‘Oh dear, you’re producing more CO2 than a small country’ is the cheery message that appears on my computer screen, courtesy of Fiat’s eco:Drive system.

Eco:Drive is a computer application that Fiat promises will cut fuel costs and reduce a driver’s carbon footprint. In fact, it says savings of 15% are achievable.

“In a fleet market context, individual drivers making small savings can have a positive effect in reducing the overall fleet carbon footprint and generate significant cost savings across the business,” says Adam Pumfrey, Fiat UK’s fleet and remarketing director.

All that’s needed to use eco:Drive is a USB stick, a computer and either the Fiat Grande Punto, 500 or Bravo. I’ve been testing it in the 500.

How does it work?

The first step is to download the application from the Fiat website on to your computer.

The good news is that this is available free.

Next, plug the USB stick into the Blue & Me port in your Fiat.

While you are driving, information on your acceleration, deceleration, gear changes and speed is recorded and saved to the USB stick.

When you plug it back into your computer the information is uploaded to the eco:Drive application.

That’s when the technology wizardry really gets to work, converting the data into facts and figures. It analyses your driving technique and marks it out of 100, giving a score called an eco:Index.

The higher the eco:Index the more efficiently you’ve driven and the less impact you’ve had on the environment.

The catch is that the system needs at least five days’ worth of data before it can work.

So, after a week’s driving I decide it’s time to face my fate: how environmentally-friendly a driver am I?

Well, it’s not quite as bad as I feared.

On a couple of days I achieved an eco:Index of 68 and my average for the week is given as 64.

The graph plotting my score over the week shows that the ‘community average’ is 60 – the community being eco:Ville, a virtual town made up of all the Fiat drivers using eco:Drive.

I automatically become a member of this online community, although my details are kept anonymous.

By clicking on the dates on the graph I get a breakdown of my ratings for acceleration, deceleration, gear changes and speed.

I haven’t managed the maximum five stars on any of them but my lowest score is two stars for acceleration.

In fact, it’s my style of acceleration that the system has flagged up and is causing me to produce ‘more CO2 than a small country’.

I’m urged to ‘take the lesson’ on acceleration. So I click the link.

Lessons learned

The cartoon-style tutorial begins with an explanation that taking it easier on the accelerator is one of the easiest ways to reduce fuel consumption.

Next it explains my problem, using data from one of my journeys.

A graph shows that my rate of acceleration is too high in every gear and I am wasting fuel.

I’m then given three tips to improve my acceleration: imagine there is an egg under the pedal, try shifting up earlier and go at my own pace rather than driving at the same speed as traffic in front of me.

After the lesson I’m able to click on links to related tips, such as advice on tyre pressure and not overloading the car, or I can choose to take one of the other lessons.

I select the ‘gear changes’ tutorial.

To improve, it says, avoid revving too high and not to rest your foot on the clutch.

A diagram shows the average revs when I change gears (about 2,000rpm) and suggests I should be changing gear between 1,000 and 1,500rpm.

Aside from tutorials, eco:Drive has an eco:Calculator, which has plenty of useful data for fleet managers.

It shows how many journeys I have made, the distance travelled, the average fuel consumption, the total fuel used, the cost and the total CO2 emitted.

There’s also an eco:Challenge, which I agreed to after my first week.

It sets me a target of achieving an eco:Index of 78 within two weeks – a big ask considering the car goes back in under a week.

Did I improve?

During my next week of driving I try following some of the tips, such as imagining there is an egg under the accelerator pedal.

It works.

When I next upload the data from my USB stick I discover my accelerator rating has gone up half a star, giving a total of two and a half stars.

I also manage an eco:Index of 69.

But it’s not all positive. I am not happy with the advice about changing gear at lower revs as the car appears to ‘die’ on me when I do.

Also, my speed rating, which had been fours stars has dropped to three and a half, balancing out the improvement in acceleration.

The score of 69 can’t be taken as a big improvement either as the data from my first day of driving the Fiat 500 was 68.

My average eco:Index has risen from 64 to 66.

As for fuel, my average consumption stays at 52.7mpg throughout the test, so no improvement there. Eco:Drive tells me that my projected money savings are £7.16.

This is based on my current eco:Index compared to my original eco:Index.

If I fulfilled the eco:Challenge I’d save £39.40 in fuel and 115kg of CO2 over the year.

On the whole, eco:Drive is fun and easy to use. It gives some of the data fleet managers would get from telematics, but without the cost.

It also gives many of the same pointers as driver trainers, again without the cost.

But there’s nothing earth-shattering about the advice and I can imagine more experienced, older drivers finding the cartoon and tone of the lessons patronising.

Also, unlike driver training the advice is not tailored.

Fiat eco:Drive website

The real problem for fleet managers is relying on drivers to bother plugging the USB stick in.

There is also a risk of data from other drivers getting mixed up. It is also possible to switch eco:Drive off completely.

Fleet managers would have to put procedures in place to make sure drivers used it.

But it’s early days for eco:Drive (seen by the fact eco:Ville only has around 8,000 residents worldwide) and Fiat intends to improve the application as it gets feedback.

Benefits for fleet managers

  • Fiat plans to offer a fleet manager version of eco:Drive in the future.
  • It is currently working with fleet managers in the UK and Italy to find out what features they would like.
  • Benefits should include:
  • Reduced fuel bills.
  • Flagging up a mechanical issue or a driver training requirement.
  • Indentifying business/personal mileage for more accurate expense claims.
  • Tracking vehicle mileage for servicing and management of excess mileage charges and pooled mileage.