Rewarding drivers for fuel-efficient behavior goes a long way

Fuel economy is a hot topic and the ongoing focus on reducing fuel waste is expected to continue into the new year. Carriers hoping to see improvements should increase their attention on the relationship between fuel efficiency and driving behavior.

Historically, carriers have relied heavily on equipment improvements to provide improved fuel efficiency to their fleets. Truck manufacturers have integrated new technologies into vehicles, allowing for significant average mile-per-gallon improvements over the past several years. 

The bulk of these improvements can be attributed to the shift from manual truck transmission to automatic or automated manual transmissions. These improvements have not, however, eliminated the impact that driving behavior has on fuel efficiency.

Negative driving behaviors — including speeding, rapid acceleration and harsh braking — can have a serious impact on fuel economy and, ultimately, a carrier’s bottom line.

“The way a driver handles the truck can affect fuel economy by as much as 20-30%,” according to Lloyd Palum, CTO of Tenstreet’s True Fuel division. “The driver continues to have a significant impact no matter how high the vehicle’s MPG goes.”

To address these issues, carriers often institute fuel economy programs that reward drivers based on their MPG statistics alone. This is misguided, as overall MPG can be affected by a myriad of factors outside a driver’s control, from vehicle specs to road conditions. As a result, these programs often lead drivers to become disillusioned or apathetic about their fuel use. 

Tenstreet’s fuel incentive program, True Fuel, is different. The solution is specifically designed to reward drivers for engaging in proven fuel-saving behavior, no matter what their overall MPG ends up being.

“We only measure things within our fuel efficiency product that are directly within the driver’s control,” Palum said. “There is a fairness aspect that comes into play. In the past, drivers have had exposure to programs that may try to use MPG, and it is frustrating for them.”

By putting drivers in complete control of their standing within the True Fuel program, Tenstreet enables drivers to take ownership of their performance while simultaneously improving fleetwide fuel economy for carriers. 

Rewarding drivers for positive choices is a cornerstone of the True Fuel solution.

“We have built rewards into our program. We run a networkwide sweepstakes that drivers get entries into based on their fuel efficiency, and every fleet has the ability to fund their own incentives as well,” Palum said.

Additionally, Tenstreet has created training modules addressing each of the factors its fuel economy solution takes into account. This empowers carriers — and individual drivers — to improve driving behaviors in a real-time, on-demand fashion. 

This training element is especially useful for larger carriers. Fleets with thousands of drivers may have hundreds of individuals in need of fuel economy coaching at any given time. Providing individual feedback on that scale is impossible for virtually all carriers without tech help. By automating the coaching process and providing baseline comparison reports that show and demonstrate the lift in efficiency resulting from the impact of consistent driver feedback on reduced fuel spend, Tenstreet’s True Fuel solution takes this pressure off carriers.

Click here to learn more about how Tenstreet’s Fuel Efficiency Automation can work for you.