Learn about the most fuel efficient work vehicles to save your operating cost in your Florida business while going green.
Florida small business owners should not run out and buy new vehicles before the ones you use are no longer viable. Part of the strategy of going green for Florida entrepreneurs is how to save money while helping save the environment. Do the math and figure out how much the new vehicle will have to save you before you spend the money on a new one for your Florida business.
Getting the Most Fuel Economy out of Work Vehicles
Let’s start by going over a few simple rules. While some Florida business owners may think the following concept is not worth mentioning because it is common sense, getting the most fuel economy out of your Florida work vehicles begins here. You need to remember that these practices must be taught to your drivers and strictly enforced through constant monitoring of gas mileage.
Besides helping the planet with reduced emissions, monitoring will also help you realize any unauthorized use of company vehicles because just the fact that they are being monitored can drastically improve your bottom line. Having drivers interested in gas economy and having a going green attitude will also give you early warning of any mechanical problems that may dwindle your profit margin.
(1) Have all your employees write their odometer readings on their fuel receipts. Then teach them the formula to figure out the MPG (Miles Per Gallon). Miles divided by Gallons = MPG, so for example 100 miles divided by 10 gallons equals 10 miles per gallon. This knowledge empowers them to be cost conscience which saves money while contributing to our Entrepreneur Green Club effort to help save the planet.
(2) Teach your employees the do’s and don’ts of fuel economy. Examples: Turn off your vehicle when stopping for more then 30 seconds, keep your R.P.M.‘s (revolutions per minute) well below 2000 coaxing the accelerator or nudging it gently (for optimal fuel efficiency try 1500), let off the gas as soon as you see another vehicle pull into your lane, or a light turn red, etc. (If there is going to be more then a 30 second wait see previous rule). I know many will think this could be hard on your starter at lights, so it is a judgment call.
(3) Try to plan your route to make right hand turns through high traffic areas. Also, plan your day so there is no backtracking and that all the stops in one area are planned in the same day.
(4) Keep you tires 10 PSI over inflated.
(5) Get a high performance air filter.
(6) Check your local Florida auto parts stores or go online for computer control chips that will shift your car and keep all parameters tuned for fuel efficiency. The same way you can make it faster, you can also make it cheaper.
(7) If you can’t get a employee to follow the rules, fire them immediately. They are already stealing from you with an attitude resulting in lost productivity.
If this is too much work for you, there are companies who specialize in fleet management that will track all of this automatically through credit cards and by installing GPS and sensors in the vehicles. Be forewarned, you will have to fire someone if you spring it on them without warning. We had a 35% drop in fuel usage when we adopted these practices in our company without losing a single employee. When there is a mechanical problem that wastes fuel, our driver immediately updates us and asks for the repair.
Saving fuel is part of going green. Fortunately these tips add to the bottom line in profit, too.
Employee Fuel Efficiency Results
Our employees are actually bragging about how many miles they can squeeze out of their 02 or 03 van. I personally took my 03 Chevy 3500 diesel dually and brought it from 13.5 MPG to 19 MPG. Of course you will give up things to achieve this kind of fuel efficiency. I don’t take Florida I95 as much because my optimal RPM (1300) is around 40 MPH. I stick to the right lane most of the time because I don’t let my RPMs go over 1750 that I need to let it shift gears.
Let me summarize this by saying that the amount entrepreneurs spend on replacing small business assets including vehicles and equipment, may be better spent on updating your maintenance procedures and driver education. Then as you have to update equipment, the results will be stellar.
Squeezing profit out of your Florida small business while going green benefits everyone.