Fueling Change: Strategies for Implementing Sustainable Practices in Fleet Management

As the whole world becomes more aware of the impacts of climate change, many businesses look for ways to embrace sustainable practices and reduce their carbon footprint. In the transportation sector, management of fleets is one of the key areas where fleet companies can make a significant stride in minimizing environmental impact.

What Fleet Sustainability Is

Fleet sustainability is the practice of operating and managing a fleet of vehicles in a more economically and environmentally responsible manner.

Importantly, the key goal is to reduce the negative effects on the environment and ensure the fleet remains efficient and cost-effective.

According to experts at Ree Auto, fleet sustainability involves a range of initiatives and strategies made to minimize the fleet’s carbon footprint, promote financial sustainability in the long term, and conserve resources. The components of a sustainable fleet include:

• Alternative fuels
• Minimizing emissions
• Lifecycle analysis
• Route optimization
• Reporting and monitoring
• Sustainable practices

Why Fleet Sustainability is Important

No matter the size of the fleet, it is important to create a very sustainable fleet program. It helps to minimize the effect of climate change. Other reasons to have a sustainable fleet include the following:

• Remaining complaints with emissions regulations
• Modernizing the fleet through rightsizing and electrification
• Minimizing operational costs simply by improving fuel economy

3 Tips for a Sustainable Fleet Management

Aligning the fleet management approach with eco-friendly and green initiatives is very practical to ensure companies have sustainable fleets. Some of the tips that can help you have sustainable fleet management include the following:

• Track Consumption of Fuel

Through vehicle telematics, you will be able to automatically see details of fuel consumption on a fleet platform. Telematics is often regarded as a go-to green fleet technology that is capable of giving insight to your drivers and fleet.

At times, it might be a challenge to improve the driving behaviors of every driver as they might not face similar issues. So, the best option is to train them on useful behaviors, like how heavy acceleration consumes more fuel than accelerating gradually.

• Electrify Your Vehicles

The best way to improve the sustainability of your fleets is to do so during the acquisition of vehicles. While diesel vehicles have always been perennial favorites, especially in Europe, most fleets have started to look into electric and hybrid vehicles, too.

A greener policy in the company may mean incentivizing the buying of electric vehicles. By doing so, you will not find it necessary to use fossil fuels.

• Opt for Preventative Maintenance

Ensuring your vehicles are safe and roadworthy is an important thing you must do as a fleet manager. Through maintenance, you make your fleets more environmentally and economically efficient. Proper preventative maintenance entails the following:

• Correct tire pressure
• Wheel alignment
• Maintenance of air compressor
• Fresh engine coolants
• Changing engine oil
• Aerodynamic devices
• Replacing fuel filters periodically
• Clearing diagnostic faults
• Cleaning up pollution filters

 

Making your fleets more sustainable is important for the environment and comes with numerous benefits. By opting for preventative maintenance, electrifying your vehicles, and tracking fuel consumption, you will able to manage your fleets efficiently and cost-effectively.