Zonar adds ZFuel analysis tool to updated fleet management application

user-gravatar Headshot
Updated Mar 24, 2016

Zonar announced the general availability of its Ground Traffic Control (GTC) Performance package, which includes a ZFuel application.

ZFuel is an online application that analyzes and visualizes complex data to help fleet operators and drivers improve fuel efficiency. A fuel efficiency score shows drivers how they performed under the circumstances.ZFuel is an online application that analyzes and visualizes complex data to help fleet operators and drivers improve fuel efficiency. A fuel efficiency score shows drivers how they performed under the circumstances.

GTC Performance is Zonar’s cloud-based fleet management web-application, and ZFuel is a driver and truck analysis tool for uncovering areas for improved truck operation and fuel performance. The company says fleet managers can use ZFuel to identify non-diagnostic issues with trucks as well as areas to coach, motivate and potentially incentivize best driving practices for their drivers to achieve greater efficiencies on less fuel.

ZFuel uses telematics data collected by Zonar’s V3 device connected directly to the engine control unit (ECU) and analyzes it for a variety of factors. The app ranks drivers according to their total fuel efficiency, and lists the money they could save on fuel by changing their practices behind the wheel.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) “Study of the Impact of a Telematics System on Safe and Fuel-efficient Driving in Trucks,” driver behavior is by far the largest single contributor to improving fuel economy. There can be as much as a 35-percent difference in fuel consumption between a good driver and a poor driver. Speeding, inappropriate gear selection, not maximizing the use of cruise control, and truck idling all contribute to inefficient fuel consumption.

Captured data utilized by ZFuel includes how often the driver uses cruise control, engine idle time, speed, and what gear the truck is in. These factors allow fleet managers to see an accurate measurement of fleet fuel efficiency based on the circumstances in which each driver was operating. With ZFuel, each driver earns an individualized Driver Efficiency Score, which fleet managers can use to coach and incentivize performance.

“We noticed an initial savings of over $300 per truck, per month with ZFuel. There’s nothing else like it in the market today,” said David Daniels, president of May Trucking. “Our trucks utilize Daimler’s integrated Detroit Powertrain (iDP) combined with ZFuel resulting in a radical improvement in MPG.”

For more about how ZFuel works, see this previous article in CCJ.