Vehicle idling wastes fuel and increases costs for fleet businesses. It causes unnecessary extra fuel consumption, increased fuel and maintenance costs, and higher emissions. GPS tracking systems can help reduce idling by notifying managers when vehicles idle and producing reports on idling times and locations to identify inefficient drivers. Educating drivers on the impacts of idling and providing incentives for minimizing it can also help lower fuel use and costs.
3. Crores of vehicles take road everyday for their journeys. A common practise that is
observed every time is that of vehicle idling, due to many reasons. Be it traffic, railway
crossings, check post crossing, or any other reason. Few realise this but idling does
have negative effects on the fleet business. The first & the obvious reason being the
unnecessary extra fuel consumption by vehicles. It also increases the fuel costs bored
by the company.
Let us see the impacts of vehicle idling in details and also the measures needed to
counter it.
Introduction
5. Impacts of Vehicle Idling
•The foremost impact of idling
is the extra fuel consumed by
the vehicles.
•Extra fuel consumed directly
results into increased fuel
expenditure of the fleet.
•Vehicle engine consumes fuel
the most when it is idle.
•Roughly, one hour of idling
equals to two hours of driving,
in terms of fuel consumption,
thereby decreasing the mileage
or the output of the fuel
consumed.
•Extra idling results in wear &
tear of the engine & other
equipments; thus increasing
maintenance costs
•Also extra idling time results in
increased emission from vehicles
which eventually increase air &
noise pollution.
•This may cause health hazards to
the driver, de-motivating them
from performing their job
efficiently.
7. •Reducing idling time saves
fuel consumption which
indirectly reduces fuel
expenses.
•It also makes the vehicle
more fuel efficient as less
idling time means less fuel
consumed. It is found that on
an average, daily one to two
hours of time is spent idling by
vehicles and even upto 8
hours by trucks.
•One hour spent idle can
consume 3-4 litres of fuel.
Thus a large amount of fuel
can be saved.
•Reduced idling time can
save equipment and engine
from wear and tear, reducing
the overhead of extra
maintenance costs.
•Less fuel consumed
proportionate to less carbon
emission.
•Less pollution provides
improved air quality making
the working environment safer
for employees.
Benefits of reducing Idling Time
8. •Conducting anti-idling campaigns can motivate drivers to
practise less idling.
•Drivers need to be educated on this issue and its consequences.
Benefits of reducing Idling Time
•There’s also a common misbelieve in drivers that frequent
switching engines ON & OFF consumes more fuel.
•Such mis-beliefs and notions must be addressed and the drivers
need to be educated on such matters.
•Also providing incentives in terms of awards and rewards to
drivers who obtains maximum mileage form vehicles can
encourage them to practise less idling.
10. •Many fleet
businesses are
opting for GPS
vehicle tracking
system to reduce
excess vehicle idling.
•GPS tracking system
also notifies the
owner/manager for
the fleet on vehicle’s
speed, location and
harsh brakes applied.
•The system help
in selecting routes
before the start of
trip with its trip
history data that
can help in
avoiding routes
with more traffic.
•The manager is
notified when the
engine is switched
ON/OFF and when a
driver keeps vehicle
idle.
•This helps in
assessing the driver’s
behaviour and
further steps can be
taken to curb the
vehicle idling.
•The system even
produces reports
and alerts the time
for which a vehicle
is idle.
•This enables the
fleet management
to identify which
drivers are idling,
and even drill down
into exactly where
the idling is
happening.
11. Conclusion
• Vehicle idling can cause huge losses to the fleet managers with added fuel costs and
reduced efficient fuel use.
• Installing telematics and OBD devices or a GPS tracking system is one of the reliable
solutions for curbing vehicle idling.
• Other than that, idling reducing equipments too are available in market that can be
used by fleet managers. Use of solar- or battery -powered auxiliary power units
(APUs) while stationary can reduce fuel consumption during idling