Most can be found working opencast mines around the world where their size is not always apparent – dwarfed by even larger diggers and cranes they might even look small from a distance. But get up close and personal and you really start to appreciate that these trucks are most definitely the heavyweights of the trucking world. Most people can barely reach halfway up a tire wall. With diesel engines that weigh as much as 25,000 pounds and up to 12 turbochargers these aren’t your average suburban shopping trolleys.

But these trucks aren’t big just for the sake of it. In their line of work it’s a necessity. To support payloads of up to 400 tons, these massive haulers have frame widths and depths that are measured in feet, not inches. The gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR – the maximum weight value as specified by the manufacturer) can exceed more than 650 short tons. By the way, short tons are the U.S. ton (2000 lbs) as opposed to the standard British ton (the long ton, which is 2240 lbs).

Here are five of the biggest dump trucks in the world, based on payload carrying capacity.

1 – Caterpillar 797F

Quite possibly the most famous brand in large vehicle construction, the Caterpillar 797F is the big boy on the block and, weighing in at 1.4 million pounds and towering over seven meters into the air, it’s a whole lot of yellow.

• Payload Capacity: 400 short tons (363 t)
• Top Speed (Fully Loaded): 42 mph (68 km/h)
• Curb Weight (GVWR): 1,375,000 lb (623,700 kg)
• Power: 3,793 hp (2,828 kW)
• Overall Height: 24 ft 5 in (7.44 m)
• Overall Length: 49 ft 6 in (15.09 m)
• Overall Width: 31 ft 3 in (9.53 m)

2 – Liebherr T 282B

Costing up to five million dollars each these giants don’t come cheap but they’re some of the hardest working trucks in the business and can be seen moving tons without breaking a sweat in opencast mines in the U.S., Chile, South Africa and Australia.

• Payload Capacity: 400 short tons (363 t)
• Top Speed (Fully Loaded): 40 mph (64 km/h)
• Curb Weight (GVWR): 1,316,000 lb (596,900 kg)
• Power: 3,650 horsepower (2,720 kW)
• Overall Height: 24 ft 0 in (7.32 m)
• Overall Length: 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
• Overall Width: 29 ft 10 in (9.09 m)

3 – Bucyrus MT6300AC

Actually a Caterpillar in disguise, Bucyrus became a division of Caterpillar in 2011 (previously Bucyrus had acquired the mining equipment division of Terex Corporation, the company that built the original ultra class dump truck (see number 5 on this list).

• Payload Capacity: 400 short tons (363 t)
• Top Speed (Fully Loaded): 40 mph (64 km/h)
• Curb Weight (GVWR): 1,330,000 lb (603,300 kg)
• Power: 3,750 horsepower (2,800 kW)
• Overall Height: 26 ft (7.92 m)
• Overall Length: 51 ft 1 in (15.57 m)
• Overall Width: 31 ft 10 in (9.70 m)

4 – Komatsu 960E

Komatsu have a large range of dump trucks with several in the ultra-class family but the 960E (also known as the 960E-1) is the biggest.

• Payload Capacity: 360 short tons (327 t)
• Top Speed (Fully Loaded): 40 mph (64 km/h)
• Curb Weight (GVWR): 1,270,000 pounds (580 t)
• Power: 3,500 horsepower (2,600 kW)
• Overall Height: 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m)
• Overall Length: 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m)
• Overall Width: 30 ft 2 in (9.19 m)

5 – Terex 33-19 “Titan”

While it could be argued that the Titan shouldn’t be on this list since it is out of production (and more well known as a tourist attraction in Sparwood BC) it deserves some respect because of both its age and payload capacity. Initially released to the public in 1974, sales were significantly lower than expected due to a slump in coal mining revenues. Financial concerns aside, physically the truck was a monster, particularly for its time.

• Payload Capacity: 350 short tons (320 t)
• Top Speed (Fully Loaded): 29.8 mph (48.0 km/h)
• Curb Weight (GVWR): 1,209,500 pounds (548.6 t)
• Power:3,300 horsepower (2,500 kW)
• Overall Height: 22 ft 7 in (6.88 m)
• Overall Length: 66 ft 9 in (20.35 m)
• Overall Width: 25 ft 7 in (7.80 m)

Big but you could still lose one

While these trucks are the ‘silverbacks’ of the truck family and dwarf most other vehicles known to man it is still possible for fleet managers to lose track of them. Used in massive and remote work sites, these trucks can still be left sitting idle, underutilized and wasting money.

You wouldn’t think something that big could go ‘missing’ but without GPS fleet tracking it happens more often than it should.

Mining companies invest millions in these dump trucks – it makes sense to equip them with GPS tracking to monitor and manage their usage with web-based telematics software. Learn more about how oil, gas and mining fleets use telematics to keep their trucks productive and their drivers safe.

The benefits of TPMS have been recognized by most car and truck makers with most vehicles manufactured since 2007 equipped with TPMS as standard equipment. Its universally-recognized alert icon now appears on thousands of dashboards around the world, giving drivers an easy way to know if and when tires are not properly inflated.

Why is it important, and how can fleet owners take advantage of this technology to improve overall fleet safety and fuel economy?

Government concern advances adoption of TPMS

After some well-publicized accidents involving underinflated tires, the government agency NHTSA (which stands for the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration) get involved and prescribe new requirements for vehicle manufacturers in the TREAD Act.

The TREAD Act (which stands for Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and Documentation) spelled out new specifications for vehicles under 10,000 lbs (excluding motorcycles and light-duty trucks with dual wheels on an axle), requiring that any accidents involving defective vehicle parts is reported to the NHTSA.

TPMS became a requirement for vehicle manufacturers to implement on all production vehicles that fitted the criteria from September 1, 2007. The TPMS must be set to alert the driver in situations where any tire is below 25% recommended pressure (as labeled on the vehicle’s placard – normally located in the driver’s door sill).

The responsibility is then on the driver to attend to the issue, or in the case of a safety manager overseeing a fleet (using alerts from their fleet management system), to attend to the issue, normally by adding air to the tire (some trucks have intelligent TPMS systems that reinflate taking air from a tractor-trailer’s air system).

Benefits for fleet and vehicle owners

The government’s reason for pushing the adoption of TPMS was purely a safety issue. The road accident data pointed to significantly underinflated tires as being a critical factor in traffic fatalities. By alerting drivers to a tire that is underinflated a dangerous situation could be avoided and a life saved.

But there are more than just safety benefits for fleets and vehicle owners who take advantage of the TPMS feature. It could also save money spent on fuel and tire maintenance.

Properly inflated tires offer drivers a range of benefits including:

• Better fuel economy
• Improved (more even) tire wear
• Less chance of blowouts
• Better handling

Cost savings in fuel alone can be significant. For every one PSI under than the recommended pressure (across all tires) fuel economy is reduced by 0.3%. Maintaining correct tire pressure can save up to 3% on fuel, representing a $160 saving per year for each vehicle (based on a van traveling 35,000 miles a year with an average economy of 20MPG, and diesel at $3 per gallon).

For more information on using tire pressure monitoring systems, Schrader have put together a TPMS information site that explains in more detail how these monitoring systems work and benefit vehicle owners.

If you’d like to know more about using a TPMS to monitor your fleet, see how Telogis Fleet can help you to manage maintenance alerts.

Why consider switching to using a fuel card program to manage and monitor your gas purchases?

Why are OTR trucking fleets switching on to fuel cards?

Long haul trucking fleets burn through a lot of gas and, in most cases, it is the biggest operating expense incurred. It can also be time consuming for drivers managing fuel purchases and keeping up-to-date with the paperwork.

Fuel cards can simplify the process, and offer a range of other benefits.

• Less time spent on administration – With real-time data integration fuel cards can let fleet and driver managers focus on their job, rather than on the paperwork.
• Widely accepted – More and more truck stops, major store chains, and cardlock stations are accepting fuel cards.
• Easier to control than cash – Keep a tight grip on card purchases, implementing a fleet-wide usage policy.
• Discounts – Fuel cards can sometimes offer the power of negotiating with nationwide fuel suppliers for discounts or special offers.
• Cash withdrawals – Some cards can provide drivers with an option to withdraw cash, which could be useful for those drivers purchasing accommodation at cash-only motels or work-supplied meals.
• Calculating fuel tax is easier – With fuel purchases automatically recorded along with fuel type, calculation of tax is essentially automated saving a huge amount of time when it is time to file a company tax return.

There are benefits for trucking fleets to switch on to good fuel card management program but are there drawbacks? Will it be used inappropriately and cost the company in fuel shrinkage?

Controlling fuel card use

Some fleet owners may object to using fuel cards because they feel it leaves the way open for employee dishonesty and unauthorized card use. There are ways to easily tackle this concern.

For one thing, most card providers offer fuel card security at the point of sale, with the fleet owner choosing what information a cardholder has to enter at the time of purchase.

Secondly, using the Telogis Fleet fuel card reconciliation feature fleet owners can easily be alerted to any unauthorized or suspicious purchases based on the company vehicle’s location at the time of refueling.

The module has other smart features that calculate the legitimacy of the fuel purchase, making sure it is consistent with vehicle attributes, capacity and historical MPG.

When good fuel card management is combined with Telogis Fleet, fleet owners can make sure they enjoy all the benefits and convenience of fuel cards without the danger of losing precious fuel to thieves.

Combined with an overall fuel management plan smart telematics can reduce a fleet’s overall fuel bill by around 15%, which for large fleets can be a significant saving and a welcome relief from rising gas prices!

Joe has a problem. How does he keep all his drivers occupied evenly year round, while keeping operating costs to a minimum?

In an ideal world, he would simply have less drivers in the quieter months, and recruit more when the busy season arrived. But the reality is that hiring drivers would add significant overhead every year, as new drivers are trained up and transitioned to taking on the delivery route.

Joe prefers to keep his 12 good drivers year round to avoid any recruitment issues, knowing he’s good to go when the busy times arrive. But he still has two big challenges to overcome to keep his business profitable.

Minimize miles driven

While Joe doesn’t pay drivers for hours worked, every mile driven does add to his total operating expenses, and has a direct bearing on his business’s profitability. So he needs to make sure drivers aren’t driving more miles than have to when doing their daily deliveries.

Using the territory planning tools in Telogis Route, Joe can easily visualize where his customers are, and where his drivers are based. The advanced territories feature allows for delivery points to be assigned on what is most economical, and meets the given business rules. Joe can override driver assignments, based on personal preferences and local conditions.

With driver assignments done, Joe can easily compare before and after, with color-coded delivery points highlighting driver territories and smart segmenting of customers. Miles driven are calculated based on the updated routes, which can be setup to automatically send to the driver’s PND, ready for the day’s deliveries.

Balance the workload

The other challenge Joe faces is making sure the driver workloads are evenly balanced. Since drivers are paid per case delivered if some drivers had an unfair share of the work it would create feelings of resentment among the rest of the crew.

Manual adjustment of routes and instant workload reporting allows Joe to easily see at a glance how even the the work is being distributed among his drivers, across a given time period.

Where work needs to be reassigned Joe can update the route planning to add or remove clients against a driver based on the current number of orders, while still keeping a driver focused on delivering mostly in their nearby territory.

Location intelligence – Saving fleets thousands

Joe’s story is actually based on a real situation, and the location-intelligence software tools from Telogis were used to achieve a happy outcome. Using real-time and historical GPS data, Telogis software can help fleet managers schedule customers, orders, and drivers with maximum efficiency.

In fact, another beverage company realized quickly with Telogis Route that they could save thousands compared to their existing routing strategy.

Using all the location-relevant data available, Telogis Route capacity planning software organizes routes to minimize miles driven, hours worked, trucks needed, and workload variation. By generating route schedules for drivers weeks in advance, fleet managers can easily accommodate fluctuations in capacity and recruit accordingly.

Location intelligence is about taking GPS data and using it to manage a fleet more profitably, making informed decisions and planning clearly for the future. It’s about having the hard data to use when required to dispose of underutilized assets or request additional drivers.

If you feel like you’re managing your truck drivers in the dark then maybe it’s time to switch on the light and start using some location-based intelligence.

The ruling comes after many months of public consultation and modifications to CSA 2010.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the final HOS ruling on December 22, 2011, basing it on the latest research in driver fatigue and replacing the existing FMCSA hours-of-service (HOS) safety requirements for commercial truck drivers.

Big rigs can be deadly

“Trucking is a difficult job, and a big rig can be deadly when a driver is tired and overworked,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “This final rule will help prevent fatigue-related truck crashes and save lives. Truck drivers deserve a work environment that allows them to perform their jobs safely.”

Highlights of new HOS ruling

The main changes to Hours of Service are aimed at making sure drivers are not overworked and at risk of fatigue, a known cause of many fatal accidents.

Reduces maximum hours by 15% – FMCSA’s new HOS final rule reduces the maximum number of hours a truck driver can work in a week, by 12 hours. Under the old rule, truck drivers could work on average up to 82 hours within a seven-day period. The new HOS final rule limits a driver’s work week to 70 hours.

Restart the clock after 34-hour break – The 34-hour restart provision allows drivers to restart their working week clock after a minimum 34 consecutive hours off-duty (see below ‘What is off-duty time?’). Part of this provision is that drivers need to have two nights off duty between 1am and 5am, since this is when the 24-hour body clock demands sleep the most.

30-minute break every 8 hours – Truck drivers cannot drive after working eight hours without first taking a break of at least 30 minutes. Drivers can take the 30-minute break whenever they need rest during the eight-hour window.

11-hour daily limit – The final rule retains the current 11-hour daily driving limit. FMCSA will continue to conduct data analysis and research to further examine any risks associated with the 11 hours of driving time.

This final HOS ruling, which comes into effect July 1, 2013, is doesn’t represent a big shift from the preliminary rulings, aimed at keeping both drivers and other road users safe from overworked and fatigued truck drivers.

What counts as off-duty time?

According to the DOT off-duty time is when you, as a driver, are relieved of all duty and responsibility for performing work. You must be free to pursue activities of your own choosing and be able to leave the place where your vehicle is parked.

If you are not doing any work (paid or unpaid) for a motor carrier, and you are not doing any paid work for anyone else, you may record the time as off-duty time.

Penalties for HOS infringements

Considering that fleets will have ample time to comply with the final HOS rulings, it’s not surprising that the DOT will be issuing hefty fines for violations. Companies and drivers that commit significant violations of the rule could face the maximum penalties for each offense. Trucking companies that allow drivers to exceed the 11-hour driving limit by 3 or more hours could be fined $11,000 per offense, and the drivers themselves could face civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense.

Avoid fines, downtime with EOBR devices

Commercial truck drivers and companies must comply with the HOS final rule by July 1, 2013. It makes sense to plan ahead and setup processes now to make sure your fleet is compliant with the new HOS rules. Many fleets are switching to telematics software that uses EOBR devices that automatically record on-duty and off-duty time so drivers can easily see how much time they have left to legally keep driving, as well as speeding up any roadside checkpoints setup by the FMCSA to check driver HOS.

Share your thoughts on the final HOS ruling. Will it make our roads safer? Will it be a financial hardship on truck drivers? Will it add a compliance burden to OTR fleets?

With oil prices topping $95 a barrel recently, pushed by higher seasonal demand and hints of stability in European financial markets, it is just another reminder to truck owners, in fact anyone in the freight industry, that fuel costs need to be managed if a fleet (or single owner/operator) is to remain profitable.

Squeezed profit margins can lead to unsafe driving

Some truck fleet owners respond to increased costs by simply working longer hours and driving more miles. This can seem like an easy fix on the surface but it can end up being more expensive in the long run. Particularly with CSA 2010 safety records having the potential to affect insurance premiums, the frequency of FMCSA audits or even a possible shutdown, it’s simply not worth the risk.

Rather than risk FMCSA or local state infringements for violating HOS rules or driving unsafely, is there another way to beat rising truck fuel prices?

Use less fuel by driving your truck smarter, not less

If you’ve ever sat down and calculated the running costs for owning and operating a truck, you’ll know that the cost per mile actually comes down the more you drive it. That’s because there are a range of fixed costs that don’t vary based on mileage – so even if you kept the truck cocooned in the yard, it’s still costing (a good reason to invest in fleet intelligence software to monitor asset utilization).

Expenses such as insurance, loan payments, and permits all accrue regardless of whether you’re rolling or not. It’s important to factor that into your strategy for reducing truck costs.

So the secret is not necessarily about reducing the number of miles driven. The real key is about maximizing every mile you drive, and making sure you minimize or eliminate where possible unnecessary miles.

Unnecessary miles can include taking the long route to a destination, repeat journeys (unable to make delivery for various reasons), or making empty back haul trips (one report suggests the number of empty trucks on the road at any given time to be as high as 30%).

By using smart capacity planning software, fleet owners can improve truck utilization significantly. Coordinating drivers, customers, and trucks to operate more efficiently can mean fewer wasted miles, deliveries timed to fit in with customer preferences, and smarter grouping of journey waypoints and destinations.

Oil prices continue to climb – will you beat them?

According to the U.S. government oil prices will continue to rise. Total petroleum stocks are down 62.6% from a year ago and they’re 5.6% lower than the five-year average. Supplies are falling as refineries import less oil while shipping more diesel and gasoline overseas. Airlines and shipping companies also are using more fuel than they did last year, and that’s pushing prices even higher.

What this means for truck owners is that they need to get smart to stay profitable and beat rising fuel costs. Investing in telematics, such as Telogis Fleet management software, can be an excellent way to not only monitor your fuel expenses but look for smarter ways to get the best mileage from your fuel dollars – optimized routing, fuel card reconciliation, and reduced idling times.

There’s not much you can do about rising fuel prices but you can make sure that you’re getting better value for every dollar you spend on gas for your truck fleet.

Has it been successful? Has it achieved its aims of Compliance, Safety, and Accountability? Many experts in the industry have warned of the dangers of receiving a poor CSA ranking, but how has it really affected fleets? Is it taking dangerous drivers, or unsafe carriers off the road?

What about the rumors of 175,000 truck drivers losing their job because of unfair compliance requirements? How have drivers adapted to the changes, and how are carriers coping successfully with the new rules?

CSA 2010 – Greater compliance puts pressure on carriers

If nothing else, CSA 2010 reminds us that governments are continually looking for ways to tighten up standards and regulate industries. Conspiracy theories aside, the aim is generally to improve safety and improve standardization, giving businesses consistent guidelines and boosting the public’s confidence in the safety of our nation’s roads.

The emphasis put on safety standards has put the spotlight on truck fleets to make sure they’re managing their fleet carefully, and monitoring their ranking in the SMS (the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System for recording carrier compliance).

What it means is fleets can no longer fly by the seat of their pants when its comes to driver and vehicle safety. They need to pay greater attention to the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs).

The BASICs are defined as follows:

• Unsafe Driving BASIC – Operation of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in a dangerous or careless manner. Example violations: speeding, reckless driving, improper lane change, and inattention. (FMCSR Parts 392 and 397)
• Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service) BASIC – Operation of CMVs by drivers who are ill, fatigued, or in non-compliance with the Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations. Example violations: exceeding HOS, maintaining an incomplete or inaccurate logbook, and operating a CMV while ill or fatigued. (FMCSR Parts 392 and 395)
• Driver Fitness BASIC – Operation of CMVs by drivers who are unfit to operate a CMV due to lack of training, experience, or medical qualifications. Example violations: failing to have a valid and appropriate commercial driver’s license and being medically unqualified to operate a CMV. (FMCSR Parts 383 and 391)
• Controlled Substances and Alcohol BASIC – Operation of CMVs by drivers who are impaired due to alcohol, illegal drugs, and misuse of prescription or over-the-counter medications. Example violations: use or possession of controlled substances or alcohol. (FMCSR Parts 382 and 392)
• Vehicle Maintenance BASIC – Failure to properly maintain a CMV. Example violations: brakes, lights, and other mechanical defects, and failure to make required repairs. (FMCSR Parts 393 and 396)
• Cargo-Related BASIC – Failure to properly prevent shifting loads, spilled or dropped cargo, and unsafe handling of hazardous materials on a CMV. Example violations: improper load securement, cargo retention, and hazardous material handling. (FMCSR Parts 392, 393, 397 and applicable DOT HM regulations)
• Crash Indicator – SMS evaluates a motor carrier’s crash history. Crash history is not specifically a behavior. Rather, it is a consequence of a behavior and may indicate a problem with the carrier that warrants intervention. It is based on information from State-reported crash reports and identifies histories or patterns of high crash involvement, including frequency and severity.

Most professionals in the industry would agree that these measures on their own are effective in capturing unsafe carriers. FMCSA have issued hundreds of intervention warning letters and conducted lots of targeted roadside inspections. It is hoped that they have the commitment and the teeth to follow through on repeat offenders and, in serious cases, issue Operations Out-of-Service Order (OOS) notices to take dangerous truckers off the road.

Don’t wait for FMCSA to come knocking

You don’t have to wait to receive a warning letter from the FMCSA before you take action on fleet safety. Telogis Fleet helps you monitor a wide range of CSA safety factors covering the BASICs. From pre-trip inspections to maintenance scheduling, real-time driver monitoring and automated HOS reporting Telogis solutions provide a complete safety system to keep you and your fleet in FMCSA’s good books, minimizing infringements, intervention action, and of course costly accidents.

Green or green?

While the case for going green seems an obvious one, it appears those making the purchasing decisions for a lot of companies these days still aren’t convinced. In a recent blog post, logistics commentator Martin Murray mentioned that environmental concerns are not the high priority we might think they are.

A recent survey found that purchasing professionals indicated that price is still the most important factor when they are making purchasing decisions, followed by safety features at 57 percent and energy efficiency at 48 percent.

Although this report highlights that purchasing professionals are still looking at price over any environmental factors, consumers are still looking to purchase items from companies who are making attempts to make their supply chain green.

While purchasing professionals are not the tree hugging greenies some might have hoped they’d become by now in this age of heightened environmental consciousness, the report showed it’s still a factor. But will that influence fleet owners to start looking into electric or hybrid trucks?

Are heavy duty EV trucks available?

The technology is here but it’s definitely not mainstream and there’s every chance it may be some time before it does become commonly available.

To show that heavy duty trucks are not only possible, but available right now, the Port of Los Angeles showcased their very own EV heavy duty truck, powered by electricity and hauling 60,000 pound shipping containers short distances to nearby railyards, as demonstrated in the video below.

The downside is of course the truck’s range but as battery life improves, and charging stations appear, there’s a strong chance more heavy duty EV trucks will be adopted by environmentally-minded trucking fleets such as Coca-Cola and AT&T, companies that are already making great strides in adopting green fleet technology.

Challenges ahead for EV trucking fleets

Like other fleets contemplating replacing gas-burning, diesel blowing vehicles with clean, green EVs, long haul trucking fleets face similar problems if they adopt electric trucks.

Issues such as adopting new fleet management methods, considering factors such as:

• Life and health of asset concerns
• Range anxiety – How many miles can they go?
• Are there charging stations en route?
• Route gradient – You want to drive downhill as much as possible
• Is it economically sustainable – What is the ongoing cost to maintain the hybrid/EV engine
• Will it require more or less maintenance?

Fortunately there are technology companies that are not only helping trucking fleets go green right now, with their existing internal combustion vehicles but also planning ahead for the new challenges of an EV truck fleet. Telogis fleet management software is constantly looking at ways to meet the future needs of fleets as they tackle the unique demands of running an electric trucking fleet.

So what exactly is greenwashing, how does it affect trucking companies and why should they care? Greenwashing has been an unfortunate by-product of the push towards environmental sustainability. With dire predictions on the fate of the planet and the short time left to turn things around it all of a sudden became a priority for a lot of concerned citizens. Consumers exercised their collective muscle to vote with their wallets by choosing “green” products and very quickly being environmentally-conscious was the popular choice.

How did greenwashing get started?

It wasn’t long before some in corporate circles, with sales in mind, blurred ethics and a shortcut mentality, saw an easier way: “Let’s just say our products are green, throw in some pretty pictures of green leaves, a smiling globe and dancing squirrels, and no one will question whether our products are actually green!” The sad thing is the plan actually worked, and is still working.

However consumers are beginning to wise up and greenwashers are being exposed. This is a good thing because greenwashing is not just harmless marketing; it’s actually fooling customers into believing they are doing something for the environment when they’re not, thus preventing them from actually taking some real, positive action.

Fleets haven’t been immune to the effects of greenwashing. When I raised this subject on Linkedin on the NAFA group it got some interesting responses. Chris Burgeson, CAFM related one of the biggest greenwashing incidents “when fleets were reporting the number of flex-fuel vehicles they had purchased as part of their effort to green-up. The question that wasn’t being asked was, ‘How many of these vehicles are even using M85 or E85?’ In fact, the more important question that was never asked was: ‘Do any of these vehicles even have access to M or E85?’ Often times the answer was no.”

So with greenwashing hopefully soon to be on the endangered species list and customers getting smarter about their purchasing decisions, how can your business fleet make sure that you’re stepping up as a genuinely green fleet?

Truck fleets are using GPS to avoid greenwashing

Greenwashing is good news for corporate truck fleets because it is starting to weed out the fakes and leave behind those businesses that are genuinely making environmentally-friendly changes.

Telogis are helping some of the biggest fleets in the world like AT&T go green. Using intelligent GPS tracking and reporting software, fleet owners are actively managing and minimizing fuel use and unnecessary miles.

Patty Calkins, VP of Environment, Health and Safety at Xerox, gave some recommendations to help companies avoid the sin of greenwashing that are ideal for fleets using GPS tracking:

• A sound strategy that coincides with important environmental priorities
• A disciplined methodology for assessing problems and evaluating opportunities
• Clearly defined metrics for measuring the environmental and economic impact of projects and improvements
• A long-term commitment to sustainability success

These suggestions fit perfectly with GPS fleet tracking since it is both sustainable (green initiatives actually save a fleet money) and measurable (GHG output can be easily viewed or reported on).

Whatever the prompt, you’ve likely asked yourself whether becoming a green fleet is a good option for your fleet. In fact, you may be unsure exactly what a green fleet is. If that’s the case then here’s a good definition of Green Fleet.

How many fleets are going green?

In a recent study conducted by the Aberdeen Group, a number of service executives were queried about what green initiatives they were doing. 51% responded that they currently had a green initiative in place, with over a quarter saying those initiatives have been in place for more than three years.

When you consider that for most service businesses a significant proportion of their carbon footprint is related to the operation of their fleet, it’s no wonder that a growing number of businesses are turning their fleets green. In fact, in just one year the number of respondents who said they were seriously considering using MRM software to ‘greenify’ their fleet doubled!

It’s great news for the environment but with dark clouds looming for the economy in many countries it may not maintain the hoped for momentum as fleet owners feel they cannot afford the cost of becoming a green fleet.

Can my truck fleet go green and still make a profit?

The short answer is yes, and lots of fleets have already made the switch to Green Fleet and have not only remained profitable but actually increased profitability, as well as safety and service standards.

Here’s a good article on the subject of how green fleets are staying profitable. It discusses the way that fleet management software is being used to help fleets around the world to use the planet’s resources smarter, with less wastage and less harmful climate-changing emissions.

Essentially, it came down to four main areas where GPS fleet tracking was keeping fleets green and profitable at the same time.

1. Cost Reduction Through Fuel Savings
2. Operational Improvement
3. Safe Driving
4. Customer Differentiation / Transformed Organization

Read the article for more information on how each point works but the main thing is to realize that becoming a Green Fleet can be a very profitable option for truck fleets today.

Fleets have the power to make a difference

While the budget will always be a consideration for fleet owners, many are realizing the power they have to make a big difference in the fight against environmental damage. While not responsible for our big dependence on oil and the internal combustion engine, fleet owners are realizing they do have the ability to decide how those resources are used.

The key to becoming a green fleet is the smarter use of what we’ve got, to minimize where possible and eliminate wastage. It’s only by carefully tracking it with smart fleet management solutions that we can begin to turn the corner on our excessive use of finite resources and hopefully stem the tide of environmental damage.