Retailers and Supermarket Owners can Benefit from Fuel-Efficient Fleet Vehicles

Every South African businessowner, retailer or supermarket owner is concerned with reducing their overall fleet operating costs. Therefore, it is important, as a businessowner with a fleet department, to consider fuel efficient motor vehicles or large trucks.

According to an article by Phil Long Toyota, there is a plethora of benefits for fleet managers in opting for a fuel-efficient light motor vehicle or truck for the supermarket’s logistic and transportation business components. These benefits are as follows:

• Overall reduction of fleet operating costs.

• A reduction in foreign oil dependence, which will eliminate expenditure on imports and shipping.

• A contribution to sustainable practice in business, if the fleet vehicle is an electric or hybrid model – plus less greenhouse gas emissions polluting the air.

• Less money spent on fuel in South Africa, where the rising of fuel costs is a normality.

• Allows for a general increase on the vehicle’s lifespan.

When the public is informed of this motion of sustainability implemented by the business, it is likely that consumers will applaud its existence and opt to shop at your particular retail store or supermarket, since more businesses, organisations and communities are placing emphasis on the process of reducing their carbon footprint. A fuel-efficient fleet has already been implemented by South African supermarket giant, Shoprite, who has obtained more than 100 fuel-efficient Scania Euro V trucks. A total of 928 of Shoprite’s Scania Euro V fuel-efficient trucks have solar panels attached to their trailers, so that the tailgate lifts continue to operate, and the refrigeration is functional – even when the truck’s engine is off. It is said that this fuel-efficient truck will save 10% on fuel costs for the fleet department, in addition to being a cleaner, more “green” transportation option. Shoprite plans to increase its tally of Scania Euro V fleet by 140 more trucks in 2023.

This is not, however, the first time that a fuel-efficient truck is introduced to business owners and retailers. According to an article by Elitza Terzova (2019) – Global Fuels Product Manager of Shell Commercial Fuels – Airflow Truck Company created a fuel-efficient diesel-powered truck called ‘Starship Project’, which is maximised in efficiency due to modification using modern technologies. In fact, the ‘Starship Project’ – due to its optimum fuel-efficiency – is said to be able to reduce fleet operation costs by a whopping 30%. This is special news for retailers.

Therefore, it will always be a case of drifting between whether or not it is actually worth spending a lot of money on alternatively-fuelled vehicles or e-vehicles. However, it is important for retailers to remember that opting for a fuel-efficient vehicle – such as the ones indicated in the body of text above – will be economical, low-maintenance and a cost-saving alternative, which is likely to save the company money every year. It will also reduce the business’s carbon footprint, which indicates a win-win scenario, as society and the economy can progress and nature can be preserved, simultaneously.