Clear definitions of the cost, telematics, and financial concepts behind FleetMagnify's fleet intelligence platform.
The true total cost of operating a vehicle for each kilometre driven. A complete $/km figure includes fuel, depreciation, maintenance, servicing, and Road User Charges — not just fuel alone. FleetMagnify calculates $/km using a fill-to-fill methodology, pairing actual fuel card purchases with real odometer readings from telematics data to produce a verified, auditable figure for each vehicle and each period.
The standard freight efficiency metric — total operating cost divided by tonnes carried multiplied by kilometres driven. $/tonne-km allows direct comparison of transport efficiency between different vehicles, routes, loads, and time periods regardless of distance or payload size. It is the key metric for understanding true freight profitability and benchmarking carrier performance.
A methodology for calculating true fuel consumption by treating each fuel card transaction as a measurement point. Assuming every fill tops the tank to full, the litres purchased at each fill equals the fuel actually consumed since the previous fill — a real, measured figure rather than an estimate. FleetMagnify uses fill-to-fill analysis as the foundation of all fuel and cost-per-km calculations, ensuring every figure is derived from actual ground-truth data rather than modelled assumptions.
The total cost of owning and operating an asset from purchase to disposal — including acquisition cost, depreciation, fuel, maintenance, servicing, insurance, and disposal value. Whole-life costing gives fleet managers a complete picture of what each asset truly costs over its operational life, enabling more accurate job pricing, replacement decisions, and capital expenditure planning.
The direct fuel cost incurred while an engine is running but the vehicle or machine is not performing productive work. For heavy trucks and machinery, idle fuel burn typically represents 20-40% of total fuel consumption. FleetMagnify's Idle Cost Analyst quantifies idle cost per asset, benchmarks it against utilisation targets, and identifies the highest-cost idle offenders across the fleet — enabling targeted operator behaviour change and measurable fuel savings.
Operational idle refers to an engine running while stationary without performing work — common at traffic lights, loading zones, or during shift changes. Hydraulic idle refers to an engine powering equipment hydraulics while stationary, such as a crane operating its boom or a concrete agitator turning — a fundamentally different fuel draw that performs productive work despite zero vehicle movement. Standard telematics systems cannot distinguish between the two. FleetMagnify accounts for vehicle type when interpreting idle data, applying different benchmarks to equipment vehicles where stationary engine use may represent productive work.
A per-kilometre charge levied on all diesel-powered vehicles in New Zealand by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, in place of the fuel excise duty paid by petrol vehicles. RUC rates are calculated based on vehicle type and Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) — heavier vehicles pay higher rates. For heavy trucks, RUC can represent $0.15–$0.30 or more per kilometre, making it a significant component of true cost-per-km. FleetMagnify automatically calculates RUC cost per kilometre from each vehicle's GVM, ensuring it is included in all cost-per-km and total cost figures.
The maximum total weight of a vehicle including its own weight plus payload, as specified by the manufacturer. GVM determines which Road User Charges rate band applies to a vehicle in New Zealand. Entering accurate GVM for each truck in FleetMagnify enables automatic RUC cost calculation without manual rate lookup.
The portion of an asset's purchase cost allocated to each hour of operation (machinery) or each kilometre driven (trucks), spread across its expected operational life. FleetMagnify calculates depreciation per hour or per km using current asset value, estimated end-of-life value, and expected total life hours or kilometres — producing a real cost figure for each period of operation rather than an accounting estimate.
The percentage of available operating hours that an asset is actively working versus sitting idle or unused. A machine available for 50 hours per week that works 35 hours has a 70% utilisation rate. FleetMagnify allows operators to set their own target utilisation rate per asset class and automatically tracks actual utilisation against that target — highlighting underperforming assets that are generating ownership costs without generating revenue.
The technology system that collects and transmits real-time data from vehicles and machines — typically including GPS position, engine hours, distance driven, idle time, fuel consumption, and fault codes. Common telematics providers in New Zealand include eROAD, Navman, VisionLink (Caterpillar), Komtrax (Komatsu), CareTrack (Volvo), ConSite (Hitachi), and FleetPin. FleetMagnify ingests telematics data via automated daily email reports — no direct API connection or new hardware required.
An advanced methodology used by FleetMagnify to automatically determine each vehicle's true driving and idle fuel burn rates from real data, rather than relying on manufacturer specifications or operator estimates. By analysing multiple fill-to-fill intervals — each providing a real measured fuel consumption figure alongside telematics distance and idle time — a regression model solves for the combination of driving rate and idle rate that best explains all real fuel purchases simultaneously. Rates are only auto-applied once a minimum sample size and fit quality threshold are met, and every change is permanently logged with full audit trail.
Get started with FleetMagnify and see true cost-per-km, cost-per-tonne-km, and idle cost calculated automatically from your existing data.
Get Started →