Before you can create a business case, you need to define what sustainable fleet strategies are and their desired outcome. In general, they can be broken down into two main objectives: reducing carbon emissions and improving operational efficiency. These goals are often intertwined and work together to make your fleet more sustainable.

For example, by transitioning a portion of your fleet to electric vehicles you are simultaneously reducing tailpipe emissions and fossil fuel usage while saving money, as EVs typically have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). It is important to note that fleet electrification is not the only way to create a more sustainable fleet. There are many practices that can be implemented with traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Sustainable Fleet Strategies to Consider

There are different ways to approach becoming more sustainable and finding the right strategies will depend on your fleet’s specific situation. You should take into consideration factors such as applicable government mandates, available incentives and vehicle application. By using telematics data you can benchmark your current fleet operations, allowing you to accurately measure the impact of any of these new strategies.

Idle Reduction

Unnecessary idling is something every fleet should try to address. It wastes fuel, leading to overall lower fuel economy, and is an additional source of CO2 emissions. To reduce idling you need to monitor it and train your drivers to avoid it when possible.

To address this you need to understand how long your vehicles idle, the amount of fuel that is used when idling and its applicable financial cost. With the Help of Cloud Data, There are a variety of reports you can run that will provide an indepth look at the idling within your fleet. Additionally, it allows you to compare your idling levels compared to similar fleets within the ecosystem.

Route Optimization

You can reduce the amount of fuel you use, along with the emissions they generate, by always taking the most efficient route. By reviewing and creating your route plans you can ensure your drivers complete their tasks in the most effective way. There are numerous route planning and optimization tools available, including industry-specific solutions.

Rightsizing Your Fleet

Rightsizing helps organizations optimize the use of their assets. It ensures that the fleet consists of the fewest and most efficient vehicles necessary to complete its daily tasks. By placing more efficient vehicles in high-use roles, and by limiting the use of less-efficient vehicles, the fleet will operate with lower total emissions.

You can run different reports, which are powered by telematics, in order to get a more in-depth look at how your assets are being used. You can identify your most used and least used vehicles, as well as distance trends across your fleet. This data enables you to ensure that the least carbon intensive vehicles are used in the higher-use applications.

Fleet Electrification

Electric vehicles will be a game changer for fleets. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) produce zero tailpipe emissions and typically have a lower TCO. This means that a fleet can improve their bottom line while becoming more sustainable.

Before you can start adding EVs, it is important to understand the vehicle’s daily route, operating cost and vehicle dwell time. You can acquire this information by conducting an EV Suitability Assessment (EVSA), which uses your fleet’s own driving data to determine where it makes sense to electrify. It provides vehicle recommendations, based on the models available in your region, as well as the projected cost savings and avoided CO2 emissions.

Fleet electrification is a gradual process and requires some advanced planning to be successful. However, you can also double down on your sustainability efforts by applying some of the previously mentioned strategies to your new EVs, like route optimization.

Set your sustainability goals with the support of the VisuCar Connected Mobility Cloud

To learn more about how VisuCar’s all-in-one connected operations platform can help your organization, just call or send an e-mail to our office anytime