- HOME
- »
- Solutions
- »
- FLEET MANAGEMENT
- »
- Fuel Efficiency
Fuel Efficiency
Fuel is one of the major operating expenses for any fleet. However, overall fuel expenses can be reduced by up to 20% by managing vehicle performance, inefficient driver behavior and fuel theft.
Easy, low-cost monitoring of the fuel tank includes fuel consumption rate, detection of fuel frauds (fuel siphoning), improved management of refueling time and place (gas station prices), accurate measurement of fuel efficiency, and so on. In addition, fleet managers can easily monitor driver behavior and improve their driving and vehicle operation skills in real-time by applying training plans. These plans can dramatically influence fuel usage and also reduce vehicle maintenance, thus increasing the fleet operational efficiency.
Our Fuel Efficiency Solution
At Cellocator, we have a variety of embedded methods for calculating total fuel consumption in a trip, based on different available CANBUS parameters collected and analyzed by the Cello-CANiQ. Different formulas for calculating the total fuel consumption per trip are required, due to different parameters that can be retrieved from a wide range of vehicles.
Trip fuel consumption is one of the most important pieces of information for the fleet manager, in addition to daily fleet expenses and fuel vandalism. We enable easy, low-cost monitoring of fuel in the scenarios described in the following sections.
Vehicle Performance
Vehicle fuel burn – mechanical inefficiencies can have an impact on fuel consumption, for example when fuel consumption increases per trip kilometer over a certain period.
Fuel Theft
In most cases, fuel theft occurs during the engine-off state, when the CAN bus is not operational. Therefore, when the ignition is switched on, the Cello-CANiQ unit compares the first stable fuel reading with the one recorded before the ignition was switched off.
You can also identify any possible fuel theft when the vehicle hasn’t been in motion by comparing the fuel level data received by the Cello-CANiQ as a parameter from the Engine Control Unit (ECU) at the end of the trip, with the fuel level at the beginning of a new drive. If there is a difference between the two levels, the Cello-CANiQ sends an alert to the fleet manager.
Driver Behavior
Driver behavior scenarios that can influence fuel consumption include:
- A long press on the brake – when the brake pedal is continuously pressed for more than 10 seconds while the vehicle is moving.
- Stopping by using the parking brake – when the vehicle is slowing and the parking brake is engaged before the vehicle comes to a complete stop.
- Starting the engine with the acceleration pedal pressed.
- Driving in an unsuitable gear can result in wearing out the transmission system and inefficient fuel consumption.
- Driving in high RPM while the engine is at a low temperature over a long period.
This information can be learned from the reports generated by the system, enabling the fleet manager to educate drivers to drive more safely and more efficiently.
As part of Cellocator’s solutions for improved driver behavior, and safer and more economized driving, we recommend connecting the real-time Driver Feedback Display (DFD) to the Cello-IQ and Cello-CANiQ. The DFD provides continuous real-time, visual and/or audible feedback to the driver via a dedicated feedback display device; this feedback helps educate the driver and improve their driving through scoring, ranking, and reports.
Other Activities that May Influence Fuel Costs and Can Be Monitored:
- Fueling events
- Refueling allowed / forbidden locations (within geo fence boundaries)
- Fuel tank drop / theft alerts / reports – fuel theft or leaking
- Fuel utilization efficiency (Eco-Driving)
- Fuel tax reporting (on-board analysis)
- Fuel costs reconciliation
Bottom Line
Efficient monitoring of fuel usage requires coverage of all the above aspects – the Cello product line does exactly that. Our products eliminate the need for developing complex algorithms on the server side, in addition to reducing the raw data traffic sent to the server.
