Uncertainty over the direction in which diesel prices are heading is prompting fleet operators to explore on-board solutions, such as GreenRoad’s driver behavior and fleet performance system.
With fuel accounting for up to 30 percent of corporate fleet budgets, fluctuating oil prices have fleets seeking to reduce the risk to profitability from volatile operating costs. Mitigating the impact of fuel price uncertainty is now a priority for fleet managers who are looking for sustainable solutions.
“The challenges that fuel costs pose to the health of companies’ bottom lines, together with increasing popular and regulatory pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have sparked intense corporate interest in reducing fuel usage,” said Ken McCann, senior vice president of sales North America for GreenRoad.
“With the price of diesel fluctuating in response to pressures beyond their control, fleet operators are recognizing that changing driver behavior to be more fuel efficient can reduce the impact of fuel cost volatility on their bottom lines to a significant extent,” continued McCann.
While diesel has fallen from its dramatic peak of $4.16 in 2013, prices continue to fluctuate. Oil producers have started to scale back less profitable operations, reducing supply and stirring fears of further price hikes, and the US Energy Information Administration forecasts that average prices will top $3.20 in summer 2016. In the past few months, six successive weekly rises briefly pushed the price above $3.26 a gallon in California and to a US-wide average of $2.91 a gallon in May until prices subsequently subsided, falling to under $2.62 last week, the lowest level since October 2009.
