite

refuelling (which saves up to 20

minutes in wasted time and fuel

each day, per vehicle) to auto-

mated fuel tracking (which details

every litre pumped into every ve-

hicle by date, time, quantity and

fuel type) to telematics (which

measures overall fuel efficiency,

vehicle performance, tracks fuel

waste due to idling, speeding,

etc. and identifies critical areas to

improve efficiency and reduce

fuel costs and emissions.) The

technology exists so you can be-

come a Fuel Manager and stay

on top of your fuel consumption,

one vehicle at a time. It can work

for you.

7. Upgrade your Fleet: When-

ever possible, invest in modern,

fuel-efficient vehicles. Modern

diesel engines are far more fuel-

efficient and perform better with

modern diesel fuels such as ultra

low sulphur diesel and biodiesel.

Though it may seem expensive,

new diesel vehicles can save

thousands of dollars in mainte-

nance, fuel and productivity per

vehicle. Measure each piece of

equipment for fuel efficiency and

get rid of the bad ones! Replace

and upgrade your equipment reg-

ularly. It may hurt now but it will

pay you back.


your equipment regularly. It mayhurt now but it will pay you back.

8. Tune-up vehicles regularly:Do you have a stringent, well-managed maintenance policy?Many companies “fix it when itbreaks.” This attitude costs toomuch in wasted fuel. A well main-tained vehicle performs better,improves fuel efficiency, reducestoxic emissions and, in the longrun, will cost less to maintain.

9. Pump it up: Proper tire infla-tion improves gas mileage. At4Refuel our statistics show im-properly inflated tires can cost upto 2 weeks worth of fuel per year!How big is your fleet? Twoweeks per year per vehicle addsup to thousands of dollars in lostprofits! In addition proper inflationresults in improved vehicle andbraking performance, and in-creases tire life.

10. Implement Advanced MobileAsset Management Technology:Wow, that’s a mouth full! You canmeasure and manage your fleetbetter when you have the right in-formation. Tracking miles trav-eled, average speed and engineefficiency is critical to cutting fuelcosts. This information will helpyour drivers and managers opti-mize routes with better planning.

Mapping software and GPS willeliminate thousands of unneces-sary miles per week. Less timeon the road means less fuel con-sumed, less wear on vehicles,decreased expenditures andoverall increased productivity,plus lower toxic emissions!

Once you have made a totalcommitment to managing yourfuel better and changing some ofyour bad fuel habits, results willfollow. Stick with it. Fuel pricesare only going up.

Jack Lee is the President andCEO of 4Refuel Inc, The Leaderin Fuel Management. If you haveany questions or commentsabout this article Jack can bereached at (604) 513-0386 or online: [email protected]


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