PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to outline the company procedure for reducing fuel use and vehicle emissions associated with work related driving.

INTRODUCTION

Management must visibly demonstrate that the environment and fuel usage are issues of importance to the organisation. Everyone involved in an organisation’s fleet operations must take responsibility for making a contribution towards a measurable improvement.

It is important that management recognise that part of the activity of equipment choice is fuel consumption and the fuel budget. Fuel costs and there associated emissions are a controllable activity and expense and should be subject to exactly the same management disciplines as any other activity or cost.

The application of a structured approach should see a managed process and considerable cost savings.

POLICY

Fleet managers require a detailed knowledge of the factors involved in equipment choice based on whole of life costing (WLC), including fuel consumption, and must ensure that these factors are included in fleet selection and operational processes.

The fleet manager should also take responsibility for regular monitoring of the fuel consumption achieved across the fleet.

Vehicle drivers must accept a responsibility to drive carefully, taking full account of fuel economy. The techniques that provide good fuel consumption are very similar to those used for safer driving.

FUEL CONSUMPTION

Measure your fuel consumption.

Most fleets have arrangements with fuel companies and will have access to printed reports of actual consumption data on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis.

You should also be able to benchmark your performance against your fuel supplier’s, or should you lease your vehicles, or the fleet management company’s databases. This is valuable information: It is real time data and reflects your real life usage and costs.

Set parameters and look for exception reports highlighting anomalies and vehicles that fall outside of the parameters you have set. Any vehicles outside your reference point should be investigated. High fuel consumption may be an indication of bad driving style and an accident waiting to happen.

Manufacturers will provide information on expected fuel use for the vehicles they produce.  All new passenger vehicles must display specific fuel consumption labelling. Bear in mind that this information tends to be indicative only and real life figures can tend to be 10 to 15percent higher.

KEY TACTICS

It is not proposed that a complete revision of operating policies or a radical change in lifestyle occur. What is proposed is really quite simple; it is just a thoughtful approach encompassing a few small changes here and there in the way vehicles are acquired and operated.

WHOLE- LIFE COST EVALUATION

Whole-life Costing (WLC) bases selection decisions on the total cost of operating a vehicle throughout its life, or its life with the company; usually a three or four-year cycle. Once you have made a choice you have to live with it for the duration of the vehicle’s time with the organisation.

Issues to be considered here are the cost of vehicle purchase and finance, fuel efficiency, service and repair costs, residual values and most importantly matching the transport need, the vehicle intended use, so that you stay within the vehicles normal operating characteristics. For example small vehicles carrying heavy loads are not fuel-efficient.

Use the WLC analysis approach to:

• Identify your transport need, what you want the vehicle to do. Evaluate different makes and models of vehicles against that need using official and independent data, where available, for running costs including fuel efficiency.  Such information is readily available from organisations such as the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) Fuel Consumption Guide for official figures, available on the AGO website, and the RACV ‘Vehicle Operating Costs passenger cars and Light commercials’ for real life in service data;
• Select the best fit of cost and efficient vehicles for the identified transport task bearing in mind that vehicle models in the same category can have very different running costs and fuel consumption characteristics.
• Consider the impact of accessories on fuel costs.

VARIABLE OPPORTUNITIES

Having made the base choice at the fixed advantage level we can look at variable opportunities. These are found at the operational level and you have some opportunity to achieve savings as any outcomes are dependent on the approach adopted.

CONTROLLING BUSINESS TRAVEL

The first priority for any fleet is to meet its main business objectives. The fleet must serve the needs of the business not the other way round.

The most effective way to save money and reduce pollution from fuel use is to decrease the distance driven.

This requires the organisation to continually question the rational of the fleet system, to ensure that the organisation is not simply following the accepted wisdom rather than best practice.

JOURNEY AND TERRITORY PLANNING

One question to always ask is: is this journey necessary? Often you may find that several journeys travel in the same direction to almost the same location; try to consolidate these journeys.

When do your vehicles do most of their journeys? Is it early morning, midday or early evening?

Don’t travel in rush hour traffic. Is it possible to reschedule journey start times to mid morning and benefiting from a quicker journey time and reduced fuel consumption.

Do your drivers crisscross with each other or are driver’s running back and forwards across the same ground many times a day?

Having journeys crisscrossing is wasteful and counterproductive so seek the most efficient way of minimising the distance travelled. Use route-planning to standardise journeys to minimise lost time and distance travelled.

Plan the journey before setting off. A little planning can save you a great deal of hassle. Work out the best route to travel.

Always try and take familiar roads and be prepared to journey off-peak. “It is estimated that 20 percent of driving time on unfamiliar roads is spent getting lost.

Analyse the way your operations are working and think about how you can eliminate wasted time, effort and fuel.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS AND MODES OF TRANSPORT

As with any process it should be under constant evaluation and the fleet should be no exception.

It is easy to be fixed in an approach to problem solving and careful evaluation of the organisations transportation needs with an open mind can lead to some surprising observations.

Only seeking a solution with what you already have can distract from seeing ways for doing things differently.

Besides the obvious of looking at different (smaller) vehicles or fuel alternatives there are other solutions to the organisations transportation needs.

Should most of your transport needs are small parcel deliveries within city centres then local courier services may be a more fuel and cost effective solution.

THE ORGANISATION SHOULD DISCOURAGE WASTEFUL JOURNEYS.

Making many small deliveries between large centres may benefit from consolidation. By upsizing and consolidating journeys using larger load carrying capacity vehicles allows fewer journeys and would reduce overall cost, fuel and emissions.

Reducing the number of company cars is one important factor in the overall fuel policy. However simply transferring the responsibility for providing the car from the organisation to the employee will not fundamentally change the level of fuel use for necessary business mileage.

The organisation should regularly reappraise the vehicle fleet requirements and always investigate whether there are there suitable alternatives offering better solutions?

Would it be possible to reduce the need to travel? Can business be done as well, or even better, are there opportunities for:

• Route planning using route optimisation software;
• Journey planning
• Car sharing arrangements;
• Public transport;
• Local courier;
• Telesales;
• Teleconferencing;
• E-mail;
• Trip consolidation or postal services?

CONTROLLING PRIVATE TRAVEL

Different industries tend to have different practices in this area and there may be personnel issues over whether this benefit is, or is not, provided.

However, it is important that private fuel be recorded for without the complete picture we cannot have a full understanding of the issue or the best solution for its resolution.

The organisation should assess the extent to which it should subsidise employees’ travel. It would not be unreasonable to accept that people with the benefit of free private fuel might have more of a tendency to drive more private miles.

PACKAGED VEHICLES

When the vehicle is almost totally a benefit with little requirement for the job the employer should still take fuel costs into consideration when choosing the car to be provided.

Many companies have successfully moved from the more traditional vehicle allocation policies to allow much more flexibility, so that executives who do not need a large car can choose a smaller one, perhaps with additional salary or other benefits.

SALARY SACRIFICING

Where the organisation allows the employee to upgrade the vehicle at the employees cost the organisation should have a clear policy on vehicle choice. Would it allow V8 or supercharged engines? Are four-wheel drive recreational vehicles acceptable?

NOVATED LEASES

Even in a novated lease scenario the environmentally conscious organisation should still exercise a level of control over vehicle selection.  Whatever the policy, the organisation is sanctioning the vehicles it allows.

The organisation must continue to question whether the policy it has adopted fits the image it wishes to have in the marketplace.

COMMUTER PLANS

In general, a large percentage of private motoring may be commuting and the employer retains some control over this. By aligning the requirements of other areas the organisation may encourage less travel by company vehicles.

Many use the vehicle as an alternative to a perceived lack of reliability of public transport. By adopting a more flexible policy on the start and finish times for employees the organisation can remove a reason often used for the use of vehicle commuting.

DRIVE SMOOTHLY

Avoid harsh acceleration and heavy braking. Harsh acceleration can use 60 percent more fuel. By thinking ahead a driver can often avoid sudden braking and sharp acceleration. This will not only reduce fuel consumption and emissions but also help cut down on car and tyre wear.

Drive defensively and avoid confrontation with other road users. It has been estimated that a smoother driving style can bring fuel saving of 10 percent in urban areas and 6 percent outside urban areas.

Similar distances driven using very different driving styles, one defensive and the other using a heavy foot will produce different outcomes.

The following table summarises the outcome of the different styles.

The fuel consumption of two drivers taking the same vehicle over the same route can vary by up to 45 percent.

The financial outcomes from these two differing driving styles equate to a substantial cost for the organisation.

At 15,000 kilometres per year

30,000 kilometres per year

While illustrating two extremes the indication is clear that there is much potential for substantial savings by drivers adopting a smoother driving style.

The smoother driving style which saves fuel is largely the same as the “defensive driving” taught in advanced motoring courses, and also reduces accidents and vehicle wear.

SLOW DOWN

Kill your speed. Not only to save lives but to save fuel. For example, driving at 110 km/h can use up to 30 percent more fuel than driving at 80 km/hr.

CHECK YOUR TYRE PRESSURE

Always consult the tyre data plaque, usually located on the front door jamb or in the glove box, for the correct tyre pressures. It will include data for differing driving circumstances such as fully laden or normal conditions. Read the tyre recommendations carefully and ensure your tyres are inflated to the correct pressures.

For accurate readings, only check when your tyres are cold; the pressure is always higher when the tyres are warm.  Keep a tyre pressure gauge and use this to check your tyres regularly.

Never run at lower than recommended pressures, “Driving with tyre pressures 4-6 psi below that recommended can increase fuel consumption by 2-3 per cent”.

CUT DOWN WIND RESISTANCE

By removing your roof rack when not using it and keeping your window closed, wind resistance will be reduced and therefore fuel consumption will also decrease. “A fully loaded roof-rack will increase freeway fuel consumption by 30 percent and even a simple ski-rack causes increases of 7-8 percent”

OLDER CARS

Although a poorly maintained car of any age will pollute, many of the worst polluters on our roads are the oldest cars. If you do drive an older car, help the environment by making sure it is tuned regularly.

SWITCH OFF

Switch off your engine whenever it is safe to do so, especially when you are stuck in traffic for long periods. Prolonged and unnecessary idling is zero miles per litre! Also, the sensible use of air conditioning will reduce fuel consumption.

DRIVE OFF IMMEDIATELY

Don’t warm your engine up by allowing it to idle from cold. Drive off straight away; this will minimise initial cold start emissions. Avoid pumping the accelerator or revving the engine unnecessarily, it simply wastes fuel.

TRAVEL LIGHT

Remove unnecessary items to reduce weight, improve fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Unless you really need them, avoid adding heavy accessories or wider tyres that add rolling resistance.

TRY TO DRIVE LESS

Think about how you use your car. Avoid short journeys whenever possible. Why not set yourself a target to cut your annual kilometres and the number of short journeys?

When these contributions are coordinated within a realistic, strategic fuel management program for the fleet, the results can be spectacular.

Like any reduction in costs, the benefits quickly filter straight through to the bottom line. Very little capital expenditure is needed to capture and retain these benefits for the long-term.

THE ROAD TO IMPROVEMENT

Management Responsibility

Top Level buy-in and commitment is essential. Senior management must support all objectives of better fuel performance, lower costs and improved environmental conditions.

Identify Current Position – Establish Initial Targets

Determine where you stand now, in absolute (overall cost) and relative (how your fleet compares with other peer fleets) terms. Set target improvements in lower fuel costs, expense reductions, and improved consumption. These will all contribute to an improvement in fuel use.

Driver Education/Directions

Drivers must appreciate what is expected of them. Clear instructions on fuel policy should be given.

Organisation is Not Difficult

Include whole of life costing and fuel consumption in vehicle selection policy calculations. Set up a system to collect and consolidate information on fuel usage and costs on a regular base.

Consider use of a fuel card system that provides central billing, cost-centre reporting and performance analysis.

Encourage drivers to take fuel economy seriously. Use route-planning to standardise journeys, and minimise lost time and distance travelled.

Accountability

Nominate responsibility for targeted improvements.

Sustainability

New approaches must be well thought through. It can take some time so there is a need for long-term arrangements to produce long-term benefits.

TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

The motor industry has the responsibility for continuing to develop new technologies to reduce fuel usage and minimise the environmental impact of the vehicle.

Fuel usage in conventional internal combustion engines have reduced considerably over the last few years to the point where some now have lower consumption figures than some hybrid vehicles.