Best practices for sustainable fleet management
Aug 26. 2021
A sustainable fleet management strategy aims to reduce environmental impacts through actions such as more sustainable vehicles and fuels, operating with the lowest possible fuel consumption, and reducing road traffic generated by your fleet.
Discover best practices for sustainable fleet management to implement in your fleet:
Properly scale your fleet
Defining the correct size of your fleet involves combining the needs, operations and mobility of your fleet with the requirements specified in its mission. As a fleet manager, to correctly size your fleet and make its management more sustainable, start by identifying and eliminating inefficient vehicles. The next step is to replace them, if necessary, with more efficient vehicles (that consume less fuel per km) and to use alternative fuels when available.
Analyzing fleet operations for proper sizing allows fleet managers to identify opportunities to save on vehicle travel and maintenance throughout the vehicle life cycle. It also helps reduce vehicle purchases, fuel consumption, maintenance and other operating costs.
Reduce mileage traveled
For more sustainable fleet management, companies can implement strategies to reduce the number of miles driven. In this way, they can avoid unnecessary trips that contribute to environmental emissions, vehicle wear and tear, excessive fuel consumption and time spent on travel that could be used for other tasks.
Strategies for reducing mileage driven:
- Analyze the need for travel (For example, replacing some salesforce in-person visits with online meetings or phone calls);
- Consolidate routes and trips to eliminate duplication;
- Provide passenger transportation for company staff for high-utilization routes;
- Optimize the time and distance for deliveries using a fleet management system, leading to a more efficient fleet.
