Fleet vehicle movements can be greener, says Engineius

The delivery and collection of fleet vehicles is contributing to excess pollution and congestion, according to vehicle movement specialist Engineius.

More than 20 million vehicle movements occur in the UK every year and Engineius believes the sector is still considered to be late adopters of the most efficient and greenest practise.

Calum Slowther, commercial director for Engineius, said: “Before launching Engineius in April 2018, we conducted extensive research into the vehicle movement sector. It was common practice for chaser vehicles to be deployed when delivering a vehicle or a minibus-style drop off and pick up for drivers to deliver the vehicles.

“We identified that for every 10 miles of vehicle movement needed these practises actually meant that 24 miles were driven, more than doubling the driving miles and, even more worryingly, doubling the emissions.

“Multiply that figure by the actual number of vehicle movements and the distance of each movement for each fleet and the unnecessary additional miles and increase in emissions is staggering.”

Engineius eliminates the extra miles by using a technology platform that automatically assigns onward journeys to minimise unproductive miles. By matching movements and utilising public transport where necessary, Engineius claims to significantly reduce emissions from its vehicle movement miles.

Slowther added: “To date we have saved over 1000 tonnes of CO2 and, as all fleets are tasked with finding ways to reduce their emissions, this is a great place to start.”

There are other benefits to fewer miles being driven, such as reducing congestion, increasing economic productivity, and - crucially - lowering the risk of road injuries and deaths.

“Another surprising find from our research was that EVs were being delivered on diesel transporters, which is completely opposed to EV cause,” Slowther said.

The greenest option is to drive EVs, according to Engineius, not transport them, and it provides this service.

A single vehicle movement historically created several pieces of paper for each transaction, which is not a particularly green process either. The Engineius platform is designed to remove the need for unnecessary paperwork and takes the whole process online, reducing administration and processing costs.