What is Biofuel?
Introduction
According to the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) guide, renewable fuels can eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, especially within fleets that have limited low emission solutions available.
A lot of attention has been paid to vehicle electrification in order to meet the net-zero target. However, the commercial fleet industry is still faced with significant technical hurdles. That’s where biofuel comes in.
What is Biofuel?
Biofuel is a product of natural vegetable oils and fats made through a chemical process that converts oils and fats into fatty acid methyl esters. It is a clean-burning renewable fuel intended to be blended with petroleum diesel fuel or its substitute.
Biofuel: the Ultimate Solution for Improving Fleet Sustainability Credentials
With fleet companies preferring to use biofuel blends in diesel trucks and equipment, diesel powertrains will remain popular.
Top Benefits and Considerations of Biofuel
Biofuels are clean-burning and renewable alternatives for petroleum diesel produced domestically. The use of biodiesel as a fuel for your fleet comes with numerous advantages, including improved air quality and energy safety.
Improved Air Quality
Biofuel use became mandatory for vehicles manufactured after 2009 to ensure that they met specific emission standards, regardless of whether they run on diesel, biodiesel, or alternative fuel. By using Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), a superior technology which minimizes the emission of nitrogen oxide to almost zero in diesel vehicles, improving air quality is achievable.
Biofuel provides reduced carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and sulfate emissions when compared to petroleum diesel. Also, compared to traditional petroleum fuel, biofuel reduces carcinogenic compounds emissions by 85 percent. These emission reductions are directly proportional to biodiesel amounts when blended with petroleum diesel.
Energy Security
In 2019, the United States had to import 3 percent of its petroleum. Approximately 30 percent of U.S. total energy needs go to the transportation sector, and that amounts to an estimated 70 percent of petroleum consumption in the U.S.
The use of biofuel and alternative fuels, along with advanced technologies for reducing fuel consumption, play a major role in strengthening national security and minimizing transportation energy costs for consumers, specifically businesses.
The United States produces biodiesel, which directly substitutes or extends supplies of traditional petroleum diesel. For example, soybean biodiesel provides a positive energy balance as it makes 4.56 energy units per single unit of fossil energy used over its life cycle.
Improved Engine Operations
Biofuel improves lubricity and increases the amount of cetane in fuel. To prevent moving parts from wearing out easily, diesel engines rely on the fuel lubricity. There is, however, allowable fuel sulfur of 15 ppm.
It is advisable to check the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) recommendations of your engine before using biofuel. It allows you to determine the perfect blend for your vehicle. To find manufacturers who support biodiesel blends use, check here.
Safety
Biofuel is not as harmful as petroleum diesel when released into the environment. In its purest, unblended form, it is far safer than petroleum diesel, as it is less combustible. Petroleum’s flashpoint is about 52 degrees celsius, compared to biofuel’s 130 degrees celsius.
It is also safer to store, handle, and transport biodiesel, but you’ll need a biodiesel handling guide for all the necessary handling information.
Opportunity for Decarbonization of Fleets
Heavy commercial vehicles produce an estimated 15 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), with light-duty vans accounting for a similar contribution. It is the long-haul duty vehicles that contribute the largest share of GHG emissions.
The LowCVP Renewable Fuels Guide shows how adopting renewable fuels offers the fastest, most economically viable pathways towards reducing emissions for new and used vehicles.
The guide provides fleet managers with a myriad of low carbon fuels available for their fleets, focusing mainly on high-blend biofuels that can be used in commercial vehicles.
In the UK, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation Order (RTFO) mandated UK fuel retailers to ensure that at least 9.75 percent of all their fuel supplies are obtained from renewable sources by the start of 2020. So far, 5 percent of all road transport fuel in the UK is gotten from renewable sources, and the order requires suppliers to ensure 12.4 percent of similar supplies by 2032.
Under this scheme, the RTFO has set standards for biofuels to meet specific greenhouse gas emissions.
Biofuel and the Future
Around 40 billion gallons of petroleum diesel is consumed annually across the United States, but a complete shift to biofuel would create crazy demands for the available agricultural land. There are growing controversies over the future of biofuel, as a significant number of stakeholders argue that limited agricultural land would bring about other dire consequences. Shifting agrarian land for fuel purposes would impact food prices.
In Europe, increasing demand for biodiesel has resulted in high Indonesian oil imports. Consequently, Indonesia is facing massive deforestation as farmers continue to cut down palm plantations.
Biofuel remains the most viable option for now as it offers a far more environmentally-friendly option than ethanol, gasoline, or conventional diesel. As more research is being carried out on other possible options, or in the few cases where biofuel is not feasible, then the best way towards attaining a healthy planet is cutting down on fuel consumption.
Manage your Fleet Fuel Consumption with Azuga
Fuel costs account for significant percentages in fleet businesses, and finding the right balance to minimize fuel consumption is one way to go. Fleet operators can take a number of actions to minimize fuel consumption, even as the world agitates towards biofuel and electric cars. Investing in fuel cards is a proven way to achieve this goal.
With so many fuel card providers, do your research to get the one that fits your business. Once you have it in place, integrate it with the in-house telematics system from Azuga. In so doing, you achieve more as a business, beyond just fuel savings and fleet tracking.
Fleet Dispatching
Dispatch software is a lifesaver when it comes to organizing your dispatch process and keeping operations streamlined. It offers a variety of features that make daily procedures so much easier, from fleet tracking to reports that help businesses make decisions. What features does dispatch software offer, and how do these features benefit fleets? We will break this down for you.
Assign and Monitor Jobs
It is easy to assign and monitor jobs with dispatch software because it uses fleet tracking. Fleet tracking allows you to assign jobs to crews in the field. If you need a lead technician for a job, it’s simple to attach that lead tech to any job you need. You can even sort jobs based on their status, whether they’re one-time, recurring, or multi-day, or based on urgency.
When workers finish jobs, they can mark the job as complete on their end. This way, you can know when each job concludes and when your technician moves on to their next task.
Easier Communication
Back and forth calls between technicians and managers are no longer a problem. With dispatch software, you simply input the job you want your technicians to address. Your technicians access it from their phones and know what to do from there. When they’re done, they can mark it complete and view their next job right away. They can track their time, update their schedules, and input notes all while on the go. Everything you need to know will be on your screen when you need to know it, no need to track the information down.
Improve Customer Service
Dispatch software can improve your business’s customer service reputation in a variety of ways. Firstly, GPS tracking allows for route optimization software, which gets your technicians to their destinations quickly and efficiently. No more late technicians making your customers wait. Furthermore, dispatch software allows you to assign technicians to customers they already know, building an improved relationship with your business. And with all of your customer information in one place, it’s easy to respond to disputes and issues in a timely and personal manner.
All of your client and order information is available in a field service CRM that details everything you need to know about your customers and the jobs you’ve done for them.
How to Get Dispatch Software
Azuga offers state-of-the-art dispatch software that your business is sure to benefit from every single day. These benefits will improve your fleet’s daily operations, boost customer service, and maximize productivity among your workers. These features and more bring your fleet to its maximum potential, allowing you to focus on making important decisions to help the business grow and thrive. Find out everything you can do with dispatch software by trying out a free demo today. You’re certain to be impressed with the improvements.
Multi-Drop Route Planning
A multi-drop route planner is a process that plans a route for a driver to make more than two deliveries in multiple locations. It uses vehicle routing software to collect and analyze thousands of data points and determine the best delivery route. This route planning software can plan, re-route, and reschedule without causing any danger to the driver, environment, or business. It considers many factors, such as the number of distribution centers, warehouses, or residential areas a driver has to visit, resource availability, and driver safety.
How Does Multi-Drop Route Planning Work?
The route optimization software tracks the vehicle while factoring in when deliveries need to arrive. Of course, a human being should ensure that everything has been planned out properly, but the process should be automatic. Both this person and the system should look at distances, travel time, and fuel consumption.
Once a route is set, the route optimization software compiles data to choose the best vehicle and driver depending on the delivery. It uses data based on the route and the client’s needs. At this point, it also considers the driver’s hours and weather conditions to determine how much time is needed. These systems need to work in real-time to ensure that managers and clients can connect with up-to-date information.
Benefits of Multi-Drop Route Planning
There are various benefits to multi-drop route planning. It maximizes productivity, keeps fuel costs low, promotes driver safety, and helps businesses stay compliant with federal driver hour regulations. Your business will save money by using its drivers effectively and not using as much fuel.
Where to Get Multi-Drop Route Planning Software
If you’re looking for this software, you don’t need to search any further! Azuga’s route optimization software allows for multiple stops. It provides the best routes based on historical data, traffic conditions, weather conditions, and machine learning that helps it create the best routes for you in real-time. See what you can do with route planning software by trying out a demo today!
Fleet Dispatching
If you manage a fleet, you probably already understand the delicate dance that is fleet dispatching. If not, you may not realize just how crucial this process is to the success of any fleet-based business.
What Is Fleet Dispatching?
Simply put, fleet dispatching is the process by which commercial fleet drivers are sent out into the field to make deliveries, service customers, and handle other business-related tasks. But it involves so much more than simply telling drivers, “you go there.” Good fleet dispatching may also involve considerations for traffic conditions, road hazards, driver skill sets, customer preferences, and onboard equipment. When done correctly, it’s a skillful juggling act that helps a business reach its daily goals. When poorly handled, it can be a disaster for all concerned.
What Is a Fleet Dispatcher?
A fleet dispatcher is a person in charge of scheduling and arranging dispatch for a commercial fleet. Small fleets may have a single dispatcher to manage all calls, while larger enterprise fleets may employ an entire team.
A fleet dispatcher must clearly understand schedules and routes, job proficiencies, fuel management, fleet maintenance, and regulations related to hours of service and other fleet compliance issues. A good fleet dispatcher knows the drivers in the fleet well and can anticipate their scheduling needs and which jobs they are most suited to handle. Fleet dispatchers must be masters of communication and have elite organizational skills.
Fleet Dispatch Software from Azuga
Fleet dispatching is as much an art as a science, and it can be overwhelming at times. The best way to support the fleet dispatchers on your team is to give them tools and technology that make the job easier. Fortunately, Azuga offers the answers to all of your fleet dispatching conundrums.
Our GPS Fleet Tracking software can keep track of all the vehicles in your fleet along with large equipment and other assets. Dispatchers can use this information to see which vehicles are nearby when a job pops up. What’s more, we offer top-notch route optimization tools to help guide drivers around road construction, accidents, and other hazards that might prevent them from getting to their destination on time. We can even help you schedule routine maintenance, promote road safety, and automatically deliver dispatch notifications to drivers in the field.
Learn about all the ways Azuga Fleet can help your commercial fleet stay productive and efficient while simplifying maintenance schedules and creating a culture of safety on the road. Schedule an Azuga demo today!