Tips For Saving Fuel When Making Deliveries
As a courier driver, one of your biggest monthly expenses is likely to be fuel. Unfortunately, the fuel price has been steadily increasing over the last few years and it is now more expensive than ever before to top up your petrol tank. While the fuel price has an impact on a large number of people, it has a particularly high impact on delivery service providers such as couriers and self-employed van drivers. In this piece, we will be taking a closer look at the things that you can do to reduce your fuel consumption and get as many deliveries as possible from every tank.
<h2>Slow Down</h2>
The easiest way to save a bit of fuel is slowing down and driving less aggressively. Courier drivers often need to drive through congested urban traffic with frequent stops and starts. This type of traffic is not especially beneficial to fuel consumption but it is unavoidable. However, by adopting fuel conscious driving techniques like accelerating slowly, changing gears at the optimal engine speed and using engine braking to slow down, you can significantly reduce the quantity of fuel that is needed to get through a day of deliveries. The key to using as little fuel as possible is to always think ahead and make slow changes when it comes to the speed of your vehicle. Harsh accelleration or braking uses significantly more fuel than slow and anticipated driving.
<h2>Make Sure that your Vehicle is Well Maintained</h2>
Keeping your vehicle well maintained is essential if you want it to be as fuel efficient as possible. Regularly servicing your vehicle, maintaining tyre pressure at the recommended values and filling up with the highest possible grade of fuel are all things that you can do to keep your vehicle well maintained. It is also a good idea to have service work carried out by professionals who have the necessary know-how to do the job efficiently and correctly. Every vehicle comes with a specific service schedule and this schedule usually details which parts should be replaced and what work should be carried out during a specific service. Make sure that you follow this advice as the manufacturer likely based your vehicle’s fuel efficiency numbers on the assumption that the service maintenance schedule will be adhered to. A well maintained vehicle should give you significantly better fuel economy which means that you can make a bit more profit from the same number of deliveries, but it also ensures that your vehicle is reliable and that you can make deliveries in the first place.
<h2>Pay Special Attention to Your Tyres</h2>
The tyres on your vehicle is one of the most important parts to take into consideration when it comes to fuel consumption. Tyres that are over- or underinflated can cause your vehicle to use more fuel than it would otherwise do. You can also look into replacing old tyres with tyres that have a lower rolling resistance when they are due for replacement. Low resistance tyres require less energy to roll on the road and this means that your vehicle needs to use less fuel to move from delivery point to delivery point. While these tyres may be a little more expensive, they are well worth the extra cost and can lead to savings in the long run. To get the best information on which tyres can give you a bit more mileage for your fuel spend, talk to your local tyre shop or your vehicle dealer. They are most likely to be able to provide you with the best advice.
<h2>Plan Your Route Wisely</h2>
Planning your route carefully is essential to both fuel-efficient and prompt deliveries. Make sure that you take the shortest possible route to deliver all your parcels and avoid “running empty” whenever possible. In this way, you will get the most deliveries from a single tank of fuel. Using software to help you plan the most effective route is a good way to ensure that you do not drive around unnecessarily to get to your delivery destinations. Using a route planner also allows you to save time on route planning and avoids you needing to study complicated maps to find the best route for a specific set of deliveries. A well planned route will not only help you to save on fuel, it will also help you to make your deliveries in record time and keep your customers satisfied.
<h2>Keep Your Vehicle as Light as Possible</h2>
One of the easiest ways in which you can save fuel is by ensuring that you keep your vehicle as light as possible by removing any unnecessary items from your car. Lugging around things that you do not need doesn’t just use up space that can be used for deliveries, it also uses more fuel since your vehicle has to lug the extra weight around town as you go about your business. By removing these items from your car, you reduce the weight and in turn the engine uses less fuel to move your car from point a to point b.
<h2>Keep Detailed Records</h2>
It is important to keep good records of your fuel expenses and the distance that you manage to cover with the amount of fuel that you have. Good record keeping is an effective tool to illustrate how much fuel you are saving by following the above guidelines. In addition, records also show you where and how you can further improve your fuel economy and they serve as a good motivator to help you reach your fuel consumption goals. You can use spreadsheet software to keep records easily and you can even access the spreadsheet from your mobile so that you can update your records on the go and always have the current information at hand.
<h2>Replace Your Older Vehicle with a Newer Model</h2>
Ok, this is not a small and cheap solution to saving fuel but it is well worth considering. Older vehicles are often much less fuel efficient than newer models and you can save significant amounts by changing to a newer, more fuel efficient model. In addition, you can also consider using an electric vehicle instead of a internal combustion model. While this option is not a good solution for everyone, it certainly has a lot of advantages and if it is practical for you, switching to an electric vehicle is the ultimate way to save on fuel expenses. In addition to not requiring expensive fossil fuels, electric vehicles also often come with special tax incentives and government subsidies which are deesigned to make it easier for people to switch to these more environmentally friendly means of transportation and parcel deliveries.
<h2>In Conclusion</h2>
With fuel being one of the largest running expenses that any delivery driver is likely to have, it is important to always drive with fuel economy in mind. There are several small and simple changes that can give you good fuel savings, and you can implement them without much effort or financial outlay. In addition to saving on your fuel expenses, good driving practices are also great for the environment because they help to reduce the negative impacts greenhouse gases and global warming. Bearing in mind that fuel prices are likely to continue rising in the coming weeks, months and years, it might be well worth investigating if an electric vehicle is a good option for you.