ELD Devices for Improved Fleet Management & Growing Trucking Industry

ELD or E-Log stands for Electronic Logging Device; it’s an electronic hardware which is connected to the engine of a motor vehicle for recording the driving hours. It’s mainly used for commercial purposes (bus and truck drivers) where the driving hours are controlled by a norm called HOS (Hours of Service). An ELD keeps track of the vehicle’s engine for capturing data related to whether the engine is in a running condition, the time span of engine operation and the total number of miles traveled.

About ELD devices

FMCSA finally passed the ELD law in December 2015 and the first observance deadline was published in December 2017. The authorization applies to more than 3 million commercial drivers on the road and it would benefit the trucking industry.

An ELD must:

• Connect to the engine of the truck and record if the vehicle happens to be in motion.
• It gives a graphical display of Record of Duty Status
• Be ‘provider-certified’ to ensure the device meets accurate specifications.
• • Offer data in a standard layout and it can be passed on to enforcement of the law in different ways lie web, wireless services, USB, Bluetooth etc.
• • Let the driver Log in to choose modes like – On-duty, Off-duty and Not-Driving. All these can be automatically selected according to vehicle movement.

The benefits of ELD device

ELD devices have a lot of benefits for the fleets and if you use these devices in a proper way it can streamline the operations by increasing the productivity, reducing the operational costs and increasing the profits. A lot of fleets these days are using the ELDs. Now, if you are thinking whether it would be justified to invest in this device, here are the benefits for you:

Decreases the administrative load

These electronic logging devices can track automatically and can also record the movement of any vehicle. Therefore, it reduces ample manual paperwork and takes off the administrative burden. You don’t have to think of manual recording, saving and storing those records. This automatic process saves cost, time and efforts of the drivers and fleet managers.

Minimum Fuel wastage

ELDs and a fantastic fleet management dashboard let you observe and track the idle-time. It’s very important that you can see the exact time a driver is spending idling. You can save money each month by taking a note of too much idling and this, in turn, reduces the fuel wastage.

Tracking the location for improved route management

Fleet managers can track the vehicles via GPS which the help of ELDs so it allows real-time visibility and keeps distractions to a minimum because the managers don’t have to call the drives time and again. You can get GPS tracking with location history and breadcrumb trails so that the drivers and fleet managers plan out the shortest routes. This streamlines the operations and enhances the productivity giving higher profits.

Accurate automobile diagnostics

An ELD device is attached automatically to the diagnostic port of the vehicle and this lets the device to monitor the fault codes accurately. This is why you get to know about any vehicle maintenance issue before time via correct reports and real-time alerts. You get a real-time signal when there is a fault code found and you can use the old fault code reports to find out recurring issues. The best part is you can take precautionary measures right on time and this gives more efficiency.

Can identify the harsh behavior of the drivers

Tracking bad behaviors of the drivers is one of the biggest benefits of this device. Some of the common things that can be tracked are hard braking, too much acceleration, hard cornering, hard braking and excessive speeding. You can gather these data, have a word with the driver and look into the matter for improvement. Finding out high-risk drivers would decrease the chances of liabilities and accidents. It’s easier for the fleets to make a list of the drivers based on performance and ensure the bad ones get training. This would boost up driver’s motivation and increase the driver’s retention rate.

Conclusion

There are few more benefits like higher profits, better CSA scores, more safety, lower insurance premiums, lesser liabilities, geo-fencing and automated calculation of IFTA. So, ELD devices are extremely useful for perfect fleet management and the trucking companies can experience a faster growth rate.