Accurately tracking the distance travelled by fleets could save businesses £1 billion in fuel costs and 2.4 million tonnes of carbon, reveals the Energy Savings Trust
Using software to calculate the number of miles being driven in fleet vehicles can help firms to cut business travel by 10% by encouraging staff to drive more economically, it claims.
The trust has been working with baked bean manufacturer Heinz which has seen mileage claims from its employees fall by 28% since adopting a mileage management system. Employees log details of their journeys into the system which automatically calculates the distance travelled.
The data collected by such systems can help firms to identify wasted or unnecessary journeys and provide a way of incentivising employees to cut their business travel, saving thousands on fuel bills and mileage allowances confirms the trust with Heinz able to reduce its pence-per-mile rate by 10%.
With UK companies expected to spend £10.9 billion on fuel for their fleets this year, the Energy Saving Trust has calculated that such systems could save £1 billion as well as cutting firms’ carbon emissions by 10%, equating to 2.4 million tonnes of CO2.
“Mileage management systems offer a win-win scenario for companies and their staff,” said David Nicholas, fleet partnership manager at the Energy Saving Trust.
At the same time, researchers in the US have found that electric vehicles (EVs) can be cheaper over their lifetime than conventional fleet cars.
In an assessment of the total costs of ownership of alternatively fuelled vehicles, including hybrid and fuel-cell-powered cars, the researchers concluded that the low costs of charging small and medium-sized EVs and hybrids brought their lifetime costs below that of petrol equivalents.
According to the report, battery electric vehicles, such as the Nissan Leaf, offered the lowest total costs of the 17 vehicles compared.
The news came as the government announced it was co-funding a new £13 million research unit at Warwick University to help the development of batteries for electric vehicles, to support the UK’s burgeoning EV sector, and that it was providing an additional £11 million of support to UK companies trialing low-carbon heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
Firms including the John Lewis Partnership, Tesco and Robert Wiseman Dairies will receive a portion of the funding as a part of a Technology Strategy Board and Department for Transport competition aimed at demonstrating the business and environmental benefits of running fleets of alternative and dual-fuel haulage vehicles.
“These trials will reduce CO2 emissions from freight and provide important information from a range of real-life situations that will increase industry confidence in low carbon trucks in the long term,” said freight minister Mike Penning.
“Operators often cite lack of gas refuelling infrastructure as a barrier to the take up of alternatives to diesel. These trials include £2.4 million funding for publicly accessible gas stations which will encourage investment in low carbon trucks, and other vehicles, delivering long term benefits for the environment and reduced costs for operators.”
Thirteen two-year projects have been awarded funding under the competition including Robert Wiseman Dairies’ trial of 40 new 40-tonne articulated lorries powered by natural gas and a John Lewis scheme to cut carbon emissions from its HGVs by 70% through improved aerodynamics and substituting diesel with bio-methane.
As well as helping firms to meet the additional costs of buying low-carbon HGVs, the fund will also ensure 11 new refuelling stations are built in the UK, which will be available for use by other operators.
