September 2008, Government Fleet - Feature
Fleets Share Fuel Management Best Practices
By Chad Simon
John Hunt, Fleet Manager,
City of Portland, Ore.
Fleet Size: 6,850 vehicles
Fuel Management System: E.J. Ward Fleet View
Fueling Sites: 6
The City of Portland’s previous fleet fuel management system was antiquated and needed an upgrade. The City switched to E.J. Ward’s Fleet View automated fuel management software a few years ago.
"We wanted to move forward with a passive-type system that didn’t require keys, cards, or any human intervention," John Hunt said. "It would allow for ease in operator fueling, but also provide accurate meter readings on an ongoing basis, which is the one key piece of information we needed."
The Fleet View system is driven by data collected from the meter and can help determine replacement cycles, preventive maintenance programs, and cpm and cost per hour (cph) analyses.
"We didn’t want to do any cross fueling, such as putting diesel in an unleaded tank, and the system won’t allow you to do it because it’s programmed with the fuel type at the vehicle level," Hunt said.
Obtain Consistent Data
Large fleets require a system that provides consistent data. Portland’s fleet actually added two controller boxes, one for each fuel tanker truck to allow in-field equipment fueling. A module on the hose transfers the data, and a Skycomm advanced security unit picks up when the truck re-enters the yard and downloads the data to the hose computer.
"We went from a clipboard on which the operator wrote down each transaction throughout the day to E.J. Ward’s CANceiver unit, a fully automated system that not only authorizes fueling and tracks how many gallons are dispensed, but also provides onboard vehicle diagnostics, date and time, and serves as an employee time clock," Hunt said.
For construction equipment, a vehicle information transmitter (VIT) provides engine on-time meter reads and authorizes fueling. However, on later-model cars with onboard diagnostics (OBD-II), the CANceiver pulls data including trouble fault codes for high coolant temperature, oil pressure, idle time, etc.
Fuel Cost Crunch
Hunt closely tracks all fuel dispensed. He also monitors the fleet’s fuel economy by vehicle and class so he knows when a vehicle isn’t running properly or if there’s an emissions-related problem. This monitoring also helps determine whether he can downsize to a smaller piece of equipment that doesn’t consume as much fuel.
"Because of the price of fuel, we’re doing everything we can to keep everything running properly, buying vehicles that burn less fuel, including hybrid technology, and we have three Smart cars," Hunt said. "We know how many gallons we burn, and with the increasing cost of fuel, we’re going to have to ask for more money to continue operating our vehicles. No matter how well you forecast a year ago when you’re building your budgets, it’s pretty hard to predict the exact cost of fuel the way the market has been over the past few months."
In addition to Fleet View, Hunt is evaluating E.J. Ward’s GPS system to improve overall efficiency and is currently testing it on dump trucks to track vehicle load and restructure routes to dispatch the closest vehicle to the job.