Town-of-Hempstead-Increased-Its Fleet-Fuel-EfficiencyLike communities all across the country, the Town of Hempstead has struggled with skyrocketing fuel costs and other inefficiencies associated with managing their vehicle fleets and fueling facilities. But true fleet fuel efficiency results from more than just getting the best possible miles-per-gallon.

For Hempstead, the ability to scrupulously manage their fuel assets from purchase through dispensing is helping improve efficiency and also control operating expenses. Hempstead’s automated fuel centralization program is being phased in over several years, but the Town expects to see even short-term benefits.

Automated fuel management is helping Hempstead streamline fueling and fleet operations by:

  • Monitoring purchasing, inventory and storage.
  • Evaluating and improving fueling procedures.
  • Capturing site and vehicle ID codes, authorized fuel type and quantity limits. Consistently-collected and more accurate data improves record-keeping and makes reporting easier and faster.
  • Tracking vehicle-specific information like service hours and mileage, to ensure on-schedule regular service and also quickly note problems. Timely maintenance ensures longer fleet life, reduced repair costs and better on-the-road fleet fuel efficiency.

It could get even better.

By choosing to upgrade their system with Automotive Information Modules (AIM2), the Town of Hempstead can further improve tracking and control over fueling operations, realizing even greater fleet fuel efficiency and overall savings.

AIM2 is a weatherproof remote data collection device that communicates directly with fueling equipment and the vehicle’s on-board computer. It’s an entirely passive system that eliminates human error and enhances driver productivity by:

  • Capturing information from an RFID tag on the fuel nozzle to begin fueling,  automatically stopping if communication is disrupted. This eliminates theft and mistakenly dispensing the wrong fuel into a vehicle.
  • Uploading and storing additional data about vehicle run and idle times and other details. This helps managers analyze driver actions and enhance training to reduce quick-starts and over-long idling, and travel-related data can also support more efficient route planning.

Ongoing fuel and maintenance cost savings, more efficient overall vehicle function, longer vehicle life, more productive drivers and fewer “losses” associated with erroneous reporting — it’s easy to see why the Town of Hempstead is already enjoying increased fleet fuel efficiency.

Even better, they’re getting more and more detailed information about their fueling processes and vehicles that can improve forecasting and planning as well as daily decision-making.

Photo Credit: didbygraham