RandMcNally, a provider of fleet mapping and mileage software, offers fuel optimization in its latest version of IntelliRoute.
Planning truck routes to get the lowest possible fuel costs is no small feat. The pump price can fluctuate wildly along interstate routes, but that’s only one of many considerations. Truly sophisticated fuel purchasing takes into account fuel rebates, surcharges, taxes, mpg, distance, fuel levels, tank size, route schedules, truck stop preferences and other factors.
Fuel optimization systems are designed to resolve these various factors into a recommendation for each trip. Such systems have been on the market for nearly a decade, but vendors are seeing greater interest in recent years as fuel prices are dramatically higher and fleets look for new ways to squeeze out more miles from their fuel expenses.
“Usage is up tremendously,” says Chris Lee, marketing manager for ProMiles, a mapping and mileage software provider. The company has offered fuel optimization for eight years, and for the past three it has included fuel optimization at no extra cost in the ProMiles XF mapping and mileage system – both in online and client-installed versions.
Today, nearly 70 percent of ProMiles’ customers use its fuel optimizer, Lee says. As with all fuel optimization software, ProMiles calculates routes by using current fuel price information through direct feeds of fuel transactions from vendors of fuel purchasing cards.
ALK PC Miler and RandMcNally IntelliRoute also offer fuel optimization in their latest mapping and mileage solutions through an interface with FuelAdvice.com, a Web-based fuel optimizer from Integrated Decision Support Corp. (IDSC). Users pay the same monthly price, per truck, as they would to use FuelAdvice.com separately ($9.95 per truck per month). The interface with FuelAdvice.com provides the convenience of using one package.
“The combination of having (fuel optimization) right there on the desktop has been a hit so far,” says Corey Grabow, manager of partner programs for Rand McNally.
