Last Friday on my way home from work, I made the mistake of stopping at the local quick-fill to get gas. I say "mistake" because that also happened to be the drawing-day for the Giga-gillions lottery. However, as I was filling the Suburban and passing the time by swearing, I got to thinking about starting a "fuel-lottery." Buy a ticket; win a chance at lower fuel costs. The more I thought about it, I came to realize that we pretty much already had something like that.
So, what am I talking about? (I seem to get that question, a lot.)
If there were a lottery, and you were fairly certain to trim 8% off your monthly fuel cost, would you buy a ticket?
You look skeptical. I suspect that those of us in the industry have caused some of it. When a typical business owner hears/reads/smells the "GPS Carnival Sideshow Hawker" screaming: "Come and see the Great Idle Reduction! Just one thin Ulysses - two Jacksons and a Hamilton! Hurry while it's still here!," they tend to put one hand on their wallet and walk past just a little bit faster.
(Side note: This is not about idling per se, by the way, but interestingly, excessive idling wasn't much recognized as a problem until location and telematics systems were installed and started showing how much time was spent. And yet many of these original measurements were (and still are) inflated by the systems not being able to differentiate between the engine actually running or the key being in the "On" or "Accessory" position. So, the numbers have tended to be inflated and have a degree of uncertainty in them. Why shouldn't people be skeptical?)
So, let's look at things a little differently and focus on a couple of measurements that are more grasp-able and rational. Now, if I could show you how to lower your monthly fuel-spend by 8%, would you be interested? At $3.89 per gallon, that's like buying gas for $0.31 cheaper - $3.59 per gallon.
If you're still reading (I'm guessing you might be), let's set some rational, if not conservative assumptions. You decide whether they make sense. If they don't, I'll save you some time - stop reading.
I'm going to look at a small fleet of trucks, running on regular gasoline (because that's what I happened to note, filling my truck). Here are my assumptions:
* 100 Ga./Mo. What I use per truck
* $3.89/Ga. This is what the pump read, last Friday (actually, $3.899)
* 15 Mi./Ga. The average MPG (miles per gallon) I get in the trucks
* 1,500 Mi. The number of miles each truck drives per month
According to industry experts, using better routes and improving directions can reduce mileage by 10% - 30% (AberdeenGroup, Trimble, etc.). So, let's use 5% to be conservative. Five percent of 1,500 miles is 75 miles. Therefore we've theoretically knocked 75 miles off of our monthly driving. We're now at 1,425 miles per truck. At 15 miles per gallon, that 75 miles is 5 gallons of fuel I've saved, or multiplied by $3.89 per gallon, $19.45 per month.
By the same token, changing drivers' behavior can save 10% - 20% in fuel consumption - just by eliminating speeding and aggressive acceleration. Let's use the lower number(s).
* 1,425 miles / 15 miles per gallon = 95 gallons
(we already saved 5 above, and this matches, which is good...)
* Ten percent of 95 gallons is: 0.10 * 95 gallons = 9.5 gallons
* 9.5 gallons at $3.89 per gallon is $36.96 per month
Okay, so now we've hopefully saved $36.96 per month, plus the $19.45 per month above; or a total of $56.41 per month.
If we subtract this from the $389.00 per month we started with, we get $332.59 per month. "That's an annual savings of $676.92 per truck!"
You should already be thinking of the line in the old Meatloaf song Paradise by the Dashboard Light: "STOP RIGHT THERE!" -- that doesn't include the cost of the system. That is correct. So, let's look at that before we go any further.
Let's say you bundle the hardware and services together on a 24 month package, for about $45.00 per month. Adding that back to our $332.59 per month in fuel, we get $377.59 - still a savings, but nowhere near $0.25 per gallon. Very good! You're cutting through the chaff.
But to be fair, we haven't even considered any savings from that "idling thingy." Consider all the daily opportunities for the truck to be idling:
* Getting ready to leave for the first call in the morning
* Waiting for the client or getting ready to get "on the jobsite"
* Filling out paperwork after the call
* Calling in to clear the call
* Getting the next call
* Repeating for the next and all following calls
* Leaving the truck running during a stop or call
* Eating lunch in the air-conditioned truck
Let's forget percentages and shoot for cutting 15 minutes of idling, per work day. That's it - 15 minutes; one-quarter hour... (sorry - beginning to sound like that Sideshow guy). According to the U. S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Lab, a truck idling at 900 - 1000 RPM with the A/C on will use 0.85 - 0.94 gallons of fuel per hour. One more assumption: let's split the difference and use 0.89 gallons per hour as our estimate.
One quarter hour per day times 0.89 gallons per hour equals 0.22 gallons per day. Multiply that by 20.5 working days per month, and we get 4.56 gallons per month that we save - right off the previous totals. 4.56 gallons * $3.89 per gallon = $17.74 per month.
Subtract that from the $377.59 per month we're now theoretically paying, and you get $359.85 per month in fuel and system. That's an 8% savings from what we're already doing, INCLUDING putting in a new system.
Is there a catch? Sure. You have to manage to it. If you put in a system and don't do anything else differently, you might get a little initial drop in usage from your employees being cautious, but after nothing happens? Nothing happens. It also takes a little work to put the system in. Not much - figure about an hour on average.
According to the U. S. Department of Energy's www.fueleconomy.gov, you could still save another 7% - 9%. ("But WAIT! There's more!") That's what a tune-up, pressuring the tires correctly and using the right lubricants can buy you.
Now, let me ask that question again: "If I could show you a way to lower your monthly fuel-spend by 8%, would you be interested?"
If you are, consider the following:
You could bring your trucks in for a tune-up, oil change and tire-pressure check. At the same time, install this type of system and then immediately enter in the next scheduled maintenance date and mileage. You'll save even more by taking care of your fleet proactively, and have an easy, scheduled rollout of a new system that helps mitigate rising fuel costs.
As an added benefit, when you go home at night, you should find you've not only saved some money, but also helped the world by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions -- by burning less fuel.
And maybe, just maybe, it might help you cut down on some swearing, too.
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