Coping with the high cost of diesel

The pressure on transportation costs is enormous at the moment.  The US-Iran conflict shows no signs of easing and the price of diesel at the fuel pumps creeps constantly upwards.

Breaking the £2 a litre barrier is punishing for the bottom line if your fleet is diesel and while it might seem an easy answer to say move to electric, in practice that may not be possible for a variety of operational reasons.

So what tactics are available to you to alleviate some of that price pressure?

The first thing is ensure your fleet is running as efficiently as possible. Review everything:

• Are you using telematics to optimise route planning?
• Are drivers regularly checking tyre pressures?
• Using telematics, which of your drivers is showing the greatest fuel wastage and why?
• Would the introduction of driver telematics gamification help to improve driver economy?
• Are you using the cheapest source of diesel?
• What about proactive vehicle maintenance, such as identifying vehicle health issues before they become problematic?

All of these will make small percentage differences that will help trim fuel expenditure.

Moving on from the operational efficiencies, it’s worth considering whether you are using the right vans. You can use our Fleet 360 tool to assist you with this, but your operational requirements may have shifted over time and smaller or perhaps larger vehicles might now be required.

And where are you with your electrification strategy?

While it’s true that diesel vans will be on sale until 2035, is it wise to be delaying van electrification? As the operational ability of electric vans improves – check out our 10 electric vans with the best range feature – which of your vehicles would be more suitable as eLCVs, allowing you to benefit from cheaper overall running costs? Again our Fleet 360 tool can help you with these decisions.

It’s also worth noting that the Government’s plug-in grants for low or zero emission vans have been extended until at least the end of the 2026/2027 financial year, but after that, who knows?

Small vans qualify for up to £2,500 discount and large vans up to £5,000. This can help lower leasing costs, plus leasing is an ideal way to ease any worries about future residual values and future proofs the technology.

There are no easy answers to the escalating cost of fuel and its impact on your company’s bottom line. It is unquestionably difficult. But some of these practical efficiency steps can help ease some of the financial pain.