How to Spend Less on Diesel on Your Construction Site

Three tips to lower diesel fuel costs on your construction site

Looking to lower diesel fuel costs on your construction site? Whether you want to work with the equipment you have, rent better equipment, or purchase new electric equipment, we’ve got several ways for you to save money on fuel this season.

1. Increase your productivity for better fuel efficiency.

Perform regular preventive maintenance. 

Keeping your equipment in top-tier condition will help boost your fuel efficiency.

• Clean or replace air filters as needed to improve combustion in your engines
• Check hydraulic fluid levels and belt status to keep your machine operating at peak efficiency
• Perform regular oil changes to reduce engine friction

Don’t have time to track your oil changes, much less perform them? Don’t stress. Staying on a PM schedule with a company like Hugg & Hall saves you time & money down the road.

Good PM will help your equipment keep working for longer and burn less fuel in the process. Get signed up for preventive maintenance today. 

Invest in operator training. 

Your operators can make or break your fuel efficiency. Certain behaviors can burn through huge quantities of fuel over the course of a few weeks. Thankfully, training with Hugg & Hall can help increase your operators’ skills.

Training will teach your operators to use controls smoothly and avoid excessive speed changes. Accelerating or decelerating too quickly will require more fuel over time.

You should also emphasize the importance of reduced idle time with your operators. Idling wastes a shocking amount of diesel and can even damage your engine components over time. Implementing idle reduction policies will save you money (and time at the shop if something breaks).

Did you know? Idling for any longer than 10 seconds wastes more fuel than turning off the machine and restarting it!

Use telematics systems. 

Telematics systems give you up-to-date, usable data on how your machines–and operators–are performing. You can use this data to track fuel consumption and address any operators who are excessively speeding, braking, idling, etc. However, you can also use this data to see when you need PM done and organize your routes, so it’s beneficial for a number of reasons.

Some machines come equipped with telematics systems new, but these systems can be installed on many older machines as well.

Want to get telematics set up on your machine? Contact one of our Customer Services Sales team members. 

Use the right tool for the job.

If your machine is too big or too small for the job at hand, it will burn more fuel than necessary. Too-large equipment simply burns more fuel than is needed to do the job at hand. Too-small equipment, on the other hand, will have to struggle to perform the task and could consume even more fuel over time. Stick to recommended load capacities to ensure your machines are using fuel efficiently.

With material handling machines like forklifts and telehandlers, make sure that loads are balanced to avoid additional fuel consumption that can occur due to uneven weight distribution.

Unsure if your machine is the right size for the job? Ask our rental experts. They can help ensure you get the perfect machine and lower diesel fuel costs on your construction site.

Sell underutilized or older equipment. 

Your fleet may have a machine that is too old to work reliably, or one that doesn’t get as much use as the rest of your equipment. Track which machines are breaking down often or aren’t getting used often, and consider selling them before they become an extra financial burden that uses extra fuel.

Remember that telematics software we told you about? It can help track which machines need to go. You can also do this process manually–telematics software just makes it easier.

 

2. Use more rental equipment.

Underutilized or older equipment can’t compete with rental equipment! Hugg & Hall makes it easy for you to ensure you have the right machine for the job.

Just like older machines might break down more, they’re likely to require more fuel to run than newer models. Hugg & Hall keeps newer rental equipment on the yard, and we perform inspections and maintenance after every rental to ensure it won’t burn too much fuel.

When you rent with Hugg & Hall, you know you’re getting the perfect machine. Instead of using whatever you have, in whatever size, that might accomplish the task at hand, you’ll get a top-tier machine that is designed for the job at hand.

Browse our rental fleet today to get the latest & greatest machines. 

 

3. Make the switch to electric equipment.

When renting isn’t right for you, and just cutting idle times isn’t making enough of a difference in your fuel spend, it might be time to cut out diesel entirely. Hugg & Hall has a variety of electric equipment in multiple sizes, from forklifts & scissor lifts to mini excavators & some telehandlers.

Though electric machines do cost more out of the gate, they’re cheaper to power and operate (and they don’t idle!), which saves you money over time. Electric equipment isn’t the right choice for every project, but it does help many companies lower diesel fuel costs on their construction sites.

Want a full breakdown on why electric equipment can be the better choice? Check out our blog on going electric. 

 

Takeaways

You can lower your diesel fuel costs on your construction site or warehouse easily. Whether you decide to keep your current equipment & go with better practices, sell & go with rental equipment, or sell & go with electric equipment, you can’t go wrong.

Get in touch with our team to learn more about your options for spending less on diesel this season!

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