Step 14: Train key personnel in energy efficient practices

Driver training, advanced driving, safety, ECO-Driving

Driving is a leant skill, investment in driving training for all your drivers, be they engineers, sales people, executives or office staff will repay its investment in fuel usage. In all cases you are looking for sympathetic driving and in particular the driver should be trained to plan ahead, far in advance of the average driver.

Driver training for auxiliary power units

Ensure drivers are trained and understand how to operate auxiliary power units (including moving floors, cranes, forklifts and other ancillary equipment):  look to suppliers to provide such training in the first instance.  Thereafter seek train the trainer courses and implement the most efficient operational procedures in your company process manuals.

Fuel purchasing and dispensing 

All employees should be advised and trained to brim tanks when refuelling i.e. to fill tanks to brim or when pump’s auto-stop kicks in.  This reduces the number of fills and gives drivers a clearer picture of their fuel usage. Filling to a set cash amount e.g. € 20 should be totally avoided. 

Fleet management and reporting

Dedicated Fleet Management Systems (acronym: FMS) can automate the majority of the work in collecting and reporting mileages, servicing and fuel usage. 

Heavy Goods Vehicles have a dedicated standard known as FMS or J1939, some vehicle telematics service providers utilise this highly detailed information to deliver key management reports on fleet performance.

If manual data collection and keying-in is a problem, consider a vehicle telematics system; such systems deliver detailed vehicle activity and mileage reports, but – in the main – do not deliver fuel usage figures (search on ‘GPS Tracking’, Vehicle Tracking or Vehicle Telematics)

Your fuel suppliers should be able to provide detailed fuel purchase records by price and volume in litres.  Regularly audit your odometer readings to ensure you have accurate travel distances to correlate with fuel and calculate measures.