Vehicles are major producers of carbon emissions, but they’re also vital to field services and emergency responses – so how can utilities make their fleets more sustainable?
In Australia, the transport sector is the third largest source of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to 21 per cent of national emissions in 2023. Since 2005, these emissions have risen by 19 per cent and are projected to become the largest by 2030.
The Federal Government aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Innovation and sustainability are crucial to improving operations and reducing emissions in the utlity sector.
Advancing sustainable transportation
A successful sustainability initiative incorporates these three key elements: technology and innovation; laws, public policy, and governance; and economic and financial incentives. Companies want to become more sustainable, but how and where do you start? The answer is telematics.
Leveraging connected vehicle technology not only supports new road safety and sustainability legislation but also reduces emissions with data-driven insights. Data insights from telematics solutions can help with the fleet sustainability strategy and mitigate costs while increasing efficiency.
Utilities can use data insights to optimise routing for a wide variety of delivery and service vehicles, prepare fuel management reporting to reduce idling and improve fuel efficiency for all vehicle types, and efficiently use and determine the right-size vehicles, ensuring the right vehicle for the job.
The fuel economy of a vehicle plays a significant role in the overall operating costs of a fleet, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of the total. Key effective strategies to control fuel consumption and emissions are to reduce unnecessary idling, control driver behaviour, set speed restrictions, optimise routes, practise preventative maintenance, right-size vehicles to their tasks, lighten the load, use fuel cards, and adopt electric vehicles (EVs).
While it is important to revisit and consider the sustainable fleet strategy, reducing vehicle emissions is equally crucial. The urgent need for climate action has put the onus on governments globally to integrate policies and regulations to enable a market shift to zero-emission transportation. Electrification is on the rise.
Recently, there has been a large push to transition fleets to EVs. With the growing number of EVs in the market, there has never been a better time to begin the process of fleet electrification to improve the bottom line.
Before you can start adding EVs, it is important to understand the vehicle’s daily route, operating cost and vehicle dwell time. Using telematics will provide access to the fleet’s driving data points and help determine where it makes sense to electrify. It provides vehicle recommendations based on the models available in your region, as well as the projected cost savings and avoided CO2 emissions.
The time to act is now, as sustainability becomes a significant concern for both governments and corporations. By integrating advanced analytics with telematics expertise, companies can develop sustainable transportation solutions and enhance fleet management. Collectively, this will help the industry demonstrate the profound impact that innovative technology can have on the transportation system today and create safer systems worldwide.
For more information, visit geotab.com/au
