1. Stay alert

Do you know how many vehicles you have, what they are doing and how they are being driven? You may have too many, or if you have a delivery fleet, it might be based in the wrong place. If you use telematics, this will help give you a picture – your service provider can advise. Or you could use a company that specialises in fleet optimisation, which would equip your fleet with data loggers for a set period then analyse the results to see what your fleet does each day. Your fleet service provider should also be able to help in assessing your needs.

2. Renew usage

Having carried out a review you should have gathered the information to show how well your fleet is being utilised. It may show that you have too many vehicles, or that there are areas where two people or delivery routes overlap. Revising responsibilities could help to reduce distances driven, by eliminating the overlaps. If you have a delivery fleet, you may find that some vehicles are based in the wrong place, or that you don’t need all those that you have, or that you could operate with fewer vehicles supplemented with pool or rental vehicles, or that you are using the wrong type of vehicles on some operations.

3. Are company cars always the best solution?

Allocated fleet vehicles are likely to remain as part of business mobility solutions for a long time to come. If populations are becoming more urban as some suggest, other mobility solutions such as air, rail, car share and taxi may provide a better solution for some. There are indications that younger employees may find mobility schemes to be an acceptable alternative to a company car. Several fleet operators such as Alphabet, ALD Automotive and LeasePlan are offering such schemes or trialling them. A mobility budget with a smartphone based system for booking could offer an alternative.

4. Could you use electric vehicles as part of your fleet?

Electric vehicle range is likely to increase over the next few years as new battery technologies come to market. In the meantime, careful consideration is still needed to assess how viable an electric vehicle (EV) could be, either for individual fleet cars or as pooled vehicles. Where cars are used solely or mostly for commuting, an EV could provide a viable alternative.

Leasing providers would be happy to advise on EVs and hybrids and help identify the cars that could be most easily replaced with EVs.

5. How many hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles could you use?

Hybrids are another possible means of greening the fleet. Hybrids rely on stop/start traffic to charge their batteries with energy that would otherwise be lost in braking and slowing. These may provide another alternative for drivers who are mostly office bound and use the car mostly for commuting. Plug‐in hybrids cost more but could offer a greater electric range and offer lower exhaust emissions. Commuting drivers might only need to use electric power.

Again, leasing providers would be happy to advise on appropriate use of hybrids.

6. Fleet monitoring

Once you have established whether you have the right vehicles in the right places, it is worth considering the impact drivers can have on fuel consumption and emissions. Drivers who exceed the speed limit, accelerate rapidly and brake harshly will be wasting fuel, as well as causing rapid wear to the vehicle. Is the most direct route to destinations chosen?

Telematics can monitor what drivers are doing behind the wheel, where they are, where they are going and where they have been. Some systems give drivers feedback about how well they are driving and can be highly effective in improving driver behaviour.

7. Train your drivers in eco driving techniques

It may be necessary to give driver training with an instructor to those who are the poorest performers, but many drivers may benefit from being given some simple advice on how to drive defensively for optimum fuel consumption. This might be possible through an online training course or interactive package that can be followed in the office or at home. It may be appropriate to repeat sessions from time to time to ensure that drivers maintain good performance.

8. Incentivise your drivers

Incentive schemes for good drivers such as league tables or monthly reward schemes are an effective way to keep drivers motivated about good driving practice. Some organisations have a ‘Driver of the Year’ award to reward the best drivers and identify other good performers. The benefits extend beyond reducing emissions and fuel consumption because accident rates among the best drivers are likely to be lower. This could also mean less accident damage and fewer insurance claims, which may help to lower insurance premiums. Insurance companies may be able to offer advice. 

9. Ensure vehicles are properly maintained and drivers regularly check tyre pressures

CV drivers may be obliged to make daily vehicle checks to ensure that vehicles are roadworthy before setting off and it is good for car drivers to follow similar practice. Regularly checking tyre pressures will help to keep fuel consumption low. Keeping a check on vehicle mileage to ensure that it is serviced at the recommended intervals will also help to ensure optimum fuel consumption. Using telematics and fleet software to download and record mileage and fuel use automatically would help to make this a manageable task. 

10. Monitoring vehicle performance

Despite high production standards, some vehicles don’t match up to others on the fleet. If you are satisfied that your drivers are doing what they can to minimise fuel use, but the vehicle still seems to be underperforming, it might be easier to defleet it and move it on, rather than spend excessive amounts of time trying to find out why it is not performing as expected. If you think that is the case, it is worth discussing it with your vehicle provider. They may be as keen as you to remove an underperforming vehicle from their fleets.