News
September 2006
Countering The Cost Of Rising Fuel Prices
With diesel averaging £1 a litre in the UK (according to the AA) and analysts predicting it will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, the transport industry needs to find new ways to monitor and control consumption.
Any reduction in fuel consumption has the potential to save hauliers and fleet operators a considerable amount of money at a time when profit margins are already tight.
Swindon-based CMS Global Technologies says its SupaTrak CANBus vehicle tracking and telemetry system is one solution to the problem that is generating a great deal of interest from transport operators across the country, and when you start to examine the figures you can see why.
Fuel consumption really grabs the attention when considered for a typical HGV. Some of these vehicles average 1.76 miles per litre (8 mpg) – and some considerably less. At current prices that’s 1.76 miles to the £. And it’s not unusual for each HGV to travel around 2,000 miles a week. That’s a weekly fuel cost of £1136 and an annual cost of over £59,000 – just for one truck! Now multiply the cost of running a fleet.
Using the SupaTrak CANBus system, CMS says it is possible to reduce fuel consumption by up to 8%, i.e. save £90 per vehicle per week and over £4,700 per vehicle per year. Such savings are worth considering now says the company, and will be worth a lot more if fuel prices continue to rise as predicted.
It could just be money well spent!
SupaTrak CANBus offers vehicle operators a new opportunity to lower operational costs and if fuel prices keep rising could revolutionise the way they run their business.
Developed by CMS from a concept originally designed by Bosch for the car industry, the system networks intelligent devices, sensors and actuators in real time.
It provides vehicle tracking, trailer tracking, temperature monitoring and much more besides – in fact just about everything the transport operator needs to control and monitor every vehicle in the fleet.
On a practical level, CANBus enables the driver to monitor fuel consumption and adjust his driving style to reduce it. He can see the effect that harsh braking or rapid acceleration has and make efforts to respond to it.
Back at base, monitoring the vehicle-usage telemetry integrated into the CANBus system provides key data that can be used to increase vehicle utilisation and increase fleet productivity.
At the end of the day the amount that fuel consumption is reduced will largely depend on how the data is used, but CMS says some of its clients have achieved a 12.5% saving after introducing new methods of working and rescheduling and re-routing vehicles.
“The potential of this system to save money and reduce fuel consumption is limited only by the imagination of users,” comments CMS Managing Director Jason Airey.
“With fuel prices likely to keep on rising we believe it could be the solution hauliers are looking for and with the potential to reduce the fuel cost of each vehicle by several thousand pounds a year, SupaTrak CANBus must be worth looking into,” he adds.
