New regulations are coming down the pipeline for fleets that conduct business in California. On Jan. 1, any new truck bought for drayage operations must be registered with the California Air Resources Board, and by then, truck owners should have already registered existing fleet equipment into the system. Trucks 14,000-lb. GVWR and higher must also comply with CARB’s Clean Truck Check, which requires reporting, vehicle testing, and compliance fees.
As other states develop their version of CARB regulations and timelines, fleet owners and owner-operators are watching how the Golden State enacts and enforces its strict decarbonization pushes.
See also: Some small fleets lean into EV benefits as CARB rules loom
Some fleet owners have already begun making a few changes to ease the transition by purchasing a few electric vehicles to test them within their operations. Others are focused more on changing drivers’ behaviors behind the wheel, such as hard braking and aggressive driving. This approach reduces emissions by getting better mileage—and saves money by using less fuel—while saving on insurance and accident costs.
“To be a fuel-efficient driver, you need to be a defensive driver,” said Ed Dubens, founder and CEO of eDriving. And the math adds up. According to data compiled by eDriving, aggressive driving behaviors increase fuel consumption by 37%. However, implementing driver coaching into fleet operations can help improve those behaviors and lead to a cleaner and more economical fleet.
Understand and influence what's happening behind the wheel
Dubens began his company in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. The company launched its first driver coaching training on CD-ROM in 1995. Since then, Dubens has moved to the U.S., eDriving moved to the World Wide Web, and its mobile driver solution, Mentor, was launched in 2017.
Mentor is an app, but "it's a bit more than that," Dubens told FleetOwner. "It's a smartphone-based, telemetry-based driver risk management and safety solution. We're using the technology in iOS and Android smartphones to help us understand more about what's happening behind the wheel."
Smartphones are already equipped with a location chip and an accelerometer. Dubens said these features can determine where a driver is traveling and its speed limit, as well as detect harsh braking and acceleration in real-time, another essential aspect of fleet management.
"The closer you can get to more real-time, which is what telemetry does, the more understanding you have of what's happening behind the wheel and how you can influence it to keep the driver safe," Dubens said.
See also: 4 steps to incentivize safe driving
eDriving developed its smartphone-based solution at a time when distracted driving incidents involving smartphones were making headlines and pushing states to outlaw handheld devices while behind the wheel. But Dubens said developing a driver safety solution on a smartphone, "as much as everyone thought we were crazy at the time, seemed the logical next step for road safety across the planet."
Additionally, fleet owners won't have to worry about driver distraction with the Mentor solution because it automatically "freezes" the interface when the vehicle is in motion. At the same time, it continues working in the background, "understanding where you are and, more importantly, how you're driving," Dubens explained.
Safe equals sustainable
The manager has access to the data recorded from each driver. These data sets include driver behaviors, such as defensive driving, cornering, and speed. Managers will also receive each driver's EcoReport powered by Greater Than, a driving data analytics company. Data can be viewed company-wide, where managers and stakeholders can review fleet performance and compare it with the company's own greenhouse gas emissions reporting requirements or goals. EcoReport also aids fleet leaders in meeting upcoming regulations and emissions requirements by measuring and reporting on Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions.
See also: How dash cams, driver coaching tools could help fleets reduce costs
If a driver is not performing well or exhibits driving behaviors that are unsafe or aren't eco-friendly, managers receive an alert to coach that driver. The Mentor platform then provides managers with templates to aid them in having those tough conversations. Further, the platform features more than 300 e-learning modules that can be prescribed to drivers to help remediate specific risky or aggressive behaviors.
Initially designed as a road safety risk management solution, Mentor focuses on the driver at all times, and "the (EcoReport) just enabled us to encapsulate everything, again stemming from that focus on the driver," Dubens said.
Described by Dubens as "the hub that brings it all together," Mentor and the EcoReport compile data and create reports that can be viewed by fleet managers, insurance and risk managers, or ESG managers.
See also: NACFE: 'Waiting is no longer an option' for realistic emissions reductions in trucking
The system will not only output recommendations for e-learning modules and coaching suggestions that are specific to the driver, but it will also "provide the reports in the format required to load up to their insurer, to their fleet management company, to the relevant bodies to meet GHG reporting requirements, or any other needs that (fleets) have," Dubens told FleetOwner.
Enabling Mentor into a fleet requires no downtime. Anyone with a smartphone and a Mentor subscription can take advantage of the EcoReport suite and begin their journey to regulations compliance and meeting their own sustainability goals.
