With the current spectre of climate change looming ever larger, industries all over the world are taking closer scrutiny of their actions.
And it’s becoming ever more apparent in the transport industry. After all, this is an industry whose whole purpose relies on vehicles that produce emissions. But by making changes—changes that benefit both your business, and the earth—we can help the industry make a difference.
Rentco is leading the way in sustainable fleet management, with a range of initiatives in place to promote a greener future for the transport industry while also boosting the efficiency of your operations.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at a few different ways that your organisation can reduce the environmental impact of its transport equipment.
Improving fuel efficiency in the transportation industry
Fuel efficiency and the transportation industry are concepts that should go hand in hand. By boosting the fuel efficiency of your fleet, you’re able to reduce your emissions footprint while saving money at the same time.
There are a few attainable ways that you can boost the fuel efficiency of your fleet.
Regular vehicle maintenance
Regular vehicle maintenance ensures that your fleet operates at peak efficiency. Regular oil changes, tune-ups, and even replacing air filters can all significantly reduce the amount of fuel your trucks use.
Keep your tyres at optimal pressure
A simple one, but a crucial one. Underinflated tyres put more resistance on the surface of the road, which means your trucks work harder, increasing fuel consumption.
Promote more responsible driving
Unnecessary acceleration and regular hard braking use a surprising amount of fuel. Speeding also increases fuel consumption, which can be combated by ensuring your drivers stick to the posted speed limit.
Route optimisation
GPS systems can help your business identify the shortest and fastest routes, allowing your vehicles to avoid areas of heavy traffic, reducing travel time. Lowering your distances travelled serves to reduce your fuel consumption significantly.
Load management
Proper load management isn’t just a safety concern, it also helps to improve the fuel consumption of your vehicles. Overloaded vehicles face more wear and tear, which in time reduces their efficiency. Vehicles with poor or uneven load distribution require more force in order to move, meaning harder acceleration, and more fuel consumed.
Implementing emission reduction strategies in your fleet
Improving fuel efficiency in your fleet is just one part of the puzzle to reduce the emissions and impact of your transport equipment.
There are a number of other strategies that businesses in the transport industry can implement too. And while they won’t achieve net zero immediately—nothing will—they can set things in motion to reduce your business’ emissions over time, while also optimising your fleet’s efficiency and boosting your bottom line.
Choose vehicles that are built to last
Rather than opt for flashy or exciting brands, choose vehicles from brands that you know are reliable, and built to last. By optimising the use of your assets, you get more use out of them, rather than just having the latest and shiniest equipment for show.
That’s why we choose to use Volvo trucks. Known for their reliability and longevity, and a track record of excellent fuel efficiency, Volvo ensures that these key parts of our fleet are providing more sustainable transport solutions.
Modernise your fleet
The flip side of this is that, while getting more use from your vehicles is valuable, there comes a time when they stop operating efficiently. While old vehicles with kilometres on the clock still work, as they age they require more upkeep, use more fuel, and generate more emissions.
By slowly phasing out old vehicles and equipment, and replacing them with modern, more efficient, and lower emissions options, you’re working to future-proof your business.
At Rentco, we’ve begun upgrading our fleet to take advantage of electric vehicles. We recently received four Terberg YT200EV fully-electric terminal tractors, with another eight on the way. And as time goes on and demand grows, we expect that more efficient electric vehicles will become available.
Invest in telematic technology
If you don’t already have a telematics system operating, then it’s time to make a change. Telematics allows you to get a more comprehensive bird’s-eye view of your fleet. It provides real-time asset tracking so you can see the utilisation of your vehicles, the routes they take, and even how they’re being driven.
This allows you to identify underutilised assets and remove them from your fleet, optimise your routes to reduce mileage and improve fuel usage, or even see which drivers are exhibiting more fuel-efficient behaviour, and which aren’t.
How to balance your environmental concerns and operational efficiency
Balancing environmental concerns against operational efficiency doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, as we’ve seen above, some of these measures even work hand in hand.
Ideas like improving the fuel efficiency of your vehicles, optimising your loads, and improving employee training to ensure driving best practice all go a long way to reducing the emissions of your vehicles. Couple these with smarter logistics and route planning, eliminating underused assets from your fleet, investing in green technologies, and of course, good old-fashioned regular servicing and maintenance, and you’ll be able to improve the efficiency of your entire business—while reducing its impact on the earth as well.
Rentco’s transport equipment rentals support your efforts towards sustainable fleet management
At Rentco, we’re committed to helping our clients access high-quality transport equipment rental to keep your businesses operating smoothly. With 24/7 support, state-of-the-art assets, and comprehensive servicing and maintenance, our equipment integrates seamlessly with your fleet to boost efficiency when you need it most.
And by taking advantage of our environmentally conscious practices and equipment, you’re helping to reduce your overall emissions footprint for the long term.
Get in touch with us to discuss how our innovative transport equipment hire options can supplement your fleet.
