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How to Reduce Idle Time for Your Fleet
Learn how GPS tracking tools can measure vehicles’ idle time effectively to increase your company’s productivity and profitability.
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Idle time is a major cause of stress for business fleet managers. Vehicle idling leads to unnecessary fuel consumption, higher operating costs, increased vehicle wear and tear and impaired company efficiency. In this article, we examine the effect this issue has on companies’ bottom lines and how fleets are using GPS tracking and other tools to reduce fleet idle time.
What is idle time?
For companies that operate commercial vehicle fleets, idle time describes when the engine is running but your vehicle isn’t moving.
In some instances, idling is a good thing. For example, in very cold temperatures, idling can make restarting a diesel engine much easier by lowering the oil’s viscosity and ensuring the fuel doesn’t gel. It’s also helpful in keeping a vehicle’s batteries charged adequately during required breaks on long-distance hauls and ensuring that the sleeper cab is warm enough.
Most of the time, however, idling is not a good thing. It pushes up fuel bills significantly and makes vehicle engines work harder than they have to, which means they require more ongoing maintenance. “Drivers idle out of habit — checking a cell phone, warming up the van, having lunch,” Shaun Carse, director at Trackershop, told business.com. “We stopped treating idle time as just another stat to track and started thinking about it as behavior to rewire.”
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How can you reduce fleet idle times?
To determine whether your drivers are idling their vehicles too often, you need to be able to monitor their behavior on the road. For that, you need a GPS fleet tracking platform.
Using GPS fleet tracking systems to lower idle times
GPS fleet tracking tools monitor the location and performance of the vehicles in your fleet in real time. These robust tracking tools keep track of every journey, providing a wealth of data on metrics like fuel economy and engine idle time as well as useful details about each driver’s behavior behind the wheel. “GPS systems play a vital role in reducing idling because they provide fleet managers with the data they need to spot and train out such behavior in drivers,” said Adam Lang, director of customer advisory services at Netradyne. “Without this visibility, managers can’t really do much.”
Many of these tools have optimized routing built-in. This means that they can plan journeys that take less busy routes so your driver is less likely to sit in stationary traffic where idling is most likely. “If you know what’s moving, when and where, you know what’s idling,” said Tejas Bhakta, founder of AirPinpoint and former Tesla AI engineer. “That gives you enough to align your people, equipment and crews with surgical precision.”
The system will show fleet managers on their dashboard how often and for how long each individual driver idles their vehicles on their new fuel-efficient routes. A company can use these insights to identify where there are training opportunities. Ari Raptis, CEO at Talaria Transportation, said that in his business reducing idling time was a key target. “It’s part of our larger mission to operate more efficiently and sustainably,” he said. “Our GPS tools give dispatch real-time access to idle time and route data, so we can generate reports and fine-tune delivery operations.”
It’s important to let your drivers know that reducing idling is a goal for the fleet. Knowing now that how they drive is being monitored, they might compel them to perform better.
Incentivize with gamification to reward good behavior
One way many of the best GPS fleet management systems motivate better driving is through gamification — in other words, by stoking workplace competition. These systems rank drivers in real time based on their driving habits. Monthly rewards are given for the best performers and drivers can track their position in the company throughout the month.
“We made driver dashboards gamify performance,” Carse explained. “Not merely ‘you idled 23 minutes’ — but ‘you saved X litres this week compared to last week’ or ‘top three this week in idling reduction.’ It wasn’t about saving money anymore — it was about pride. If people know that tiny wins are accumulating and gaining momentum, it starts to catch fire.”
Other ways to lower idle times
There are other ways to reduce idling time that don’t rely on a GPS system. They include:
- Fuel-operated heaters: These heaters keep the vehicle cabin warm while the engine is off.
- Auxiliary power units (APUs): APUs power vehicle functions like heating, cooling and charging up electronic devices.
- Automatic engine start and stop systems: These systems shut down the engine automatically when the vehicle is stationary and restart it when it’s time to move.
- Electronic engine idle parameters: Adjusting these settings can reduce unnecessary idling by switching the vehicle off automatically if the engine has been idling for longer than the limit you define.
- Battery heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems: Your drivers can run an HVAC system from a battery instead of the main engine.
- Driver education programs: Train drivers about the costs and environmental impact of idling to help them understand their effects. If you have systems in place to measure idling, consider incentivizing good behavior by rewarding drivers who consistently reduce their idle times.
Why should you use GPS tracking software to combat idle time?
When your business mitigates the negative impacts of idle time using GPS tracking software, these are some benefits you’ll likely see:
We’ll explore the details of these advantages below.
Lower insurance costs
Companies that choose not to use GPS tracking software for their assets are often burdened with higher insurance costs than those who implement the technology. When an insurance company can’t verify or accurately quantify a driver’s actions while on the road, it’s likely to charge higher rates. “Safer driving practices and reduced idling often translate to fewer claims and lower premiums,” said Lang. In fact, many insurance companies offer discounts of up to 25 percent for businesses on commercial auto insurance that opt to install GPS tracking software in their fleet vehicles. [Related article: Ways to Save Money on Business Insurance]
Additionally, transporting valuable assets without the ability to monitor and track the journey poses a significant financial threat as it exposes companies to a higher risk of theft. Going without a GPS system also jeopardizes the security of the employees, the vehicles and the products in transit. All of these factors can lead to higher rates.
Increased fuel efficiency
GPS tracking software cuts fuel waste by reducing idle time, poor routing and inefficient driving. If you don’t take advantage of the valuable information GPS technology provides, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to improve your drivers’ behavior and identify routes with less required idling and traffic stops.
Idling is a problem because engines can use up to a half gallon of gas each hour. Without GPS software, you may needlessly waste fuel because of numerous inefficiencies across your operation. While fleets without GPS technology may only use a few more gallons per vehicle than they would with the right technology, those gallons add up. They can aggregate significantly higher fuel emissions and expenses over a year.
Lower maintenance costs
Fleets that travel without the assistance of GPS software will inevitably encounter more frequent maintenance issues. For heavy machinery, including many fleet vehicles’ preventative maintenance schedules are based on hours of operation instead of miles traveled.
GPS technology allows businesses to track a fleet’s routine maintenance beyond simple mileage requirements. For example, the system will recognize when a truck is using an abnormal amount of fuel or oil or shows wear and tear because of the total hours the motor has been running.
Avoidable maintenance costs can add up quickly and negatively impact operational expenses, especially when competitors are using GPS technology to help keep their vehicles on the road longer.
Reduced environmental effects
All businesses, especially those who use a lot of fuel, must take responsibility for their contribution to environmental harm and climate change. When companies are operating fleets with significant amounts of idle time, they are inevitably causing more damage to the environment. Among transportation vehicles, medium- and heavy-duty trucks are the second-largest contributors — at 25 percent — of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
GPS tracking software helps limit idle time in various ways, reducing the carbon footprint of businesses worldwide. “This level of insight helps us reduce emissions, cut fuel costs and ensure drivers stick to secure, predetermined routes,” Raptis said. “It’s a smart solution that strengthens both our environmental impact and our overall performance.”
According to Lang, this can bring extra revenues into a company. “Environmental performance can be important when companies and public sector organizations issue Requests for Proposals (RFPs), as sustainability often factors into their final supplier choice,” he said.
What is the impact of excessive idle time?
Excessive idle time ultimately impacts profitability in many ways: wasting fuel is the most obvious. Other idle time repercussions can affect your company’s overall success in the competitive marketplace. The impact of idle time on companies operating large fleets is particularly significant, but idle time fallout can affect companies operating fleets of any size.
According to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, idling can burn between 0.6 to one gallon of fuel each hour. Over the course of a day, a vehicle battery-powered air heater will use a gallon of fuel too. The average truck on United States roads idles for around 1,000 hours per annum, added the organization.
The council concluded in a report that the best solutions for fleets involve a mix of complementary technologies used together. However, the findings highlight the fact that drivers will always play a “very important part” in managing a fleet’s idle times successfully.
The right tools and tracking systems matter, but your real targets should be culture change and small behavioural wins to reduce idling in your fleet.
Jeff Hale contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.
