FLEET managers will be able to show drivers exactly how much carbon dioxide their vehicle produces during a year using a new version of Chevin Computer Systems' RoadBASE software.

Chevin managing director Ashley Sowerby said: 'There has been a lot of talk about the new CO2-based company car tax system, but discussing vehicles in terms of grams per kilometre makes the amounts of CO2 involved sound tiny. Once you multiply the figures by the number of vehicles on a fleet and the mileage covered, the totals can become frighteningly large.'

The system calculated that Chevin's own sales fleet of four vehicles, which covered about 17,500 miles, each produced 15.5 tonnes of CO2 last year.

The vehicles were a Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 SRi, which emits 209g/km of CO2, a Ford Puma 1.7 (178g/km), a Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec (181g/km), and a BMW 530d (180g/km), which changed after six months to a BMW M5 (346g/km).

Sowerby added: 'By allowing fleet managers to see the total weight of CO2 produced, it might prompt them and their drivers to go for smaller vehicles - as well as looking at ways of reducing vehicle usage.'