By Steve Smith
TMC was great this year, full of conversations with some of the sharpest people in the industry. Almost every single conversation circled back to the same thing: fuel.
Last week, U.S. average diesel prices crossed $5 per gallon for the first time since December 2022, driven by Middle East supply disruptions. Rates haven’t kept pace, which means margins are getting squeezed from both ends. Nobody budgeted for this. The fleets I spent the week with in Nashville were focused on finding things they can do right now to soften the blow to their bottom line.
When fuel spikes, everyone rushes to the big levers: renegotiate rates, adjust surcharges, cut routes. Those conversations are key, but there are also less common levers fleets can pull, like reducing waste and reevaluating outdated strategies, that can help you save money right away.
Here are five small things worth looking at that have a big impact.
1. Start with what you can control
A typical Class 8 truck idles six to eight hours per day at roughly 0.8 gallons of diesel per hour, burning 1,000 to 1,800 gallons annually. At $5/gallon, that’s up to $9,000, just for one truck.
When was the last time you evaluated your idle management strategy? Does it still fit the needs of your team? Is it really meeting your expectations and returning a positive ROI? How much could a significant reduction in idling save your fleet?
Take a look at your fleet’s idle time before you do anything else to understand how well your current solutions are meeting your goals. Before implementing anything new, you can start with some of the easy wins that are within your grasp, like boosting driver buy-in, education, and fleet-wide adoption.
2. Prevent no-starts
On the topic of controlling what you can: a lot of downtime and no-start situations are avoidable.
Fleets we talk to send someone out to the yard in the mornings to crank engines, trying to avoid the dreaded no-start. When it happens on the road, the cost of downtime skyrockets due to transportation and roadside repairs.
When every dollar counts, downtime hurts worse than ever.
It’s time to look beyond bunk heaters for ways to prevent downtime and no-starts. Battery conditioners and smart charging systems are great options, as are intelligent engine management systems. Fleets also have success with block heaters and thermal blankets for cold-weather no-start prevention.
The point is: no-starts are largely preventable, and prevention is almost always cheaper than the alternative.
3. Audit your idle timer settings
Many fleets set their engine idle timers during spec and never touch them again. That’s money left on the table. Idle timers are blunt instruments; they don’t account for weather, geography, battery state, or actual driver need.
When’s the last time you reviewed what your trucks are set to? A timer that made sense during 2022 may not be optimized to your current routes or needs, costing you considerably more at today’s prices. A quick adjustment across hundreds or thousands of trucks adds up fast.
4. Invest in driver coaching
NACFE‘s Idle-Reduction Playbook makes a point worth repeating: driver comfort and training are pivotal, and buy-in from drivers is essential to any effective program.
When fuel prices are high, solid driver coaching and strong idle management practices are critical to keeping fuel costs down without hurting driver comfort. When coaching drivers through idle management best practices, help them understand that the reason to implement coaching and these policies is to ensure drivers can continue to get strong bonuses, incentives, and equipment. Rather than lecturing, aim for buy-in. Start by building a mutual understanding of what the fleet is doing for drivers during this time, and what drivers can do for the fleet, and more importantly, how that will impact drivers and why it’s important for them.
5. Look Inward: Is your equipment doing everything it can?
Most fleets are using some kind of idle-reduction system, but it’s not flashy, so it often goes overlooked. Once you have the system in place, fleets tend to forget about it. When diesel is over $5/gallon, though, it’s worth making sure your technology is delivering the savings that were promised.
I’m not suggesting you overhaul your fleet entirely, but as NACFE’s Idle Reduction Report found, many fleets see the best results when they combine solutions. The report notes that the most effective idle reduction programs manage idling holistically, typically combining technology, driver engagement, and operational policies.
If you’re taking just one approach to reducing idling, try implementing new solutions, updated technologies, or start small by putting an emphasis on strong idle reduction policies and boosting driver engagement. No matter which approach you decide is best for your fleet, you’ll likely find the best savings by stacking your strategies and technologies strategically.
Where to Start
What you do next depends on what you need, but the best place to start is wherever your key pain points are now. The common thread across all five is that the savings I’ve talked about are available to fleets all the time; they’re just more important now, when fuel costs are higher than ever.
Small adjustments, consistently applied across a fleet, compound quickly.
If you’re staring at your fuel costs and wondering where to start, let’s connect.