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How to Calculate Your Fleet’s Carbon Footprint

October 27, 2022
Sustainable Mobility

To get an idea of how your fleet is currently performing, here’s how you can calculate its current CO2 emission levels.

How to calculate your fleet's carbon footprint

There are two ways to calculate the environmental impact of your fleet: through a mathematical estimation or an accurate measurement.

1) Mathematical estimate

Step 1: Work out how many litres of fuel you use

If you know how many litres of fuel you buy and use each month, this step is easy. If you don’t, take the number of miles that your fleet has completed in one month and your average MPG.

With your miles and miles-per-gallon figures, you can calculate the number of litres of fuel your fleet has burned. We’ll explain exactly how to do this in the example below.

Step 2: Calculate how many kilograms of CO2 this creates

One litre of diesel creates 2.68kg of CO2. So you can simply multiply the number of litres you’ve used by 2.68 to work out how many kilograms of CO2 your fleet has emitted in a month. Most of our customers’ fleets run on diesel but, if you have a mixed fleet, you can also account for the fact that, when burned, one litre of petrol will produce 2.31kg of CO2.

Example

Imagine you manage a fleet of 100 vans. Every month, each vehicle covers 1500 miles at an average MPG of 25. That means each vehicle burns 60 gallons of fuel each month (1500/25). This translates to 272 litres, as there are 4.54 litres in a gallon.

272 litres of diesel will create 728 kg of CO2 (272 * 2.68 = 728). So your entire fleet’s emissions are 72,800 kg of CO2.

It’s worth noting that this is a very rough estimate. This is because each vehicle’s actual consumption will vary depending on its make and model, age, and the driving style of your workers. So, with this method, it can be impossible to work out where improvements should be made to reduce your emissions and costs.

2) Accurate measurement with fleet management services and solutions

It’s now time to look at how you can get a more precise measurement with fleet management services and solutions.

Vehicle tracking technologies like MICHELIN Connected Fleet collect information about your MPG and real fuel consumption straight from your vehicles. This data can then be analysed to provide you with new insights and actionable advice for improving your fleet’s sustainability and profitability. With one simple dashboard, we provide fleet and operations managers with car-by-car results, as well as a detailed overview of how your fleet performs as a whole.

You can see the real MPG of each vehicle at any point in time, as well as compare different results from vehicles on the same route or across the same car models. A simple dial on the dashboard also shows you fuel consumption on aggregate, while automatic reports highlight the best actions to improve your environmental impact.
The MICHELIN Connected Fleet team

Written by The MICHELIN Connected Fleet team

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