Fleet Fuel Management: Efficiency with L/100km and Preventing Unauthorized Refueling

In logistics and transport fleets, fuel is the largest expense item. Consumption that isn't measured per vehicle directly harms trip profitability and company profit. Fleet fuel management has two pillars: measuring efficiency (L/100km) and preventing unauthorized refueling (vehicle identification). This guide addresses both together.

L/100km: the measure of efficiency in a fleet

While efficiency in machines is measured in liters/hour, the correct metric for road vehicles is L/100km: how many liters a vehicle burns on average per 100 kilometers. Because this metric is normalized to the workload (distance traveled), vehicles can be compared fairly.

L/100km makes the following visible:

• Unusual consumption differences between vehicles (faults, tire pressure, driving style, load),
• A vehicle's consumption increasing over time (a maintenance signal),
• The effect of route and load pattern on consumption,
• Inconsistencies in fuel-distance reconciliation (possible abuse).

How is it calculated?

L/100km = (fuel consumed / distance traveled) x 100. Two pieces of data are needed for an accurate calculation:

• Fuel consumed: With vehicle-identified refueling, the liters are finalized per vehicle.
• Distance traveled: Taken from the vehicle tracking (GPS) system or from odometer data.

When these two pieces of data are combined, the real L/100km for each vehicle emerges; without integration, the calculation relies on estimation.

Preventing unauthorized refueling

Measuring efficiency isn't enough; fuel must also flow only to the authorized vehicle. With vehicle identification (RFID):

• An unregistered vehicle cannot take fuel,
• Every refueling is recorded to the correct vehicle and driver,
• Daily/weekly refueling limits can be defined,
• By comparing the fuel dispensed into the tank with the distance vehicles have traveled, deviations (possible abuse) are flagged.

When combined with transport software

When fleet fuel data is combined with transport/logistics software, trip profitability becomes clear: fuel cost is directly reflected in the trip, fuel-distance reconciliation is performed, and hidden expenses (tires, fuel) become visible.

Conclusion

Fleet fuel management is built on measuring and preventing. L/100km measures efficiency per vehicle and fairly; vehicle identification fundamentally blocks unauthorized refueling. When the two are combined, fuel — the largest expense item — ceases to be an estimated cost and becomes an item managed on a per-trip basis.