Finance Directors Eye Fleet Telematics for Fuel Cost Savings

As reported by Financial Director:  When capital expenditure demands increased productivity from corporations by implementing new technology or processes such as improving existing machinery or updating back office functionality; investing in a vehicle tracking system probably doesn't sit at the top of most finance directors’ lists of priorities.

But telematics systems have evolved into much more than simple vehicle recovery tools – it is now a service that provides detailed information on fuel consumption, driver performance, travel times and routes, all delivered in real time.

With fuel prices continuing to dominate the news – fuel has risen by, on average, more than 50% over the past five years – helping drivers to reduce fuel consumption should be at the top of the fleet agenda of any business. Indeed, a survey of about 1,000 business drivers across the UK by ALD Automotive found that 70% of fleet drivers believed they could cut their fuel consumption if they were financially incentivised to do so.

Based on a typical fleet of 50 vehicles averaging 25,000 miles a year on average fuel consumption of 40mpg, the survey suggests cost savings of £10,000 ($15.5K USD) could easily be achieved by incentivising drivers to reduce their fuel spending by 5%.

“By using data collected from systems, businesses can set up monthly performance tables for their drivers, promoting more efficient driving and making it easier to implement any fuel saving incentive schemes,” says Mel Dawson, managing director at ALD.

It is eye-opening to see how detailed this information can be. According to Steve Evans, chief executive at In-Car Cleverness, part of the Accident Exchange Group, telematics systems now use algorithms that can tell you what makes a driver good or bad.

“You can see their speed relative to time of day, relative to location,” Evans says. Not only does this allow the business to pinpoint inefficient drivers that need training, it also provides data on the performance of the car versus the routes it has taken, stopping unnecessary journeys.

“You might find the car is wholly inappropriate for the type of journey the driver is choosing,” Evans adds.

Cut fuel costs
For instance, one security company using a remote management telematics system was able to cut its fuel spending by 37% by being able to monitor vehicle movement, identify unnecessary journeys and erratic driving behavior, and incentivise drivers with monthly and annual awards.

Morelli Group, the largest automotive refinish distributor in the UK, uses the same system across all of its commercial vehicles. “The system has helped us to reduce fuel consumption and, with fuel prices still high, any measure we can introduce to drive more economically is good for our business,” says Rob Cohen, finance director at Morelli.

In addition, telematics can help highlight to drivers the need to monitor their driving style, resulting in better driver safety and consequently having a positive impact on their accident levels.

Company vehicle incidents take a lot of shine off the bottom line. Average bodywork repair bills, according to benchmark data from the body shop industry, are now nearly £1,300 ($2,000 USD) per car.

Writing for Financial Director last year, Albert Vissers, chief financial officer of fleet management and funding company Alphabet, said hidden incident costs typically come in at twice the cost of physical repairs.

“They include disruption to business and potential lost sales while vehicles are off the road. Then there are uninsured losses such as drivers’ out-of-pocket expenses, vehicle hire and insurance excesses,” he wrote.

According to Evans at In-Car Cleverness, this can help reduce insurance premiums by “demonstrating you have a measurable strategy to reduce claims”.

Though the key interest for finance directors is cost reduction, telematics can actually improve customer service levels. “If a driver is on route, we can input the customer's address and give the customer an estimated time of arrival,” says Evans.

The experience at Morelli has been the same, with Cohen claiming the business has been able to reassure its customers that their needs were being met in the fastest and most efficient way.

“[The system] helped save us time and provide a better level of customer service through accurately locating technicians and assigning jobs that are closest to them, as well as advising drivers of the most direct route to a particular job,” Cohen says.

Energy Concerns are Driving Changes in Transportation

UPS estimates a 40% savings in fuel costs by switching to
Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) from gasoline or diesel.

As reported by FleetOwner: A broad survey of transportation executives in the aerospace, aviation, trucking, maritime and railroad industries finds that concerns over energy availability, cost, and regulatory burdens are rapidly increasing, with their fears fueling changes in corporate strategy – especially in terms of supply chain management.

Most of the 209 responses to this study – conducted this summer by Forbes Insights on behalf of the CIT Group – came from freight and passenger carriers, along with manufacturers, freight brokers and dealers operating in the transportation space, and found that more than eight out of 10 (81%) believe uncertainty surrounding energy policies is hampering global economic recovery.

On top of that, 80% of those polled added that today’s higher fuel costs are reducing global economic growth, with more than six out of 10 (63%) believing that fuel prices will increase over the next 18 months. A further 78% expect prices to increase over the next three years and 69% think prices will increase over the next five years, CIT found, with 38% believing those price hikes will be “significant.”

“This study highlights the fact that transportation executives are preparing for a future of uncertainty, both in terms of fuel prices and regulations,” noted Jeff Knittel, president of CIT Transportation Finance. “In doing so, they are implementing strategic business plans in response to the potential for a protracted era of higher energy costs and growing concern regarding current and proposed emissions regulations.”

Those “strategic plans” also cover a wide assortment of areas, CIT added. For example, nearly half(47%) of carriers reported their customers are working more closely with third-party logistics groups to optimize transportation costs, with 35% noting that their customers are relocating production or warehousing for the same reason.

Another 81% told CIT that they are updating their fleets to be more energy efficient, with 79% adding that they are doing more to promote their sector’s energy efficiency relative to other transportation modes.

On top of that, more than three out of four (77%) manufacturers are working to develop vessels, trucks and rolling stock that are more energy efficient, with another 64% noting that they are investing in new plants expressly for this purpose. Finally, 84% said they are working more closely with transportation companies to “engineer” greater transportation efficiency, according to CIT’s findings.

Still, despite all of those efforts, 31% believe their customers will still encounter “financial duress” as a result of rising energy costs,

That “duress” is partly due to the greater impact of regulations on energy, especially when it comes to rules designed to control and reduce emissions, those polled by CIT reported.

For starters, 76% of transportation executives said they are “concerned” by current and proposed emissions regulations, with 47% of them adding that the state of emissions regulation is contributing to higher energy costs – a figure that rises to 64% among trucking companies. Overall, 86% say such emissions regulations are adding to operating costs, with 79% adding that regulatory actions are forcing their companies to increase spending on capital equipment.

TL carrier Werner Enterprises touched on the monetary impact upon trucking operators trying to comply with such emission rules within its second quarter earnings report issued back in July.

“It is very difficult for many smaller and medium size private carriers to replace their older, lower-value trucks with much higher cost, EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]-compliant new trucks, which significantly reduces the risk of trucks being added to the market,” Werner explained.

“We reduced the average age of our much younger truck fleet by half a year during 2011 and 2012, with net capital expenditures totaling $457 million during that two-year period,” the carrier pointed out. “The significantly higher cost of new trucks and resulting higher depreciation expense and related diesel exhaust fluid costs is not being recovered through a single year customer rate review cycle.”

Indeed, 66% of respondents to CIT’s survey felt government policies have driven energy prices higher, with efforts to combat perceived long-term climate change running counter to a near-term economic growth agenda.

NBA Teams Using GPS Tracking Devices on Players

As reported by Slam Online: Data-tracking cameras are so last week. GPS is now where it’s at in the League. The Dallas Mavericks are one of eight teams that are beginning to experiment with wearable GPS tracking devices on players, as a tool to help them better understand and train their athletes. 

Per the Dallas Morning News: “The devices track player movements and body vitals and are designed to optimize training efficiency and mitigate injury risks. ‘We just want to be able to get smarter about our players and how to train them and how to put them in a position to succeed,’ said Mavs owner Mark Cuban. ‘So that’s just one component of a lot of different things that we’re doing.’ 

Athletes wear a cell-phone sized device on the inside of their jerseys between their shoulders, and it records their every movement in all directions as well as their heart rate. This gives coaches what Catapult’s Gary McCoy describes as a ‘dashboard’ for players’ bodies. 

While the devices have only been used in practices, Cuban said that he is considering using them during the preseason and that the league has not yet prevented him from doing so. (The Spurs have used the devices in Summer League games, becoming the first team to use them in game situations. The NBA prohibits the use of the devices during regular season games.) 

For the Mavs, the technology seems to be only one part of a much larger sports science technology plan. Cuban recently fired his 10-year strength and conditioning coach and said his replacement will be ‘more of an expert in performance technology science.’

The Mavs were also one of the first four NBA teams–along with the Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder–to install SportVU cameras in the rafters of its arena in 2011 to track player and ball movements throughout games.”

The devices are similar to those being used by the NFL to evaluate performance and speed for players.

Use of GPS and other sensors to evaluate professional and amateur athletes is a growing trend ("Athletic telematics"), and may also be utilized in the other sports or venues such as the Olympics in the future.

New Clean Tech Refrigerated Trucks using Fuel Cell Technology for Cooling

As reported by Science World Report: Grocery merchants in Texas, California and New York will soon have ice cream, frozen foods and fresh produce delivered by tractor trailers whose refrigeration units are powered by fuel cells, a clean technology that makes energy silently and with dramatically reduced emissions.

The fuel cells will do the work normally done by a small diesel engine, which keeps the cargo at the proper temperature while the trucks are making deliveries. Each of the four trucks will still be equipped with a main diesel engine that actually powers the truck.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is overseeing the project, believe this will be the first time that refrigerated trucks making deliveries have been equipped with a fuel cell -- a device that creates electricity by driving chemical reactions using hydrogen and air. The only byproducts are heat and water.

"This is a great application for a fuel cell," said Kriston Brooks, the PNNL researcher leading the project. "A trailer refrigeration unit traditionally is powered by a small diesel engine or electric motor that drives compressors to provide cooling to the cargo. A fuel cell can potentially provide a clean, quiet and efficient alternative by powering the electric motor."

Two leading fuel cell manufacturers, Massachusetts-based Nuvera and Albany, N.Y.-based Plug Power Inc., will each receive $650,000 from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The companies will provide matching funds and labor of their own. A PNNL team led by Brooks will oversee and evaluate the two-year program.

Industry officials estimate that approximately 300,000 refrigerated trucks with auxiliary power units are on the road in the United States. By replacing the small diesel engines with the more efficient fuel cell, users will see fuel savings of approximately 10 gallons a day per unit, in addition to reduced emission of pollutants and significantly quieter operation.

"Accelerated fuel cell use in this application is also expected to create jobs in the energy sector, increase fuel cell manufacturing volume, decrease costs, and catalyze a stronger domestic supplier base," said Jamie Holladay, PNNL's sector manager for fuel cell technologies.

Fuel cells are becoming more common as energy sources in buildings and in vehicles such as buses. While the devices are generally more expensive than traditional forms of energy generation, many scientists and product developers expect that as they become more widely adopted and production levels increase, their cost will come down, similar to what has happened to products like cell phones.

"One of the goals is to accelerate fuel cell use in industry," said Brooks. "In spite of their higher costs now, the higher efficiency and zero emissions from fuel cells are enough to convince many companies not to wait to implement this technology. Fuel cell products are already used widely in warehouses, and this project broadens their reach."

In one project, Nuvera will work with Thermo King to develop the refrigeration unit to keep the truck cool using Nuvera's Orion^TM fuel cell stack. That truck will make deliveries for a Sysco Corp. food distribution facility in Riverside, Calif., and for a San Antonio, Texas, food distribution center for the H-E-B grocery store chain.

In the other project, Plug Power will work with Carrier Transicold and Air Products to equip trucks making deliveries for a Sysco Corp. food distribution facility on Long Island. The trucks will be equipped with Plug Power's GenDrive fuel cell product.

Both the Sysco and the H-E-B facilities already use forklifts powered by hydrogen fuel cells, part of a trend fostered by DOE to increase the use of the technology in industry. At both companies, the infrastructure to provide hydrogen for the fuel cells is already in place; the hydrogen is generated on site from natural gas and water using Nuvera's PowerTap^TM hydrogen generator and refueling system. For the site using the Plug Power technology, the hydrogen will be supplied by Air Products using an outdoor hydrogen dispenser.

Each fuel-cell powered refrigerated trailer will run for at least 400 hours at each demonstration site, delivering goods from the distribution centers to stores or other outlets. 

Majority of Small Fleets in the EU don't bother monitoring driver speed

53% of all fleets in the EU don't bother to monitor driver speed;
a key factor in reducing collisions and liability, as well as potential
driver related deaths and injuries.

A new report from road safety charity Brake suggests that a significant proportion of fleet managers still don’t remotely monitor driver speed.

The second part of the group’s fleet survey report 2013 claims that speeding or driving too fast in wet or slippery conditions increases the risk of crashing and that a 1km/h reduction in average speed would save 2,200 lives every year in Europe.

Of the 220 fleet managers included in the research, one in four respondents (26%) didn't know how many of their cars were exceeding the speed limit when involved in a collision.

Six in ten (61%) managers of fleets with 50+ vehicles said they monitor driver speed while only 32% of smaller fleet managers could say the same.

This indicates that 53% of all fleets don’t bother to monitor driver speed.

Managers can do more
Roz Cumming, Professional Engagement Manager at Brake, said fleet managers have a duty to ensure the safety of their drivers and protect vulnerable road users.

She commented: “Monitoring driver speed and reminding drivers to keep well within speed limits, and to slow down even further around vulnerable road users can help.

This report shows that some fleets are already addressing this risk, but there is still more that managers can do.”

A spokesman from licence checker service Licence Bureau, which sponsored the research, says: “To reduce risks, organisations should: have a clear policy that all employees adhere to speed limits; use realistic route planning, taking account of congestion etc.; monitor compliance, for example through [GPS and wireless] telematics; and challenge or address unsafe behavior at both an individual and organisational level.”

Wi-Fi on planes, trains to start picking up speed in early 2014

As reported by Death and Taxes: Starting in early 2014 when you pay for Wi-Fi access on a plane or train, the service you buy may be able to actually get you online - at a speed conducive to doing actual work.

New satellite technology called Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms (ESOMPs) can deliver Wi-Fi to moving vehicles at speeds 10 times faster than current technology. It’s kind of a misleading name because the new technology is actually satellite based. Unlike the GoGo in-flight internet you’re used to buying that takes ground-based cellular data and converts it to Wi-Fi, the ESOMPs beam high-speed Wi-Fi signals to satellite level. And unlike the the GoGo in-flight internet, it has some actual kick.

BBC reports that British communications regulator Ofcom is in the process of considering ESOMPs for approval and that the FCC has already approved them in the U.S. Starting in early 2014 the internet on flights should be fast enough for you to stream Netflix movies, and make calls and video conferences over Skype.

Since around the time the first iPhone came out I've been saying the biggest innovation we need now isn't in new gadgets but in the infrastructure to make the gadgets we already have actually work. I’m sitting in the middle of Los Angeles, right under the Hollywood sign, and I have absolutely zero cell reception. It’s completely crazy that our infrastructure isn't better than it is.

With that in mind, a new kind of Wi-Fi called “802.11ac” is on the horizon (using high-density 256 QAM) and should start making its way into our daily lives soon. At a speed of 1.3 Gigabits per second, it’s more than double the current top speed of standard high-speed Wi-Fi, enough to “transfer an entire high-definition movie to a tablet in under 4 minutes, share photo albums with friends in a matter of seconds or stream three HD videos at the same time,” reports CNN.

Up until now my attitude toward Apple’s lackluster product releases has been, “So what if the most exciting thing about the new iPhone is that it’s gold—I won’t be able to do anything with more futuristic services anyway.” But with infrastructure catching up, it may be time for the front-end innovators to get in gear again.

Wireless Bots to Comb Illicit Tucson Tunnels for Drugs

As reported by Nextgov: The Homeland Security Department is ordering wireless robots to probe underground passageways along the Southwest border for drug trafficking activity, according to contracting documents.

The Defense Department for several years has sent robots in place of troops to identify land mines throughout Middle East battle zones, but the technology is relatively new for DHS.

“A robotic solution is always being looked at to replace a Border Patrol agent from having to make initial entry into an illicit tunnel," stated an Aug. 7 report justifying the need for a specific automaton brand, the Pointman. "This has always been a challenge since there is not one single robot solution for various types of illicit tunnels discovered.”

Operators will be able to remotely shrink the rovers to a height of less than 7 inches tall for scouring beneath vehicles and entering confined spaces, such as under beds, according to contract requirements published Aug. 15. The bots also have an “arm” for climbing stairs, they added.

Measuring at most 18 inches tall and 15 inches long, the discreet system will only roam about three miles per hour. It is designed to travel without human intervention for about 200 meters.

Officials claim the Pointman Robot is the only commercial, wireless robot capable of investigating and clearing illegal underground tunnels in Arizona. The “Pointman Robot significantly outperforms all wireless robots evaluated and tested” in the Tucson, Ariz., region, while all the other systems assessed could travel no more than 15 feet before losing control, the justification stated.

Operators can remotely upright a disabled bot “to make corrections after a fall or tip over,” according to the contract requirements.

For trekking along challenging terrain, cluttered with, for example, “clothing, debris/rubble, household items, rocks, stairs, sidewalk curbs, etc.,” the robots can deploy a “traversing” capability, DHS officials said. On flat surfaces, the robots will switch to a wheel mode.

Some passageways are seemingly engineered to block authorities. In 2012, U.S. officials discovered a 755-foot channel descending 57 feet, and located under a 2,000-gallon water tank, according to the Los Angeles Times. It could be moved only by a forklift.

A yet-to-be hired contractor will be responsible for assembling the 17.5 pound autonomous creatures from various commercial parts, including the Pointman and a mini DVR.

Local police in Oklahoma City and Austin have relied on Pointman bots for situations such as standoffs, according to Applied Research Associates, the robot manufacturer.