Learning how to improve gas mileage and implementing those solutions in your fleet can help save money at the pump and boost your bottom line.
In this article, we discuss some of the best administrative, mechanical, and behavior-based tips to help you improve gas mileage in all your cars, trucks, vans, and semis.
Why You Need To Improve Gas Mileage In Your Fleet
Fuel is a major cost center for fleets of all sizes and types, so it’s essential that you work to improve gas mileage and fuel spending if you want to give your business the best chance for success.
Here are some specific reasons why reducing gas mileage is important.
Reduced Fuel Costs
The higher the gas mileage (i.e., MPG) your vehicles achieve, the less fuel they’ll use and the lower your fuel spend will be. Said another way, the lower the gas mileage your vehicles achieve, the more fuel they’ll use and the higher your fuel spend will be.
For example, if you send a 2001 GMC Sierra 1500 that gets 15 miles per gallon and a 2020 GMC Sierra 1500 that gets 25 miles per gallon to the same destination, the latter will use less gas than the former.
All things being equal, where fuel is concerned, the 2020 Sierra will cost less to run than the 2001 Sierra.
When you do the math for that trip, it may not seem like much at first (somewhere around $10 difference). But if those vehicles are filling up multiple times a week, the savings can quickly add up to hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars annually.
And that’s just one vehicle. Extend those savings over your entire fleet and it quickly becomes apparent why improving gas mileage and reducing fuel costs is so vital.
Less Environmental Impact
Better fuel efficiency results in lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduced air pollution. This contributes to a cleaner environment and can help your fleet meet its sustainability goals and requirements.
Incorporating cleaner technologies and alternative-fuel vehicles into your fleet can even reduce wear and tear, leading to lower maintenance costs, less fuel burden, and longer vehicle lifespans.
Improved Operational Efficiency
Efficient vehicles require less frequent refueling. And while it may only take 10 minutes to refuel your work vans and work trucks, this is 10 minutes lost that contributes to downtime, late arrivals, and decreased productivity.
What’s more, finding ways to improve gas mileage in your fleet also contributes to the overall lifespan of the vehicles in use. Longer lifespan can mean better operational efficiency over the full useful range of the vehicle.
So, fuel-efficient vehicles can help you increase operational efficiency both in the short term and in the long term for a comprehensive improvement in your business activities.
Better Compliance
Depending on where your fleet operates, you may have to contend with strict fuel efficiency standards — or the prospect of doing so in the very near future.
Taking steps to improve gas mileage in your fleet vehicles as soon as possible can help you stay compliant with all state, local, and federal regulations that may go into effect in the next few years.
While compliance may not seem like a big issue now when you’re crossing all the Ts and dotting all the Is, going astray of even one compliance standard can result in fines, out-of-service action, and even legal repercussions.
Potential For Tax Benefits
While improving gas mileage in your fleet vehicles is certainly good for your day-to-day operations (and your bottom line), it also holds the potential for tax benefits at the end of the year.
In some cases, your business may be able to qualify for certain deductions or earn tax credits based on purchases and fleet activity. If you have questions about what can be deducted from your annual taxes or how to earn tax credits, talk to a qualified accountant or tax professional.
For more information on mileage, gas receipts, and taxes, check out this article from the Coast blog: How To Track Mileage And Keep Up With Gas Receipts For Taxes.
Enhanced Reputation
When your fleet prioritizes fuel efficiency, it also demonstrates a commitment to environmental responsibility and cost-effectiveness. This can enhance your business’s reputation, build its brand image, and attract environmentally conscious customers.
Prioritizing fuel efficiency can also enhance your reputation among potential employees. Fuel efficiency is typically closely related to safety (the driving techniques while on the road dovetail with each other).
When drivers see that your operation is committed to improving its reputation in this regard, they may be more motivated to work with your company because they see that their safety is a major concern.
Lower Fuel Taxes
Interstate fleet managers are all too familiar with the rules and regulations put forth by the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) and all the paperwork that goes with them.
Reducing the amount of fuel consumed by fleet vehicles means less taxes paid overall and less time and energy required to make sure all reports and payments are up to date and on time.
For more information about how the IFTA can impact your business, take a few minutes to read this article from the Coast blog: International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA): Fleet Owner’s Guide.
How To Improve Gas Mileage: Back-Office Tips
1) Calculate Total Cost Of Ownership
By focusing on the fixed and variable costs you pay to operate your vehicles every month, you can find out how much of an impact each vehicle is having on your bottom line.
Here’s how to calculate TCO for a vehicle before it leaves your fleet.
Total Cost Of Ownership = Fixed Vehicle Costs + Variable Vehicle Costs
Here’s an example calculation.
Timeframe: One month
Data:
Fixed Costs = $10,000
Variable Costs = $16,000
Total Cost Of Ownership:
Total Cost Of Ownership = Fixed Vehicle Costs + Variable Vehicle Costs
Total Cost Of Ownership = $10,000 + $16,000
Total Cost Of Ownership = $26,000 per month
With TCO in mind, you can brainstorm ways to bring certain variables down in order to affect the whole. For example, can you reduce fuel expenditures or mileage-dependent maintenance (variable costs)? Or, could you renegotiate insurance or lease payments (fixed costs)?
Even bringing down what you pay for small things like tolls and parking fees can have a dramatic effect on your TCO for the entire year.
2) Calculate Vehicle Cost Per Mile
Another useful way to improve gas mileage in your fleet is to calculate vehicle cost per mile (VCPM).
Vehicle cost per mile is based on the total cost of ownership calculation, so once you have that in hand you can plug it into the following equation for even more information:
Vehicle Cost Per Mile = Total Cost Of Ownership / Total Miles Driven
Here’s an example calculation:
Timeframe: One month
Data:
TCO = $26,000 per month
Total miles driven for that month = 15,000
Cost Per Mile:
Cost Per Mile = Total Cost Of Ownership / Total Miles Driven
Vehicle Cost Per Mile = $26,000 / 15,000
Vehicle Cost Per Mile = $1.73
That means it cost your business $1.73 for every mile the vehicle traveled during the month in question.
To reduce this number, you can either lower the number of miles the vehicle travels or manipulate some of the variables in the TCO calculation (e.g., fuel outlay or maintenance costs).
3) Monitor Fleet KPIs
Total cost of ownership and vehicle cost per mile aren’t the only important data points that affect gas mileage within your fleet.
There are, of course, numbers like fuel cost (price per gallon paid) and fuel usage. But you can also benefit from monitoring other fleet KPIs, including vehicle size (compared to job), routes traveled, and driver behavior.
These numbers can be used to evaluate how well an employee, driver, process, or program meets the performance goals you’ve set for your business.
4) Set Up Notifications To Monitor Fueling
With a smart fuel card as part of your workflow, you can set up notifications and real-time alerts to help you monitor fleet spending regardless of where or when it takes place.
For example, you may choose to set things up so that you (or your business) are notified when a transaction is declined or looks suspicious. Alternatively (or additionally), you may choose to set up an alert when a fill-up exceeds the size of the fuel tank for a specific vehicle.
Monitoring these notifications while vehicles are on the road allows you to respond immediately if something out of the ordinary happens. Having real-time alerts like this can help ensure that an issue doesn’t get worse, get more expensive, or do more damage than necessary.
5) Prevent Fuel Theft
Smart fuel cards typically contain multiple layers of security, including EMV chips and pre-use card activation that can only be done with a registered phone and the specific card.
These features — as well as enhanced monitoring and record keeping — can help you reduce fuel theft throughout your fleet.
How To Improve Gas Mileage: Mechanical Tips
1) Monitor Vehicle Systems
Monitoring vehicle systems with telematics can help you identify faults in your fleet that have the potential to impact fuel economy and reduce gas mileage.
With the right fleet management software, you’ll receive notifications and alerts for issues including:
- Problems that affect vehicle emissions
- Parameters and settings that fall outside a defined range
- Faults that can lead to compliance violations
- Faults that directly impact gas mileage
This detailed knowledge provides the insight you need to learn how to improve gas mileage throughout your fleet.
2) Correct Issues That Affect Gas Mileage
When you know what’s going on under the hood of each vehicle, you’ll be better prepared to correct issues that directly affect their gas mileage. And you’ll be better prepared to do so in a timely manner before the issues spread into other systems.
While repairing obvious faults may be first on the list, don’t shy away from analyzing and tweaking the settings that govern how your vehicles operate.
Even small adjustments can have a big effect on gas mileage down the road.
3) Consider An Alternative Fuel
Converting your fleet to run on an alternative fuel — or even a combination of gas and alternative fuel — is another way to improve mileage and reduce the overall costs of keeping the vehicles on the road.
Common gas and diesel alternatives include:
- Biofuel
- Electricity
- Ethanol
- Natural gas
- Propane
When considering the switch, it’s essential to research fuel prices, emissions, regulations, and whether or not you’ll need to convert the vehicle’s engine to handle the alternative fuel.
You may be faced with a large expense up front, but, over the long term, the savings can really add up.
4) Adhere To Preventative Maintenance Schedules
One of the best solutions for improving gas mileage in your fleet vehicles is to keep those vehicles in good repair. How do you manage that? By adhering to any and all preventative maintenance schedules whenever possible.
As the name suggests, preventative maintenance seeks to prevent both the major and minor problems that can reduce gas mileage and, eventually, sideline your vehicles for a time.
Creating the right preventative maintenance schedule — and sticking to it — can go a long way toward helping you get more miles per gallon out of your vehicles and save more money at the pump.
5) Eliminate Unnecessary Weight
The weight that your vehicles carry directly impacts the miles per gallon they’ll get while on the road.
Even just 100 extra pounds can reduce the fuel efficiency of most vehicles. And, where tools, equipment, and passengers are concerned, it doesn’t take long to accumulate double, triple, or even quadruple that much weight in one go.
Take the time to go through the tools that your technicians and drivers carry on a regular basis, and eliminate the unnecessary weight that can reduce gas mileage.
6) Distribute The Load Evenly
The loads your vehicles do carry should always be as evenly distributed as possible. Instead of stacking all the tools on one side of the work van and leaving the other side empty, spread half the tools on the right side and half on the left side.
Similarly, try to keep tools and supplies centered between the axles (from front to back). If too much weight is concentrated in one area of the vehicle, it makes the engine use more fuel to get up to and maintain driving speeds.
7) Maintain Correct Tire Pressure
An under-inflated tire increases the rolling resistance placed on the engine and forces it to use more fuel to maintain forward momentum.
On an improperly inflated tire, you’ll fill up more often — and pay more in the long run — because the vehicle uses more fuel to get where it’s going.
You can avoid this issue and improve gas mileage in the process by training your drivers to check the tire pressure before starting a trip, every time they stop, and at the end of their route.
8) Make Vehicles More Aerodynamic
Making your fleet vehicles more aerodynamic can result in improved gas mileage over time.
Most modern vehicles are engineered to be as aerodynamic as possible. But adding a curved cap to the top of a semi truck or an air dam on both sides of the trailer it pulls can reduce drag enough to improve miles per gallon considerably.
How To Improve Gas Mileage: Driving Behavior Tips
1) Don’t Overfill The Fuel Tank
This may seem counterintuitive, but filling a fuel tank to the very top can actually reduce the vehicle’s gas mileage.
How so? Because of the way it’s formulated, fuel has a tendency to heat up and expand. If the tank is overfull, the fuel can expand to such a degree that it will overflow right out of the vehicle.
2) Follow Efficient Routes
Following efficient routes is one of the best tips when you’re deciding how to improve gas mileage in your fleet vehicles.
Plan routes using modern GPS and computer-based map programs to provide your drivers with the shortest, most efficient distance between point A and point B.
For a work truck that gets 12 miles to the gallon, shaving just 30 miles off a trip (e.g.,15 miles there and 15 miles back) can save your business more than $10.
That may not seem like a lot at first, but, depending on how many vehicles you have and how far they travel, the savings can quickly multiply.
3) Accelerate Smoothly
Another strategy for improving gas mileage through driving behavior is to accelerate smoothly from a stop.
Each vehicle has a finite amount of power and acceleration — especially when carrying heavy loads. Pushing the pedal to the floor doesn’t get the vehicle up to speed any sooner; it just wastes fuel.
Train your drivers to be gentle with the throttle and to accelerate smoothly and slowly whenever possible. Doing so will use less fuel overall and improve the gas mileage of the vehicle.
4) Brake Evenly
On the opposite side of the coin, braking evenly and consistently to bring the vehicle to a stop is much better for gas mileage than holding the throttle down until the last minute and then stomping on the brake.
Plus, avoiding this type of aggressive driving improves the life and functionality of the major systems in the vehicle (i.e., engine, transmission, and brakes).
5) Coast More
Coasting more often can also improve gas mileage. Train your drivers to:
- Plan ahead for stops and turns that call for reduced speed
- Take their foot off the pedal earlier
- Coast closer to the stop or turn before applying the brake
Doing so reduces the amount of gas the engine uses to move the vehicle forward and improves gas mileage significantly over the course of a round trip.
6) Limit Idling When Possible
It doesn’t matter what type of commercial vehicle your fleet operates — if drivers leave them idling for extended periods of time, gas mileage will decrease.
How can you avoid prolonged idling?
- Train drivers to make sure they’re ready to go before starting the vehicle
- Use GPS software that warns of congested roads along the route
- Encourage drivers to avoid stopped traffic (and the unnecessary idling that results) whenever possible
7) Maintain Speed
Maintaining a consistent speed can be difficult, and most drivers will pilot their vehicle in such a way that speeds will vary from a few miles above to a few miles below the posted speed limit — even over the course of a relatively short distance.
This repeated change in speed uses more gas than maintaining a continuous number throughout.
Encourage drivers to use the cruise control whenever possible to avoid the repeated acceleration and deceleration that can reduce the gas mileage of your fleet.
8) Use Caution On Slippery Surfaces
Spinning the vehicle’s tires on slippery surfaces is a big waste of fuel. Training your drivers to be gentle with the throttle helps avoid this issue entirely, keeps them and others safe, and is an easy way for how to improve gas mileage in your fleet.
9) Conduct Regular Inspections
Conduct regular vehicle inspections to identify and address potential fuel-efficiency issues. Telematics can also help monitor vehicle systems to make sure they’re operating as best they can.
When everything is working at near-optimal conditions, you’ll have a better chance of maximizing gas mileage in a particular vehicle.
10) Implement Driver Incentives
Implement driver incentives to motivate them to follow fuel-efficient driving techniques and reward the ones who do it the best.
Making a game out of adhering to fuel-efficient driving techniques — and giving awards and recognition to those who do — makes it more fun for the drivers in question and increases the chances that everyone will get on board.
Control Fuel Spending With Coast
Regardless of the strategies for improving gas mileage that you implement in your fleet, Coast is here to help you control spending across the board.
With Coast you can:
- Track individual vehicles to find anomalies in mileage and miles per gallon
- Get accurate MPG calculations with precise odometer capture
- Monitor the fuel efficiency of every vehicle at a glance
- Implement strict controls over fuel spending to cut fraud and abuse
- Integrate with telematics to get the best fuel-efficiency data
The Coast card even provides real-time expense tracking and a powerful online management platform that gives you full visibility of every dollar spent.
To learn more about Coast, visit CoastPay.com today.
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