Cenex seeks UK fleets for next phase of smart logistics project

Cenex is calling for more fleet operators and cities to share their data as part of the second phase of a transport efficiency and safety project.

Project Sliced (Smarter Logistics Through In-Vehicle, City, and Energy Data), an initiative funded by Innovate UK, is designed to explore how shared smart city and fleet data can enhance road safety, congestion management and logistics efficiency.

Fleets like Mitie and Welch Group have already taken part, in addition to public sector bluelight fleets, in the first phase of the project.

This has given the project access to real-time insights into areas like vehicle efficiency, charging availability, incident hotspots and route optimisation.

A progress report on the project’s first phase findings will be released at the end of March, detailing insights gained from the first phase of collaboration.

Flexible Power Systems (FPS) is involved in Sliced and has been integrating in-vehicle safety technology with FPS’s Operate fleet management platform to help fleets gain real-time insights.

Cities can benefit from the project by leveraging fleet-generated data to enhance road safety, reduce congestion and improve infrastructure planning.

Challenges in fleet data management

Giving an update on the project in a webinar last week, Ben Fletcher (pictured), FPS senior analyst, said: “A major obstacle identified during the project is the fragmentation of data across multiple systems.

“Fleets often rely on a mix of transport management, asset tracking and charging systems, with data siloed across different platforms.”

Fletcher says that this lack of integration can lead to inefficiencies like manual interventions to check vehicle charge levels and charging availability, as well as over-specifying EVs due to limited data insights.

For example, a fleet might fund or acquire EVs with bigger battery capacities than they actually need or over invest in charging infrastructure, all due to a lack of data or insight.

Key learnings from Sliced phase one

Fletcher explained that fleets are seeing benefits in combining driver behaviour data with EV efficiency metrics to improve range and operational planning.

He added that real-world EV operational data also suggests there could be “significant cost savings possible through better integration with energy suppliers and smart grid services”.

However, these opportunities also come with challenges, such as ensuring compliance with data-sharing regulations (GDPR) and developing custom integrations between telematics, fleet management and energy systems.

Encouraging the fleet and city data exchange

Steve Carroll, Cenex head of research and technical services at Cenex, is urging fleets to get involved to share data from telematics like road condition reports, vehicle incident alerts and charging data.

Cities can also feed in planned roadworks, live road incident reports, as well as road incident hotspots, or traffic flow data.

Carroll says integrating planned event data into fleet systems could help drivers anticipate delays, which is particularly critical for EV operations where additional miles can impact range and charging schedules.

A key discussion during the webinar centred around fleet operators’ willingness to share data with public authorities.

While concerns over data privacy exist, Caroll says fleets have expressed strong interest in collaborating by sharing heat map information, rather than specific driver location data.

Some fleets were also open to monetising specific data, such as road condition monitoring, to support city planning efforts.

Cenex is now actively seeking more fleet and city partners to take part in phase two of the project.

This next phase will involve real-world testing of data-sharing systems, expanded driver monitoring and enhanced route planning tools.

Cenex said fleet operators interested in optimising their EV logistics and city planners aiming to improve urban mobility are encouraged to get involved.

To get involved in the project, email guy.grange@flexiblepowersystems.com.