A fuel efficient vehicle purchasing strategy covers the new acquisition and replacement of vehicles and related equipment. As part of your purchasing strategy, you should define the life cycle costing [1] steps that your fleet will go through when purchasing a vehicle and ensure that purchasing is centralized. The strategy should be designed to fully support a detailed vehicle purchasing policy. Once the policy is defined, you simply need to ensure that steps follow and enforce the purchasing strategy.



The City of Toronto [2] has purchasing strategies that have resulted in the purchase of numerous hybrids and a greater push for alternative fuel distribution in Canada. In general, these are part of a larger fleet plan.



First and foremost, you must ensure that vehicles are right for the job they need to do. This means identifying functional and operational requirements, such as:

• Cargo characteristics.
• Driver capacity.
• Costs of ownership.
• Average monthly distance traveled.

As with preventative maintenance [3], understanding manufacturer suggestions and tips for fuel efficient operation is important. Fuel efficiency policies should be developed to support a green fleet action plan [4] and coincide with key learning points of driver awareness [5] and training programs. [1]

A fuel data management system will be a particularly powerful tool in understanding, reviewing, and managing an effective fuel policy.

Developing the policy

Developing vehicle purchasing policies is very similar to developing idling reduction policies [6] and should fall out of a fuel efficient vehicle purchasing strategy. They should also align with vehicle and fleet right-sizing [7] to be most effective.



First, develop a fuel efficient vehicle purchasing strategy. Spend time analyzing and understanding your specific vehicle and fleet requirements and then more time investigating the more fuel efficient options to meet those needs.



Consider using the City of San Jose policy [8] as a guideline document. It will help you understand what to consider and include in your policy. The City has also created a Green Fleet Team to develop and monitor policies and procedures related to the purchase of city vehicles, metered equipment, and sustainable maintenance products and services to achieve program goals and objectives. The Team includes representation from Fleet Management, Environmental Services, Finance, and the City Manager’s Budget Office and rotating involvement of selected operating departments.

[1], (2006). E3 Fleet. Fraser Basin Council. www.e3fleet.com. [9]