Reading: Engine idling costs £3.3b in wasted fuel per year, says Fleetmatics

Fleetmatics Group plc, a leading global provider of fleet management solutions for commercial fleet vehicles, has revealed that reducing idling time on the 4.5 million commercial vehicles in the UK and Ireland could save businesses as much as £3.3 billion per year in fuel.

Data from the Group’s tracking of more than 331,000 subscriber vehicles reveals that vehicles operating without a fleet management solution will idle for 96 minutes per day, on average. By implementing a GPS fleet tracking solution, SME fleet owners can reduce vehicle idle time by 25% on average2, or 24 minutes daily.

In 2011 it was estimated that only 860,000 or 24.9% of all commercial vehicles operating in the UK and Ireland had implemented a fleet management solution. Based on a penetration rate of 24.9% of the 4.5 million commercial vehicles on the road today, we should already be realising a saving of 1.7 million litres of fuel per day or nearly £2.3 million daily. But, if all commercial vehicles operating in the UK and Ireland were to implement this technology, business could save a further five million litres of fuel or almost £7m – which totals daily savings of 6.7 million litres of fuel or £9.2m.

When translated annually these numbers could make an incredible impact on the UK and Ireland’s fuel dependency:

• Reduction in annual fuel consumption by 2,434,681,400 litres
• Saving more than £3.3 billion per year in fuel costs.

Commenting Richard Brooks, Fleetmatics’ marketing director for Europe, said: “While some idling of commercial vehicles is unavoidable, I think the research does highlight a massive problem for businesses in the UK and Ireland. Our customers are all SMEs and even small percentage points of profit on the bottom line matter. Business owners and operators I am sure will be horrified at the news that their money is being poured down the drain or, more accurately, going up in smoke.”

Brooks continues: “I’m sure that many people will want to look at their stats and compare our findings with what they are seeing in their business. Our data enables them to benchmark themselves and it’s a good example of the kind of business intelligence information modern businesses need.”

With European sales headquarters in Reading and offices in Dublin and North America, Fleetmatics Group is a leading provider of GPS fleet management solutions delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Primarily servicing small to medium-sized businesses, Fleetmatics gathers approximately 32 million data points per day, tracking vehicle activity and behaviour to provide actionable intelligence for its customers.