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  • Importing data from EV chargers often proving difficult, says FleetCheck

    Importing data from electric vehicle (EV) chargers is often proving difficult, FleetCheck is reporting, leaving gaps in fleet operational and financial records.

    The company says the issue applies to home and public chargers, and both where information is recorded manually by the charger user or automatically using an application programming interface (API).

    Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet software specialist, said: “For fleets, who are now often operating significant numbers of EVs, getting hold of charger data is an increasingly important part of their cost and operational analysis, especially when it comes to reimbursing drivers for power used to charge their cars and vans at home and on the road.

    “For this reason, issues affecting data from chargers are quite a serious problem that we are experiencing across our user base and, indeed, among our own vehicles. This concern is much more common than you might expect and we are certainly seeing more gaps than in petrol and diesel fuel data.”

    Matters encountered include interruptions in data that may last anywhere from a few days to several weeks, as well as APIs that suddenly stop working.

    “In real-world terms, these are probably just part of a whole host of electrification teething issues affecting fleets that will eventually be resolved but they do add an unwelcome layer of complication to day-to-day fleet management at present, especially when it comes to reimbursing drivers for their power use.

    “We’d like to see the problem resolved, especially as charging networks are set to rapidly expand over the coming years, and it is certainly an area where charging providers and their data partners provide should arguably be providing a more consistent service.”

  • Wayland Farms

    Introduction

    Wayland Farms is one of the largest and most trusted, high-welfare outdoor pig producers in the UK and the 2019 winner of the National Pig Awards ‘Outdoor Producer of the Year’.

    Their fleet is managed by Gareth Young, an HGV driver for nearly 16 years before taking on the role of Transport Manager. Gareth has a passion for the haulage industry, and intern compliance is something he is very focused on.

    Before using FleetCheck

     

    • Gareth found defect reporting, and rectification was the biggest issue.
    • Wayland Farms are moving processes to paperless due to their commitment to carbon neutrality through their second nature scheme.

    How FleetCheck Helped

     

    • FleetCheck has revolutionised operations. It’s now effortless to maintain compliance.
    • Gareth has reduced his time managing the fleet by nearly 5 hours a week and, in turn, also saves on administration costs.
    • FleetCheck has also been vital to Wayland Farms achieving Earned Recognition Status.

    Fleet Information

    15 HVG class 1 vehicles and specialise in transporting Livestock and animal feed, using state-of-the-art trailers to achieve this.

    “The whole process of getting set up with the system was effortless. The system is easy to navigate, and everything you need as a fleet manager is all in one place. Without the use of FleetCheck, we would not have been able to achieve the standard to be accredited with earned recognition status. Customer service is second to none, the team fully supports us, and all issues are resolved immediately.

    I would 100% recommend FleetCheck to other operators; I’m in talks with the rest of the group highlighting the benefits of both fleet check and FleetCheck technician.”

    Gareth Young, Transport Manager

     

  • New feature added to FleetCheck app designed to help stop bridge strikes

    A new feature added to FleetCheck’s Vehicle Inspection App is designed to help stop commercial vehicle drivers being involved in bridge strikes.

    Simply, it tells drivers they are currently using a high vehicle whenever they carry out a scheduled vehicle inspection, providing a regular reminder.

    Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet software specialist, said: “Bridge strikes are not that common but are hugely expensive and disruptive when they do happen, so avoiding them is always a priority for fleets. Historically, they have been seen as a problem for HGVs but, as recent reporting from Logistics UK has pointed out, they also affect high roof vans.

    “Providing a simple reminder within the app both keeps the whole issue of bridge strikes front-of-mind for the driver and tells those who regularly swap from vehicle to vehicle the height of the HGV or van they are currently driving.”

    FleetCheck’s Vehicle Inspection App was introduced in April 2017 and creates the means for drivers and fleet managers to schedule, carry out, confirm, follow-up and audit all kinds of legally required inspections from daily walkarounds to weekly or monthly checks.

    It has been continually enhanced, notably to incorporate a range of advanced features such as support for languages commonly used among UK fleet drivers; a fit-to-drive declaration; an improved trailer inspection routine; an option for employees to view documentation and policies; and enhanced damage, defect and collision reporting.

    Peter said: “The app has been one of our major success stories of the last few years and has now been used to carry out more than NUMBER million checks by fleets.

    “There has been a general increase in awareness of the importance of this kind of digital safety check product in the market among commercial vehicle fleets, displacing previous paper-based systems, and we have been well-placed to take advantage of the trend.”

  • EV Mandate could create operational issues for fleets in run-up to 2030, says FleetCheck

    The government’s newly announced EV Mandate could create substantial operational issues for fleets in the run-up to the 2030 electrification deadline, says FleetCheck.

    The policy document, which is now out for consultation, suggests that a sliding scale of EV production gets underway in 2024 with 22% of car sales and 10% of van sales being zero-emissions, rising to 80% and 70% respectively in 2030.

    Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet software specialist, said: “The underlying issue with the EV Mandate is that it puts supply before demand at a time when vehicle production remains highly erratic and the rate of adoption of electric cars and vans is volatile.

    “The government is proposing to effectively force fleets to adapt their operations according to the speed at which they think electrification should be happening. This will not necessarily fit with the strategies that fleets have already created for the adoption of EVs over the next few years and will force many into re-evaluating their plans.

    “The fact is that many fleets have substantial operational issues to overcome on the road to electrification, especially when it comes to vans, and artificially limiting supply of ICE vehicles while pushing EV production higher won’t do anything to solve these.”

    The ease with which the EV Mandate could be applied cars and vans was likely to be quite different, he added.

    “Meeting car targets is almost certainly not a problem. Fleets alone could probably account for 22% of all electric car sales next year without retail buyers. However, vans remain an issue. The jury is out when it comes to whether demand means one in 10 van sales is electric in 2024. We could easily tip into electric van oversupply.”

    Peter said that the government needed to step up its incentives and infrastructure investment when it came to EVs in order to ensure supply and demand mismatches were avoided.

    “Significant efforts will be needed to persuade fleets into electric vans at the kind of pace that is being envisaged. That means not just further upfront grants and other measures in both the new and used sector but massive resources being put into kerbside charging, which is essentially non-existent in large areas of the country at the moment. Some more money has been made available but there is a general sense that charging remains a very real problem.

    “Of course, the EV Mandate is out for consultation and could well be changed but, as it stands, it presents fleets with many more questions than answers.”

  • New EV efficiency tools added to FleetCheck software

    A range of new tools giving fleets the means to measure the efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs) has been added by FleetCheck to its fleet management software.

    They allow businesses to record charging information and measure it against the real-world performance of electric cars and vans, generating reports ranging from individual vehicles to the entire fleet.

    Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “The increase in the cost of charging seen over the last year or so, combined with a growing realisation that efficiency varies quite widely from one EV model to another, are behind these changes.

    “Fleets want to know more about which charging options and which vehicles are costing them the most money so they can take action. For almost all operators, it’s a relatively new area, and they are looking for reliable information and clear reporting.

    “The new tools we have introduced provide this, enabling data to be imported directly from external sources or entered manually so that the reporting on each vehicle provides an accurate picture of fuel costs and use.”

    Peter said that the remedial measures undertaken by fleets where EV fuel costs were felt to be excessive were essentially the same as for petrol or diesel vehicles.

    “The variables that need to be investigated are almost identical – is the fuel being acquired at the best cost? Is there a fault with the vehicle? Is the driver too aggressive on the road?

    “In our view, fleets are very much starting to think about EV charging in exactly the same way as fuelling internal combustion engined vehicles, and the solutions they are applying – from specifying where fuel can be bought to encouraging better driving – are much the same.”

  • e-Fuels could play “limited role” for fleets in the future, says FleetCheck

    e-Fuels could play a “limited role” for fleets in the future, says FleetCheck, especially in applications where electric vehicles might remain impractical.

    The fuels – designed to be carbon neutral – have hit the headlines over the last week after several EU countries asked them to be included in future car production legislation, circumventing a 2035 internal combustion engine (ICE) ban.

    Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “There is talk of e-Fuels being made by companies such as Porsche and Ferrari bringing about a stay of execution for the internal combustion engine and this might be true – but only if you own a Porsche or a Ferrari.

    “The bottom line is that these fuels are very expensive and likely to remain so, while their claims to be carbon neutral are in some respects, highly questionable. They do not appears to be a serious mass market answer to the future of either CO2 emission reduction or clean air initiatives.”

    However, e-fuels might have a role to play in fleet applications where electrification looks as though it could prove problematic, at least into the medium term.

    “We’ve recently been highlighting discussions that we’ve been having with fleets, looking at areas where replacing ICE vehicles with electric might just not be practical. Examples include 4x4s used by power companies in remote areas and ambulances, both of which might be needed around-the-clock in an emergency and do not recharge quickly.

    “The fact is that these vehicles make up only a tiny part of the car parc and it is here that e-fuels might have a limited role to play. The resources required to electrify these 4x4s, ambulances and others would be considerable and e-fuels might make more sense, especially if the cost can be brought down from current levels.

    “Hopefully, we’ll see battery technology move to a point in the coming decades where electrification of these vehicles is practical but, until then, there will need to be stop-gap solutions. While e-fuels are far from perfect, they look to be a better answer in limited applications than current petrol and diesel options.

    “It’s interesting that the recent House of Commons Transport Committee report highlighted the need for pragmatic solutions to low carbon travel and highlighted e-fuels as an option that could well fall into that category.”

  • Here’s why you shouldn’t use spreadsheets to manage your fleet

    It sounds counter-intuitive not to use spreadsheets to manage your vehicles, but an Excel document can’t compete with bespoke software.

    On the face of it, a spreadsheet is a perfect tool for managing fleets, but compared with specialist software, a simple Excel spreadsheet does not compete.

    Good fleet management software will automatically draw in data from a wide variety of reliable sources, enable you to put in place a policy infrastructure, and essentially only demand your attention when tasks need managerial action. It will also provide a high level of transparency over your fleet, operationally and financially, as well as aid compliance.

    Excel simply cannot deliver a fraction of that functionality. Essentially, it will just allow you to calculate some of your costs and compile some useful information, all of which will be done on a reactive basis.

    For this reason, we believe the fleet software industry should do more to educate businesses about the limitations of spreadsheets when it comes to managing company cars and vans. If the sector could persuade just a relatively small percentage of fleets to set aside their spreadsheets and use specialist software, both fleet software companies and general standards of fleet management would grow exponentially.

    How can this be done? It won’t be easy. People are often very attached to their spreadsheets, but it seems to us that a good first step would be if more of the sales and marketing effort that goes into fleet software recognised that the biggest competitor in the market is not another fleet software company – it’s Excel.

     

  • Land Sheriffs

    Introduction

    Land Sheriffs is a professional security task force providing protection and safety to clients, assets, infrastructure and staff. For obvious reasons, having a legal and compliant fleet is essential for a company in the security sector.

    It was essential for Land Sheriffs to find a fleet management solution that could help monitor their key dates, including MOTs, services and road tax renewals.
    Optilan Land Sheriffs implemented FleetCheck’s fleet management software at the same time as securing their telematics provider. The combination of the two working together has resulted in many great benefits.

    Before using FleetCheck

     

    • The day-to-day fleet tasks were previously managed via paper-based systems and spreadsheets, which meant there were hours of cross-referencing for the fleet manager.
    • A solution was required to ensure the vehicles and drivers were compliant and that their processes were legally acceptable and time-saving.

    How FleetCheck Helped

     

    • Integrating the data from telematics into FleetCheck meant that vehicle mileages were automatically updated, resulting in no more manual mileage checks.
    • Subscribing to the software has enabled the logistics team at Land Sheriffs to gain immediate control of all vehicle and driver-related activity, so all paper-based and spreadsheet processes were eliminated / tasks were forward-planned, properly managed and recorded in a centralised system for future reference.
    • Since moving to FleetCheck, Land Sheriffs are confident that their fleet is properly managed, their processes are compliant, their costs are monitored, and their drivers are safe.
    • They have total control over daily activity, and thanks to FleetCheck’s intuitive system of alerts, they can forward-plan vehicle maintenance schedules efficiently to minimise administration time.

    Fleet Information

    Land Sheriffs currently run around 45 light commercial vehicles operated from one site.

    “Prior to joining FleetCheck, I was spending hours a week cross-referencing to pinpoint key dates and to keep track of what had and hadn’t been done. I was going back and forth through spreadsheets and paper documents just to source a singular date, which was time-consuming.

    After looking more closely at FleetCheck, it was clear to see how user-friendly the system was and how much time I could save myself just by having a system as simple but robust as this one in place. The main benefit for us when it came to integrating our telematics data into the FleetCheck system was the confidence we gained that all the mileage readings we received for each vehicle were accurate, which was a great relief for us.

    When we joined FleetCheck, we decided to stop using the online licence-checking service we’d used previously (which used to take hours to display results and often missed endorsements) and began using the automated service that FleetCheck offer, which displays accurate results almost immediately and feeds them into the system for a centralised view.

    This was a real advantage for us as we could be assured that our drivers were safe to be on the road; and with two-factor authentication, it helps keep us GDPR compliant.”

    Chris Ricketts, Fleet Manager

     

  • Optilan UK

    Introduction

    Optilan UK Ltd is a global integrator of communications and security solutions for businesses, industries and governments internationally.

    As a company in the security sector, Optilan has always been aware of the importance of having a legal and compliant fleet, not only for the protection of the company but for the safety of its drivers when out on site. It was essential for them to find a fleet management system which could supply an electronic, portable version of their daily check sheets.

    Before using FleetCheck

     

    • When it came to the vehicle safety checks, everything was being reported on paper, meaning some checksheets wouldn’t be collected until weeks after, by which point any reported defects had been ignored, making the repair more pressing and potentially more expensive.
    • Prior to FleetCheck, Optilan’s fleet was monitored and managed on an in-house database that had originally been built to manage machinery and other equipment. It had been adapted to handle the entire fleet but was often unreliable, meaning there had to be backup spreadsheets and paper copies.

    How FleetCheck Helped

     

    • Integrating the data from their telematics into FleetCheck means they now have clear visibility of accurate, auto-updated mileage readings. This has eliminated manual mileage checking – a significant time saver for Tony and the rest of the transport team at Optilan.
    • Use of the FleetCheck software and the intuitive mobile app has enabled them to gain complete clarity and control of all vehicle and driver related activity, saving him an enormous amount of time.
    • With the in-house database, spreadsheets and paper-based processes eliminated, tasks can now be properly forward-planned, appropriately managed and accurately recorded in a central system for future reference.
    • The app has enabled them to view how long drivers are taking to complete their checks. This also delivers confidence in the precision of the checks, leading to a safer, more compliant fleet.
    • Since moving to FleetCheck, Optilan can confidently say that their fleet is well managed, their processes and costs are closely monitored, and most importantly, their drivers are safe and legal.
    • Thanks to FleetCheck’s system of scheduled alerts, they can forward-plan all vehicle maintenance diminishing a considerable amount of administration time and removing the stress of safety checks not being recorded or chased up.

    Fleet Information

    Optilan currently operates a mixed fleet of around 60 vehicles and pieces of machinery.

    “The database we were using before we came across FleetCheck was so unreliable that we had to make sure we had multiple copies of everything.  As you can imagine, this was a bit of a muddle at times, but we had to do this to ensure nothing was ever lost or out of date. This made the whole fleet management process heavily labour-intensive and very time-consuming.

    “Being my first role as a transport manager, I was really on the look-out for something that could not only sort and store our maintenance data but had the capability to link with our telematics provider in order to have everything I needed in one system.

    Having the app in place has meant that all our drivers can complete their daily safety checks properly but still with ease. All our drivers have phones, so having the app installed was a no-brainer!

    We no longer have to chase our drivers for their checksheets because it all feeds automatically into FleetCheck, and any defects reported are triggered straight to email, so I know what’s going on with my vehicles as soon as it’s reported.”

    Tony Sharpe, Transport Manager

     

     

  • Origin Global

    Introduction

    Origin is the UK’s leading specialist manufacturer of bespoke aluminium Bi-folding Doors and Windows. Origin has always been aware of how important it is to keep on top of its fleet, mainly as the business depends so heavily on its vehicles.

    Before using FleetCheck

     

    • Before using FleetCheck, they were experiencing problems keeping track of various documents and managing the fleet was much more time-consuming.
    • The day-to-day fleet tasks were managed by using spreadsheets and paperwork in folders.

    How FleetCheck Helped

     

    • Integrating the data from their telematics into their FleetCheck means their vehicle mileages are now imported directly into their account, resulting in no more manual mileage checks and avoiding excess mileage charges.
    • Origin now has complete control of all vehicle and driver-related activity, so all paper-based processes have been eliminated.
    • A significant amount of administration time has been saved using FleetCheck. As Robert Atkins, Transport Manager, explains,
    • Since moving to FleetCheck, Origin has complete confidence that its fleet is managed correctly, its processes are legally compliant, its costs are monitored, and its drivers are safe.

    Fleet Information

    Origin Global manage 14 drivers who deliver all over the UK with a mixed fleet from 3.5-tonne vans to 7.5 tonne HGVs

    “Compliance and retrieving documents are much easier for us now. The best feature is the level of detail stored and traceable through the system for compliance and maintenance. The fit to drive declaration and data accuracy is much more efficient than paperwork.”

    “FleetCheck has made our processes much slicker, documents and data are available at the touch of a button, and the automation of processes has impacted time savings for us as a company. I believe that FleetCheck is a perfect tool for compliance and fleet managing and has been a huge success in assisting me in my role as Transport Manager.”

    Robert Atkins, Transport Manager