Tag Archives: Fleets

Controlling Fleet Costs Starts with Minimizing Repairs

Controlling fleet costs can be difficult for owners, as keeping so many vehicles in top shape can get very expensive, very quickly.

Whether you manage a fleet of passenger vehicles or commercial trucks, breakdowns are inevitable. While it is difficult to plan for worst case scenario situations and once in a lifetime events, preparing for more common issues can go a long way in reducing repair costs.

Common repairs tend to be seasonal: batteries in cold weather and AC repairs in the warm months, for example,” George Survant, Senior Director of Fleet Relations for the NTEA, said. “Tires can be a common problem, off-road driving and exposure to significant road debris are common contributors to tire issues, along with driving on underinflated tires. The last big category can be brakes. An extreme example is waste trucks. With so many short start-and-stop trips, the brake systems have short lives.”

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It might be easy to dismiss these common issues as insignificant, but the cost of fixing them can add up. Preventative maintenance is critical in keeping cost down. It is also important to consider long tern costs when designing new vehicles.

“The best way to manage cost for common repairs is through thoughtful truck design and preventive and predictive maintenance,” Survant said. “Changes in routine maintenance performed won’t prevent part failure, but they will reduce fleet operators’ costs in making the replacement. Making systems more robust in the design phase by building strength into the truck components will also reduce repair frequency. For example, specify ‘run-flat’ tires on trucks exposed to high amounts of road debris.”

Improving vehicle support systems can also help reduce the frequency of repairs, leading to reduced costs.

“Another way to reduce repair frequency is to improve support systems and ancillary features,” Survant said. “Engine block heaters and battery plug-in features on trucks reduce the strain on starting systems in extremely cold operating conditions. Beyond the support aids, a robust process of root cause analysis and pattern detection in your maintenance will often identify vehicle sub-systems that need improvement.”

Technology is more prevalent in vehicles than ever and it has led to a substantial increase in repair costs for fleet owners.

“Much of the new technology comes with built-in diagnostics but if built-in sensor features fail, it compounds challenges to effective diagnostic processes,” Survant said. “These new systems also have expensive components to replace upon failure, which drives up repair costs.”

Many of these new systems are so complex that they aren’t properly fixed the first time, leading to increased repair frequency.

“Many of the new generation features are delivered through electronic devices with multiple cards, or electronic components attached to a plug-in substrate, in the system,” Survant said. “Common repair techniques often involve ‘card swapping’ until the problem goes away. The flawed assumption here is that the problem is isolated to one card in the file when it can be a combination of two marginally operating cards in the file interacting with each other. This is compounded when you realize the technician swapping the cards continues the process until the problem goes away, which can result in returning marginally operating cards to the spares supply.”

Some States Consider Eliminating Speed Differentials

Several states are considering changes to laws that enforce speed differentials, requiring trucks to drive at different speeds than other vehicles.

According to reports, new proposals in California, Indiana and Iowa would do away with speed differentials for trucks and other large vehicles.  Most speed differential laws like this are opposed by organizations like the Owner-Operator Independent Driver’s Association (OOIDA), who advocate that they have a negative impact on safety.

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Current California law limits large vehicles to 55 miles per hour in some locations while smaller vehicles are permitted to drive 65 MPH.  Indiana’s current law limits all vehicles over 26,000 pounds to 65 MPH (compared to 70 MPH for cars).  Iowa wants to raise its speed limit to 75 MPH for all vehicles.  Only two states that have a speed limit set at 75 MPH require trucks to travel at lower speeds.

California to Transition to 100 Percent Zero-Emission Busses by 2040

California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) released a statement saying the state will transition to 100 percent zero-emission busses for its public fleets by 2040.

According to reports, the state currently has 153 zero-emission busses as part of its various fleets, with the goal of having more than 1,000 by the end of 2020. The Innovative Clean Transit would aim to replace 12,000 diesel busses currently in service throughout the state. The regulation will require all busses purchased after 2029 to be electric.

According to a press release by CARB, the initiative will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19 million metric tons from 2020 to 2050. They also claim transit agencies in the state would save $1.5 billion in maintenance and fuel costs.

New Report Calls for 20 Year Plan to Fix Interstate Highway System

A new government report is calling for a 20 year plan that would fix what it calls a “growing backlog of structural and operational deficiencies” in the Interstate Highway System.

The congressionally mandated report was prepared by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for the Department of Transportation. According to reports, it calls for a multi-billion-dollar blueprint to restore and modernize the highway system. The plan would potentially be funded by a fuel tax increase and more tolls and per-mile charges on interstate routes.

The report called out a series of issues with interstate highways, including the need to repair pavement, bridges and other assets before they degrade further. It also calls out the need for more traffic capacity and ability to meet demand in urban areas.

Report Predicts Most Commercial Vehicles Will Still Run on Diesel in 2040

A new report by information services firm IHS Markit predicts the majority of commercial fleet vehicles will still be using diesel in 2040.

According to the company’s “Reinventing the Truck” report, an estimated 66 percent of new medium and heavy commercial vehicles will still be diesel powered.  While that is significantly less than the current market share of 80 percent, it still represents a substantial majority.  While other types of vehicles will likely continue to become more popular, range and load capacity requirements for long haul trucking will most likely make diesel engines necessary long term.

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The report analyzed the world’s largest trucking markets.  In addition to its findings on diesel, the report also predicted a significant growth rate for battery electric vehicles, particularly medium-duty trucks.

Meeting the Challenges of Commercial Fleet Management

From repairs to logistics and everything in between, maintaining a commercial fleet presents a huge range of challenges that can trip up even the most experienced professionals.

Fleets have many moving parts to maintain and new technology has made maintenance even more difficult. According to Greg Wyatt, Commercial Fleet Manager for PetroChoice, the most important aspect of fleet managing is keeping down time to a minimum. Having a vehicle out of service can lead to losses in production and extended down time can be a major drag on efficiency, customer satisfaction and profitability.

“There is a Service Technician shortage and getting trucks repaired in a timely fashion is always a challenge,” Wyatt said. “Modern trucks are very complex and troubleshooting sophisticated electronic systems, especially exhaust after-treatment systems, is challenging.”

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Wyatt said having a thorough inspection protocol during the maintenance process is important, and it’s something that too few fleet managers focus on. He also called out record keeping, scheduling and not utilizing oil analysis as weak spots for many in the industry.

“In most cases, fleet directors have not been shown the many potential benefits of testing and do not realize that this analysis can prevent costly system failures,” he said.

As truck engines evolve with technological advances, fleet managers need to keep re-evaluating the lubricants they are using in their vehicles. Wyatt said he sees the industry continue to rely on conventional 15W-40 motor oils while most OEMs have moved on to other products.

“All major OEM’s are currently factory-filling with 10W-30 API CK specified oils,” Wyatt said. “These oils are designed for today’s modern engines. They are proven to reduce wear at start-up and can provide significant fuel savings especially on large fleets. In addition, use of synthetics for transmission and differentials provides significantly extended service life and component life lowering the fleet total cost of ownership.”

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Newer technology can help streamline the maintenance process and provide valuable insight on all aspects of a vehicle.

“The trucks computers are very advanced and many have abilities to provide instant fuel economy readings and report back to the fleets on service warnings and error codes to provide advance troubleshooting before the truck arrives at a service center,” Wyatt said. “The electronics will continue to advance as well as technology tools for Fleet directors, drivers and technicians.”

Still, all that technology will do little to help if fleet managers aren’t using the correct lubricants. Wyatt advises that the best lubricants will meet OEM specifications, but also provide the right protection each unique fleet needs. Between heavy loads or light loads, local deliveries or cross-country hauling, heavy vocation or high idle, different fleets have vastly different requirements. Some would be well served using long draining lubricants, while others need to explore different options. Wyatt said balance is key to choosing the right product.

“It is about the correct balance, and this again has to take into account the specific component to be lubricated, how severe the application is, what type of fuel is being used, what the average fuel consumption is, what the load is or whether there is severe duty,” Wyatt said. “Once all of these details are determined the correct lubricant can be recommended to provide the service level necessary to achieve the goals of the user.”