Fleet fuel efficiency guide: 5 best practices for better MPG + cost savings.

Given how expensive and volatile fleet fuel costs can be, many leaders are searching for practical ways to improve fleet fuel efficiency. 

Improving a fleet’s mpg in small ways can add up to thousands of dollars in fuel savings.

This fleet fuel efficiency guide walks through data‑backed ways to improve fuel efficiency in fleet management — from coaching drivers to tightening asset utilization — and shows how tools like Motive Fuel Hub and Motive Card help organizations with fleets turn insight into real savings.

Does improving fleet fuel efficiency actually make a difference?

Across Motive’s customer base, the answer is yes. When organizations combine better visibility, driver coaching, and smarter fuel controls, even modest efficiency gains can become large fleet fuel savings.

See how these fleet-based organizations are using these best practices to improve their fleet fuel efficiency.

Taken together, these results show that investing in fleet fuel efficiency can realistically reclaim roughly 5–20% or more of annual fuel spend.

5 ways to make your drivers and vehicles more fuel efficient

Improving fleet fuel efficiency starts with implementing 5 essential best practices:

• Focusing on safe, efficient driving behaviors
• Reducing unproductive miles
• Optimizing routes
• Keeping vehicles well maintained
• Managing fuel costs with a fleet card

These strategic moves can help organizations with fleets like yours improve efficiency for every vehicle. Take a deeper look at the science behind these best practices below.

1. Focus on safe, efficient driving behaviors

Driving behavior is one of the biggest determinants of fuel economy. An American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) report indicates that when drivers are coached on driving behaviors that are better for fuel economy, fleets can reduce fuel use by 5–20%. The most fuel‑efficient drivers tend to:

• Maintain steady speeds instead of constantly speeding up and slowing down.

• Spend a high share of trip distance in top gear and on cruise control.

• Minimize harsh accelerations, hard braking, and unnecessary idling.

Physics backs these findings up. Cummins data shows that above 55 mph, each additional 1 mph costs about 0.1 mpg — so moving from 55 mph to 65 mph can easily burn an extra full mile per gallon. 

Idling is equally costly. Heavy‑duty trucks can burn close to 0.8–1 gallon of fuel per hour while idling, and Cummins estimates that every hour of idle time in a long‑haul operation can reduce overall fuel efficiency by about 1%.

That’s why one of the strongest ways to improve fleet fuel efficiency is to systematize coaching and incentives around safe, efficient driving. 

With Motive, helping fleet drivers learn more fuel-efficient driving behaviors is straightforward. See how it works: 

• Spot speeding and aggressive driving in real time. The Motive AI Dashcam Plus detects behaviors like speeding and harsh braking in real time. It alerts drivers in‑cab so they can self‑correct fuel-wasting habits.

• See which drivers are under-performing. Use Fuel Hub’s driver‑level fuel and idling insights in a single, intelligence-driven dashboard to see which drivers have the highest unproductive idle percentages, worst mpg, or the most  time with excessive revolutions per minute (RPM). Then, target coaching and incentives where they’ll have the biggest impact.

• Automate driver coaching. Use Motive’s AI‑powered coaching tools to provide drivers with timely, specific feedback. 

Over time, this combination of feedback, visibility, and training helps organizations with fleets improve the mpg of the whole driver pool.

2. Reduce unproductive miles

Cutting just a small percentage of non‑revenue miles can translate into meaningful fuel savings and better asset ROI.

Operations teams can contribute to fleet fuel efficiency by improving asset visibility. For example, they can save fuel by: 

• Matching the closest appropriate trailer or machine to each job

• Staging equipment nearer to work sites instead of hauling it long distances

• Eliminating trips by remotely viewing what’s already on site

Motive’s GPS asset tracking and equipment monitoring products give you real‑time and historical views of where assets are, making it easy to reduce fuel-wasting trips.

3. Optimize routes

Stop‑and‑go driving is fuel‑intensive. Vehicles burn more fuel in lower gears, and extra stops, detours, or congested areas mean more time idling and accelerating back to speed. 

ATRI’s sustainability work shows that routing and traffic can significantly affect fuel economy — in some cases, a slightly longer interstate route with consistent speeds uses less fuel than a shorter route with frequent stops and signals.

For organizations who want to improve fleet fuel efficiency, that means:

• The shortest map distance isn’t always the lowest‑cost route.

• Highway miles at consistent speeds can beat shorter, congested urban paths.

• Rerouting around predictable bottlenecks can cut both fuel burn and driver frustration.

With Motive, dispatchers can build and adjust routes in the Motive Dashboard using live GPS data, traffic conditions, and asset locations. 

If you use the Motive Card, its tools can improve fleet fuel efficiency even more: Steer drivers to routes with lower fuel prices. 

Paired with Fuel Hub, you can see how those routing decisions change mpg, idle percentage, and fuel cost per mile over time, so planners can validate whether new routes are actually cheaper, not just shorter.

4. Keep vehicles well maintained

Poor maintenance eats away at fuel economy. Under‑inflated tires, clogged filters, or unresolved fault codes all force engines to work harder. Cummins data explains the impact:

• Every 1 psi drop in tire pressure can reduce fuel efficiency by up to 0.3%, and every 10 psi of under‑inflation can cost roughly 1% in fuel economy.

• Poor alignment, dirty air filters, and improperly functioning cooling fans can each decrease mpg if left unaddressed.

Efficient fleets use preventive, usage‑based maintenance to stay ahead of these issues. See how these Motive capabilities can help:

• Automate service schedules. Motive’s fleet maintenance tools let you trigger maintenance based on miles, engine hours, or time. This keeps vehicles serviced when they need it and can prevent long-term fuel waste.

• Catch issues early with fault‑code alerts. Stay aware of engine and equipment fault codes in real time in the Motive Dashboard. Maintenance teams decide what’s safe to defer and what needs immediate attention to protect fuel economy and uptime.

When vehicles are well maintained, they consume less fuel and spend more time earning.

5. Manage fuel costs with a fleet card

Even if you optimize mpg, small differences in pump price add up quickly at scale. A fleet card provides tools to manage fuel purchase price across the fleet.

See how a modern fleet card like the Motive Card can help you improve fuel purchasing efficiency:

• Centralized fleet spend visibility. All fuel and eligible fleet expenses live in one dashboard, so you can see your true cost per gallon and fuel cost per mile across vehicles and routes.

• Customizable spend controls. Encode your fuel policy into each card. Restrict purchases by categories like time of day or spending amount, and require each driver to use mobile unlock to use the card. 

• Discount and rebate network. Motive Card customers can earn fuel rebates at 35,000+ partner locations across North America. Tier 1 diesel savings commonly average $0.20+/gallon, and qualifying customers earn cashback on all card spend.

• Redirect drivers toward savings. Analyze transaction data for where drivers routinely pay above‑average prices, then block or discourage those locations. Steer drivers toward lower‑cost alternatives using in‑app tools like Motive’s Savings Finder.
  
• AI‑powered fraud prevention. Auto‑decline suspicious fuel purchases in real time with the power of AI, built into the Motive Card. In 2024 alone, Motive customers prevented more than 80,000 unauthorized transactions and blocked $56 million in fraudulent and unauthorized spend.

Improving MPG isn’t just about practical tactics

All the best practices above will help your fleet’s fuel efficiency, but a truly sustainable effort comes from using technology to attack fuel waste end‑to‑end.

Look for a platform like the Motive AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform that provides AI analytics to spot fuel trends, benchmarking tools to discover where you stand, and technology that works to change driver behavior. 

Are you ready to move past one‑off fuel‑saving tips and build a data‑driven fuel efficiency strategy? Watch a demo to see how Motive works.