FieldLogix Blog

5 Ways Drivers Can Cut Fuel Costs

Here are a few easy and free ways you can cut your weekly fuel bill…

1 Reduce driving

Try to reduce the amount of time spent on the road. Reducing business mileage completely will be impossible, but substituting some journeys and using conference calls, instant messaging, or video-conferencing means fewer miles traveled, and also less time lost for staff while traveling. The added bonus: Happier staff usually means more productivity.

Although public transportation can’t always offer the door-to-door flexibility of a company car, there may be some journeys where it can offer useful savings, particularly when traveling into urban, downtown areas.

2 Drive fewer miles

If several members of staff are attending the same meeting, could they meet up somewhere beforehand and just take one vehicle instead?

Three members of staff arriving in one car immediately saves two-thirds in travel costs. Car-sharing can also work well with commuters traveling to and from the office.

Hertz & Enterprise add all Electric Vehicles to Fleet

Two of the biggest car rental companies in the US – Hertz and Enterprise – will be adding Coda Automotive all-electric Sedans to their car rental green fleet in 2011. The Enterprise Rent-a-Car Fleet will be adding up to 100 Coda Electric Sedans to their car rental locations in California. Hertz said it will be adding the Coda electric vehicles to its car rental vehicle fleet at some Southern California locations and in San Francisco next year.

Hertz said its network of more than 8,300 locations would give it a “unique opportunity” to introduce the all-electric CODA to potential consumers. Hertz is working to set up vehicle charging stations at its rental and car sharing locations, with the aim of rolling out a full-scale electric vehicle rental program in the US and abroad beginning in 2011.

“With one of the world’s largest rental-car fleets, Hertz is uniquely positioned to catalyze the adoption of all-electric vehicles and infrastructure supporting electric mobility,” said Mark Jamieson, Coda’s CFO and CEO, in a statement.

Efficiency Helps Public Fleet Managers Facing Budget Cuts

According to Government Fleet Magazine, the biggest challenge facing public sector fleets in 2011 is budget constraints due to the decline in tax revenues over the past few years. Public entities are funded largely through sales and property taxes — the two areas most devastated by the economic downturn. Successful fleet management for the public sector essentially boils down to revenue versus costs and maximizing fleet efficiency.

Public sector fleets are currently feeling the pressure to lower capital expenditures and reduce operating costs to compensate for tax revenue shortfalls. This is quite a challenge for public sector fleets, as the economic crisis has caused reduced funding resulting in older fleet assets and budget cuts have caused staff layoffs. There is an ongoing push to minimize fleet capital procurements by keeping vehicles and equipment in service longer. All capital expenditures are being intensely scrutinized. Capital purchases are deferred or eliminated completely and in most cases, total capital expenditures are reduced.

2010 Government Green Fleet Management Awards Winners

he 40 winners of the 2010 Government Green Fleet Awards were announced at the Green Fleet Conference in October. The City of Seattle was named as the No. 1 Green Fleet in North America. Greening your fleet means becoming more efficient – which can result in lowering fleet management costs. A successful green fleet management plan is a win-win for fleet operators and the environment because it will lower costs and reduce fleet emissions.

The Green Fleet Management Awards were judged on the following criteria:

1. Fleet Composition – This category compares your current fleet composition of conventional fueled (gas & diesel) vehicles versus hybrid, electric, and alternative fuels etc.

2. Fuel & Emissions – The fuels criteria determines your use of renewable and alternative sources of energy. It compares your total use of conventional versus renewable fuels such as BioDiesel & Ethanol, and non-renewable fuels such as propane and compressed natural gas. The emissions criteria evaluates what your fleet has done to cleanup your current inventory of on and off road diesel equipment.

3. Policy & Planning – An integral part of any green fleet plan is not necessarily what you do today, but also what you have planned for the future. Green fleet sustainability is the process in which you plan for the future environmental role of your fleet. Will you continue to budget and purchase green technologies, or will you stop your current green efforts?

75% of Drivers Open to Sharing GPS Data with Insurance Companies

Over 75% of auto insurance policyholders in the U.S. would welcome a telematics-based insurance program, if sharing their driving data had the potential to reduce their insurance premiums, according to the 2010 LexisNexis Risk Solutions Telematics Survey. The Telematics Survey measured auto policyholder receptivity to allowing insurance companies to use data collected from telematics devices in their vehicles to help determine rates.

The LexisNexis telematics survey measured consumer comfort levels around sharing personal driving information compared to other types of personal information from sources including Internet banking, mobile phones and social networking sites. The results showed policyholders more comfortable sharing GPS system driving data with insurance companies than personal information on social networking sites like Facebook.

Additionally the study found that:

* Over 57% of policyholders are comfortable sharing information about events that led to traffic accidents with insurance companies. 57% of policyholders also believe that auto insurance rates should be determined by actual driving data.
* Only 29% indicated they were comfortable with social networking sites storing personal information such as messages and photos posted on websites.

* Policyholders’ main concern is privacy; however they are more receptive to sharing driving data with insurance carriers than they are to sharing personal information with banks, or allowing mobile phone carriers to store text messages.
* 80% of policyholders believe that tailgating should affect rates.
* 59% of policyholders believe that miles driven per year should be used to determine rates.
* More than half of policyholders feel that minor speeding infractions (5 mph over the speed limit) should not impact rates.

Demand For Vehicle Tracking Solutions Increasing

According to a new research report from Berg Insight, by the end of this year (2010), 4.3 million passenger cars in Europe will contain an on-board telematics system. Stolen vehicle tracking is still the primary telematics application, followed by automatic emergency call, driver assistance and auto insurance telematics.

The Berg Insight report on the European car telematics market was quite positive. According to the Berg report, the global automotive industry crisis is behind us, as the market has been improving. Demand for aftermarket vehicle tracking solutions is now coming back to pre-financial crisis levels. The OEM market segment is showing signs of increasing activity. Many programs that were aborted in late 2008 have now been resurrected as car manufacturers are putting new focus on their telematics strategies.

Fleet Management System Optimizes Resources and Make Customers Happier

The Best GPS Fleet Management Systems Cut Costs and Increase Customer Satisfaction.

Do you want to save your company money by running a more efficient business? A good GPS fleet management system can optimize your business resources and make customers happier. GPS fleet tracking devices can capture location data every few seconds and transmit it to back-office software for real-time map display and in-depth performance analysis.

Cut Fuel Costs and Increase Customer Satisfaction with FieldLogix GPS Vehicle Fleet Tracking and Fleet Management System. With FieldLogix you can track your fleet vehicles with real-time fleet tracking, and always know where your vehicles are 24/7.

AT&T Adds to It’s CA Fleet with Unique Alternative Fuel Vehicle

The latest addition to AT&T’s green fleet is a one of a kind fleet vehicle. The custom fleet vehicle is a Ford F-450 truck that has been converted to compressed natural gas (CNG) and contains a hybrid electric system for power. The AT&T corporate fleet is made up of more than 75,900 vehicles.

The all-new vehicle fleet is part of AT&T’s nearly 1,600 alternative fuel vehicle fleet in California. This “green” fleet is expected to reduce over 3,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year and reduce annual consumption of regular gasoline by over one million gallons. AT&T utilizes approximately 2,700 hybrid and CNG fleet vehicles nationwide with roughly 60% in California. Development of this all new fleet vehicle is one of myriad ways the company is committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

Economic Guide to Greening Your Fleet With EV’s

he Fleet Electrification Roadmap is a guide that provides insight and analysis on the economics of electric vehicles for fleet management. The Fleet Roadmap recognizes the myriad financial and technological challenges for fleet management in converting a gas-fueled fleet of vehicles to electric.

The analysis within the Fleet Roadmap suggests that with targeted policies in place, fleet adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles could reach 200,000 vehicles by 2015. The report includes the results of a detailed total cost of ownership analysis for electric vehicles in fleets for several different industries.

Federal Tax Credits Helps Fleets Go Electric

A report was given to Congress last week stating that Congress should provide tax credits and renewable energy bonds to replace the 16 million fleet cars and trucks in the U.S. with electric vehicles and develop the infrastructure required to power them. An organization called Electrification Coalition (EC) announced the conclusions of their report at a news conference last week.
EC said that wants to see electric fleet vehicles utilized on a huge scale. In their report, EC makes the case that identifying and solving issues arising from modernizing fleets with electric vehicles will have spillover effects for the rest of the American population.

UCSD’s Green Fleet One of the Greenest Government Vehicle Fleets in US

The University of San Diego (UCSD) Fleet Services ranked 22nd in the Seventh Annual Government Green Fleet Awards, a competition of environmentally friendly vehicle-fleet operations that is open to all federal, state and local governments in North America. According to Rex Graham of UCSD, UCSD takes great pride in its green fleet, and looks forward to further reducing its fleet emissions and overall carbon footprint. UC San Diego’s Fleet Services ranked 22nd UC Davis’ vehicle fleet ranked fourth. The two UC campuses were the only college campuses ranked. The city of San Diego’s vehicle fleet ranked 19th.

A panel of judges based the ranking on performance in seven categories:

* The degree to which fleets are made up of hybrid, electric, and alternative-fuel vehicles.
* Use of renewable fuels.
* Planning that includes budgeting for future additions of green technologies.
* Use of vehicles that are appropriately sized for the required tasks.
* A high degree of utilization of all vehicles in the fleet.
* Executive and employee involvement in implementation of improved green technologies.
* Support programs such as recycling, applying for grants and maintenance-facility improvements.

Golf GPS System Reviews 2010 – Garmin, SkyCaddie and Golf Buddy

Handheld Golf GPS System Reviews 2010

Garmin Approach G3 Golf GPS

The Approach G3 is a more affordable version of the Garmin GPS for Golf G5.

* Detailed golf course maps give precise distance information about fairways, hazards and greens from any point on the golf course
* The GPS device will continuously update your position and show you the distance to each target
* The Approach G3 steps away from our traditional recreational product line to bring something brand new to the golf market at lower price point

G3 has a smaller screen than the G5 (2.6 inches diagonally, vs. the G5’s 3 inches and has about an inch less in height and width. However, it still has many of the great G5 features, including:

* Free pre-loaded golf course maps in the U.S. and Canada plus free updates.
* Touchscreen operation and touch-targeting.
* Waterproof.
* Hole preview.
* Digital scorecard (but no stats pack).
* High-sensitivity receiver.

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