Idling has long been a source of frustration for fleet management. Aside from having no benefits, it contributes to CO2 emissions and noise pollution, and it uses an excessive amount of fuel, resulting in higher fleet costs.
Furthermore, engine idling is not just harmful to the environment; it is also detrimental to business. This is where autocavo comes in.
Negative Impacts of Excessive Vehicle Idling
A large number of fleet vehicles spend at least 3 hours idling each day. But in truth, they may idle up to eight hours each day.
Take a look below to see the negative impacts of excessive vehicle idling.
1. Environmental
Transportation-related CO2 emissions account for 29% of overall CO2 emissions. Moreover, increased idling degrades air quality for both drivers and the general public. While it is hard to eliminate emissions, people can work to cut down on idle time.
2. Economic
According to the US Department of Energy, idling vehicles squander 6 billion gallons of diesel and gasoline per year.
3. Compliance with Idle Laws
Commercial vehicle engine idling is prohibited in several jurisdictions, including approximately 80 local-level cities and counties. Although the usual time allowed for engine idling is three to five minutes, these laws may vary.
4. Negative impact on vehicle health and additional maintenance costs
Excessive idling raises the expense of maintenance. Each year, these prices increase by almost $2,000 per vehicle as idling causes twice as much damage to internal components as turning the engine off and on. Furthermore, idling reduces the duration between oil changes, increasing the occurrence of vehicle downtimes.
5. Fuel Cost
A large sedan uses roughly 0.39 gallons of fuel for every hour it idles. So, if you have a fleet of 200 vehicles and each idles for just 2 hours a month, you’re wasting 156 gallons of fuel. With current gas prices averaging at about $3.17 per gallon, that’s almost $500 every single month being wasted. Surprisingly, idling for 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting your engine.
How autocavo’s Management & Tracking Solution Decreases Vehicle Idle Time
Apart from working with drivers to reduce engine idle time, fleet owners and managers have other ways to help reduce the costs associated with engine idling.
For example, using high-quality telematics hardware and software that gives notifications, alerts, and statistics on your commercial motor vehicles can assist your fleet in greatly decreasing or eliminating this problem.
autocavoFleet enables you to:
1. Set up and Receive Alerts for Vehicle Idling
With autocavoFleet, you can set up customized alerts and notifications for when a car has been idle for an extended period. You can customize these alerts to track things like driver idle time, vehicle performance, speed, and hard braking.
2. Quick View Dashboards and Vehicle Trip Reports
autocavoFleet transmits complete driver behavior reports, including idle time, speeding, and vehicle data, which you can use to guide training and document route difficulties. You can also take a quick glance at your entire fleet through the dashboard.
3. Encourage Efficient and Safe Driving with Performance Reports
Incentives such as holding a contest to award top-performing drivers or those with the least amount of engine idle time help foster a responsible and cohesive culture.
autocavo provides big fleet features for a small business price. Whether you have three or hundreds of vehicles, trust that autocavo can help you manage and track your fleet. Get started today!
