In order for your trucking business to succeed, your profits must exceed your expenses. As trucking company owners, you may have observed that fuel expenses are volatile. It is a goal of every trucking company to control or lower their fuel expenses. But how does one do it? What can you do to help lower the fuel expenses and therefore improve your trucking business?
There are many factors that could affect your fuel expenses. In order to help lower it down, let us break down the factors into various categories then look at what can be done to lower the expenses.
Driving Behavior
One of the most influential factors when it comes to fuel consumption and expenses is driver behavior. One way to help lessen the expenses on fuel is to reduce idle time and top-end speed.
Drivers could be more inspired to do this if you give them incentives or rewards for best practices. Sometimes, you also need to educate the drivers by providing training or seminars. In that way, it would be easier for them to figure out what to do.
All About The Equipment
Did you know that the fuel expenses are also affected by the equipment and equipment parts that you use? One of the things that could help your trucks efficiently is to use low viscosity engine oils. This will help reduce the internal drag so your engine won’t be using that much fuel too.
Equipment maintenance is also a key to keeping your fuel expenses low. Well-maintained trucks are more efficient and that means that less fuel will be wasted.
You should also take a look at the trailing equipment. Lift axles installed on trailers help lessen rolling resistance. Additionally, there is also aerodynamic equipment that could be added like side skirts, trailer wigs, wheel covers, and gap reducers.
There are also some trucks that are more efficient in fuel consumption than others. These ones should be chosen because they could help you save on costs in the long run. There are also some parts that could be replaced to make the trucks more efficient like alternators
Fuel Purchasing
Another way to lessen expenses in fuel is to buy fuel wholesale. You can also negotiate discounts or find buying programs that will help you save on fuel purchases. Just make sure that even the fuel is still of high quality even if you are buying it at a discount price.
Company’s Culture
In order to save on fuel, you need all employees to be on board with this goal. To succeed, it would be best to educate the drivers as well as non-drivers about fuel economy and its importance to sustaining your business.
Although you could educate and instruct employees about fuel efficiency, there is no guarantee that they would do it. You can improve the chances of your employees helping you save on fuel costs by giving them incentives.
Measure And Improve
You need to know how to measure your progress. Being able to accurately measure it is key to making sure that your efforts are all worth it. In order to correctly measure, you may use key performance indicators. These will measure and compare fuel economy and fuel expense.
Today, the electric systems that are fitted in the trucks can readily give us actual readings and data about the gas mileage. However, improvement in gas mileage shouldn’t be the only focus.
There are some practices that could save on fuel mileage but could also increase the cost of maintenance and repairs. An example is attaching aero bumpers. These will help direct the air up and avoid swirling underneath. However, due to the very low position, they are also prone to damage. That could cost more in the repairs or replacements. To really be successful in lowering the expenses in fuel, you shouldn’t also be spending more on other areas.
