If you answered ‘theft’ I might disagree with you. Most companies look out for theft, so the opportunities are more difficult to siphon off fuel. BUT Idling is the greatest smokescreen ever. It hides EVERYTHING:
- Theft of fuel
- Poor driving habits
- Bad scheduling or operational management
The CFO asks ‘Why is the fuel expenses so high this month?” – Oh….., we had increased idling time due to… comes the glib answer.
Idling is one of the least understood contributors to:
- #Fossilfuel wastage – easily up to 20% of your fuel budget lost with no benefit
- #emissions increase that can be avoided
- #climatewarming and #smog that can be avoided
Enough scientific research studies that show the impact of idling on poor health in cities exist:
May 2019 Faan Hei, Kim Fung Tsang, Chung Kit Wu, Wang Hao
… An increase from 650 min À1 to 1000 min À1 almost doubled the fuel consumption. An increase in idling rotations increases emissions of CO 2 by 90%e220%, of PM by 70%e100%, of NO x emissions by 53%e284% and of CO emissions by 165% to as high as 460%
Article Jul 2016 BIOSYST ENG Algirdas Janulevičius, Antanas Juostas, Aušra Čiplienė
… Quality (DEQ) estimates that diesel fuel accounts for only 29 percent of all transportation fuel consumed 5 in Oregon. Diesel transportation emissions accounts for 49% of nitrogen oxide and 60% of fine 6 particulate matter (PM 2.5 and 10) (18). In another example, in New York City it is estimated that 7 emissions from trucks engines causes over 2,000 deaths, 4,800 asthma emergency room visits, and 1,500 8 hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular disease annually (5, 12). 9 10 …
So your vehicles are idling in an urban environment and it is OK? It isn’t.
Remember these images that showed us so starkly what our skies look like from a satellite, before and after #Covid-19? Now re-read the research papers above and see the missing link. Idling emissions. Especially with the air-conditioning running and pushing up the idling rotations. It increases idling consumptions AND emissions. Double whammy.
One of our clients asked us to implement #addFuelre4m across their fleet. They operated a medium sized urban delivery fleet that delivered to homes across the UAE. When we ran tests across a small selection of vehicles everything looked perfect. Except when we implemented and expected to see 15 to 20% savings, we didn’t. One month there was excellent savings, the next month it would evaporate. It did not make sense. We eliminated all variables one by one and eventually it came down to 1 aspect. Idling. But not just idling. Significantly variable idling. It varied from an average of 2 hours per day up to 6 hours per day, or 60% of the shift. When you looked at the mean, the variance around the mean could vary by more than 20% on a daily basis. Idling left axis, Km/lt right axis.
And you could see the impact on fuel consumption, especially at the tails. On average this client spends 20% of their fuel budget on idling. Most people think that idling does not consume that much fuel. But it does.
Idling is not such a black art and does not have such a low impact as fleet managers make out to the C-Suite. It has a significant monetary impact on your budget. But when you treat it as black art you cannot improve it. Analyse it. Understand it. Then see how you make small tweaks to the operations to reduce the idling time. Then add a small investment in #addFuelre4m and see the dividends flow back into your budget.
If you are curious and want to understand more, ask us for our Whitepaper on Idling. No obligation. You don’t have to buy anything. Our small contribution to reducing #emissions by understanding one of the primary contributors in cities – IDLING! If enough people care enough, maybe we can retain some of the clean air that #Covid-19 has brought. The Corpus Hermetica state that everything has 2 sides – the principle of polarity. Covid-19 has the bad side – the disease and the havoc it has wreaked, but the cleaner air that will help reduce the future impact on our health is the balancing side curiously enough.
Be part of the solution, not the problem. You can. You just have to want to. Help create #thenewnormal.
