Feel confident you are prepared when at your most vulnerable. FuelFocus helps your team quickly respond to crises through automated fueling, increased oversight and control, relevant fuel consumption data, convenient mobile and external fueling, and an around-the-clock support team.

Learn more about fleet electrification. Fleets across North America use motor pools to increase vehicle utilization and right-size their operations. Learn more about motor pool management. Multiple device options, including RF Vehicle Identification Box, magnetic strip card, keypad input, and more.

Access to fuel consumption data is available from any workstation, and vehicle maintenance data is available at the FuelFocus Island Controllers. With a single data source, critical fleet data, like vehicle information and fuel transactions, is always current.

Timeliness of PM scheduling is improved because hour-meter and odometer readings are processed and validated in a central database. Customization of the system enables your organization to implement a centralized or decentralized fuel management system.

In this case study, learn how the City of Toronto uses FuelFocus to improve fuel management operations. Our automated fuel management system offers fully integrated, real-time fueling authorization. Watch the video to learn more! Copyright AssetWorks, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. Menu Close. Fuel Management Software EV Charge Management Software Menu. Heavy Duty Trucking. Field Ticketing Driver Behavior Driver Vehicle Inspection Electronic Logging Device ELD Menu. Considering some of the most significant factors that fleet managers should consider to reduce fuel expense, we have discussed some of the best fuel management strategies recommended by experts in fleet fuel management.

Let us look at the ways to reduce fuel cost and understand the best fuel management strategies that really work. One of the best ways to reduce fuel costs would be getting cheaper fuel. A cost-effective supplier can bring fuel directly to your fleet with mobile fueling, reducing unintended stops and unnecessary fuel-ups.

This will also abridge expense tracking by dropping the number of different gas prices you will need to track through the rest of the year.

With proper route mapping of your fleet, you can cut back on your fuel costs. When you monitor the execution of routes, it becomes a bit easier to anticipate future events. As a result, you can make better fleet management decisions.

For better results, it is recommended to use LoadStop, an effective transportation management software, so that you can get access to detailed reporting and understand both your efficiencies and inefficiencies.

One of the other essential fuel management strategies is to always check the tire pressure. As per the US Department of Energy, you can improve your gas mileage from 0. The research conducted by the US Department of Energy also specified that under-inflated tires could tend to lower mileage by 0.

It may sound really simple, but you need to keep your vehicles clean to know how to reduce fuel costs. Most of the time, oil, salt, dirt, and other types of impurities can add weight to a vehicle, especially large-sized vehicles, haulers, trailers, and heavy-duty trucks.

Therefore, it is advised to look after the cleanliness of your fleet, especially during the winter season, when snow and ice cover the vehicles quickly.

Another helpful fuel management strategy that can help you reduce your fuel cost is regularly planning and scheduling vehicle maintenance. By planning timely vehicle maintenance, you can make sure your fleet always stays in top condition.

For example, even a simple thing such as wheel misalignment can decrease vehicle efficiency, requiring more fuel to run well on the road.

And, providing proper vehicle maintenance at the right time can keep maintenance costs to a minimum. New vehicle models, especially fuel-efficient ones, have higher mile per gallon ratings than their preceding counterparts.

It goes without saying that more miles per gallon mean less fuel consumption. Even by following regular replacement cycles, you can anticipate seeing noticeable improvement in both miles per gallon and costs per mile over some time. Fleet managers can use fleet fuel cards to make fleet fuel management simpler and more manageable.

With the help of a fleet fuel card, you can exercise more control over your employee spending as you can monitor all the fuel purchases. Fleet fuel cards also offer detailed data and reports, which you can use to limit excessive spending and prevent fraud of the fleet fuel card.

Observing the speed limit is a safety issue, and we already know that. With fuel prices constantly changing, monitoring and optimizing fuel consumption is crucial to your bottom line. Our fuel management products offer drivers the ultimate in convenience while giving you built-in control, security and cost savings.

Element's widely-accepted fuel card give drivers access to thousands of service and fuel stations across the U. and Canada. Detailed data is captured on each purchase, giving you the ability to control your fleet expenses and identify out-of-policy exceptions.

In addition, our reporting and analytical tools in Xcelerate will help you quickly identify trends and opportunities to reduce costs. Element's one card solution provides clients with an enhanced set of product features that focus on the priorities that matter, such as driver convenience, security, control, reporting and benchmarking.

Drivers can easily locate accepting stations using our Fuel Locator , accessible on desktop and mobile. At accepting locations we also offer options-such as a job number for convenience of tracking fuel by department.

Our enhanced card security and fraud alerts help protect your business from fuel fraud. Our 6-digit PIN functionality adds a layer of protection to help ensure that only those authorized to use the card are using it.

Real-time alerts can be set up for monitoring many exception types such as dollars per transaction and total consecutive declines.

Extensive details are captured on each purchase, giving you immediate control of your expenses with our advanced reporting:.

Element can help you select a vendor to supply private, onsite, bulk fueling. You may install a card reader so that the transaction feels just like a retail transaction and retains the same benefits.

Although the City has an idle reduction policy in place, Fleet Operations Manager Rick Longobart knew it would require more than a policy to be effective. We need to educate people that, with over a century of technology, we don't need to follow those paths anymore.

These employees were surveyed about idling myths before and after the training. A fuel management system allows fleets to track key indicators that impact fuel efficiency, like idle time, average miles per gallon, and fuel consumption.

Fuel management systems collect, store and analyze this data to create actionable insights. For example, engine health can be a serious contributor to fuel inefficiencies. By setting up real-time, data-driven diagnostic alerts around engine faults, managers can preemptively conduct engine maintenance and ensure their vehicles perform at maximum fuel efficiency.

Wright said the city of Lynchburg uses its fuel management system to track fuel costs, consumption, and mileage for PM scheduling. King agrees that interoperability with other fleet systems is important. King said recording odometer readings automatically rather than leaving the task to drivers improves data accuracy that informs his fuel budget.

Gidali says fuel management systems help fleets connect the data dots in ways that reduce fuel use. The Ford Pro Essentials platform gives fleet managers free access to vehicle data, including odometer reading, oil life reading, and whether maintenance is due.

Telematics capabilities are becoming more sophisticated, accessible, and impactful for fuel management. Chuck Cramer, Director of Fleet Services for the city of Lynchburg , cites a multitude of ways telematics can improve fuel management.

Gidali said the Solid Waste Department of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia is a prime example of how access to the right data can improve a fuel management strategy, elevate citizen services, and save taxpayer dollars.

King said some OEMs provide free data platforms already connected to their vehicles. You just have to be able to tell the OEM if you want their system or what system you want their device to work with.

Ford gives fleet customers free access to Ford Pro Essentials , which allows fleet managers to input a VIN or unit number and access vehicle data. This includes the odometer reading, oil life reading, and whether maintenance is due, all of which support on-time maintenance that results in better fuel economy.

Ford offers a similar platform for electric vehicles that shows metrics like the percentage of energy gain while charging, the gas gallon equivalent, and the amount of CO 2 saved. Swapping ICE vehicles for EVs is another way to dramatically reduce fuel use. Part of this plan is to use data pulled from charging stations to manage charging costs.

Instead, that vehicle should be charged overnight, during off-peak hours when energy rates are lower. The city of Raleigh plans to use chargers that allow drivers to plug in at the end of their shift but delay charging until off-peak hours.

Our plan is to replace our fuel management system with one that could still continue to support petroleum-based vehicles and can manage EV charging. Continue Reading: How to Calculate the Right Vehicle-to-Technician Ratio. Shelley Mika is a freelance writer for Bobit Business Media. She writes regularly for Government Fleet and Work Truck magazines.

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See all comments. Typically, there are several options for keeping a fuel log. Just to recap, fuel cards are plastic cards with a magnetic strip or an RFID chip that allow drivers to pay for gas at regular gas stations.

To access terminals, drivers use a personal PIN, which authorizes the transaction and provides an admin in the office all its details.

Fuel cards are used everywhere, except in the instances where the transportation company uses their own fueling facilities. Integrated with the fuel managing software, fuel cards automatically log fuel information for the fleet manager to see in real-time or in timed reports.

Manual entry Driver apps often come with your fleet management software, but they can also be integrated from a third party. Used for a variety of tasks, driver apps are also handy to enter fill-ups on they go in a predefined form.

Pulled from telematic devices Some fields of logs can be filled by data from tracking devices installed on the vehicle. You can integrate odometer sensors or GPS devices to collect data from machines rather than drivers and eliminate mistakes. The International Fuel Tax Agreement IFTA is an agreement between 48 US states and 10 Canadian provinces that simplifies the reporting of fuel use by commercial motor carriers.

Under IFTA, a carrier must report the fuel consumed and the distance traveled in each jurisdiction and pay motor fuel taxes. To automate this process, fuel reporting software can use data from fuel cards or your fuel logs.

Driver behavior monitoring Imagine you have two of the same vehicles traveling the same route at the same time of day. You would expect they should report the same fuel consumption.

But one vehicle shows a greater MPG than the other one. Commercial motor carriers in the US are required to have an electronic logging device ELD installed on their trucks to report their drivers' hours of service.

But depending on a provider and in combination with analytical capabilities, ELD devices can be used to record a variety of data to improve safety and efficiency. Idle time By seeing the idling times of different drivers, you can incentivize the more effective drivers and find ways to solve the idling problem.

For example, you can try investing in alternative climate control options and see if it helps drivers spend less time idling. KeepTrucking allows you to filter by idle time and idle fuel usage to distinguish best and worst performing drivers Source: KeepTrucking Harsh events Usually employed with a gyroscope and accelerometer, ELDs can pull information about events like harsh turning, braking, or collision.

By logging this data you can both coach drivers on safe driving and prevent future events by providing data about areas with dangerous turns to other drivers. Fuel theft detection In a survey, 53 percent of fleet operators said that they frequently noticed that fuel costs exceed projections.

Here are solutions for two of the most common fuel theft methods. Fuel skimming detection Fuel card skimming is the theft technique where a special device is attached to a payment terminal in a gas station to steal your fuel card information.

There are various types of such devices. Sometimes they are just hidden cameras, in other instances, the keypads may be fake. The only prevention technique you can use is training your drivers on how to inspect the terminal for the signs of tampering.

To detect the already stolen fuel card information, you can use GPS tracking capabilities of an ELD. There are two popular options.

CAN bus. The vehicle CAN controller area network bus is a standard communication technology installed in most modern light vehicles and trucks. It allows an onboard computer to receive data from sensors installed in the fuel tank by a manufacturer.

To send this information to your fuel management system, you need a GPS tracking device. Fuel level sensor. A fuel level sensor is a device installed in a vehicle's fuel tank.

Such sensors have an percent error rate and can provide readings on fuel consumption, the dates and locations of refills, the drainage volumes, and fuel level volumes in certain periods of time. The sharp decrease of the graph shows the possible drainage Source: MapOn Whenever fuel loss takes place, the system will alert the fleet manager and the driver.

Besides, the fluctuations in fuel consumption can show the idle time and be used in driver behavior analytics. Predictive maintenance There's strong evidence that maintenance of trucks increases fuel economy by percent.

Requiring major investments from IT specialists, such solutions are custom-built rather than purchased off the shelf. If you want to learn more about the infrastructure and implementation, use the links above.

Fuel storage monitoring Larger fleet management companies often choose to purchase fuel in bulk and store it on-site, making it always available and at a cheaper bulk price.

This saves time and money as you no longer need to calculate and monitor fuel costs. Here, a different fuel control system is needed. There are typically three core elements to it. A driver and a vehicle have ID tags that are entered into the controller -- a user-facing terminal, the heart of the fuel management system.

Based on the data from the fuel management software, a controller allocates a specific volume of fuel to be distributed to the vehicle. A driver scans a vehicle tag with a fuel dispenser, and if the tag is correct, the nozzle automatically opens and starts dispensing fuel. It then automatically stops.

This system allows prevention of all types of fuel theft from the facility, so only the correct volume of fuel can go to the correct vehicle.