Fleet briefs: Latest from Fleet Alliance, Europcar, Alphabet, Zenith, Telent, Targa Telematics, FleetCheck and FixMyCar

Fleet Alliance achieves carbon neutral status

Fleet Alliance has achieved carbon neutral status after implementing a series of carbon-saving green initiatives that have reduced its carbon footprint to zero.

To achieve carbon neutral status, Fleet Alliance said it has worked hard to reduce its corporate energy consumption by 57%, including switching its energy supplier to a renewables-only business where the majority of power is generated by wind. 

And, with regard to its own fleet, the company switched completely to electric vehicles (EVs) in 2021, and has since introduced a zero-emission policy for all employee salary sacrifice cars.

These initiatives, plus a host of smaller ones, have contributed to a 90% reduction in the company’s carbon emissions. 

The final 10% has been achieved through carbon offsetting, employing three schemes within the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals which have been selected by staff as part of the company’s ‘Fleet Alliance Loves’ outreach programme.

These schemes have collectively saved 28 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere and have been the final step in the company achieving the desired carbon neutral status.

In measuring its achievement, the company has followed the reporting levels of the global Greenhouse Gas Protocol which has three levels or Scopes. 

Through its environmental efforts to date, Fleet Alliance has now covered Scope 1 emissions which are those that it is directly responsible for and Scope 2 emissions which are those that it is indirectly responsible for, such as the generation of purchased energy.

Fleet Alliance CEO, Andy Bruce, said: “It’s not a legal requirement for our company, but we believe carbon neutrality is essential to our business as a sustainable mobility provider.
“Put simply, we have to turn the clock back on carbon emissions - or continue to face further and more ferocious natural disasters of the type that we have seen across the world recently.”

Bruce added that, despite achieving carbon neutrality status, the business would continue its efforts to further reduce carbon emissions.

Alphabet to use Fleet Procure’s StockManager portal

Alphabet has signed up to use Fleet Procure’s StockManager portal, a cloud-based broker/dealer procurement platform.

Funders can use it to manage their tactical commit-to-purchase stock, with real time view of stock and order status. 

The capture of cancelled orders for instant re-sale is a further key feature.

More than 200 leasing brokers currently access the portal for stock access from a host of funder and dealer partners.

Adam Nash, tactical sales manager at Alphabet (GB), said that StockManager will enhance the visibility of our tactical vehicle sales and stock management, while providing Alphabet Partners with greater visibility of stock available in real-time.

“StockManager will enable us to monitor and internally report on the status of our ongoing campaigns,” he added. 

“We consider it a valuable tool that will support our ambitious tactical offer growth plan. Additionally, the fact that most of our broker partners are already using the platform influenced our decision.”

Alphabet’s tactical vehicle proposition has aspirations to grow by 25% in 2025.

Arron Mogridge, operations director of Fleet Procure, said: “The cost of lack of vehicle visibility, especially cancelled orders, with prepaid committed tactical stock is an industry-wide issue, which our technology has solved”

Alphabet are the third leasing company to sign-up to using StockManager, following Drivalia and Leasys in 2023. 

Zenith hosts carbon literacy training sessions to support decarbonisation of its supply chain

Zenith has supported Carbon Literacy Action Day by hosting two carbon literacy training sessions for the company’s key suppliers. 

Taking place in November, the sessions were designed to increase awareness of decarbonisation in the automotive industry, and saw Zenith deliver Carbon Literacy training to more than 30 individuals across the company’s supply chain. Suppliers in attendance included Kwik Fit, Mercedez Benz, The AA, and Hyundai Stratstone. 

The annual International Carbon Literacy Action Day is an event created by the Carbon Literacy Project and is the world’s largest climate education and action training event of its kind. 

Currently, more than 300 Zenith employees have attended internal carbon literacy training sessions. This, combined with Zenith’s leading sustainability efforts, has seen the company recognised by the Carbon Literacy Project, which awarded Zenith with a bronze certification in June 2023. 

Mark Wilson (pictured), sustainability manager at Zenith, said: “Carbon literacy training is a key step towards embedding sustainability throughout our business, and helps us deliver on our vision to decarbonise the UK vehicle parc by eliminating tailpipe emissions.

“Collaborating with our supply partners and bringing them on the sustainability journey with us is integral to Zenith achieving carbon reductions and will ultimately help us achieve our net zero targets. Hosting these training sessions for our supply chain is just the first step on our shared journey, we look forward to opening this up to our wider supplier base in 2025.”

FixMyCar launches new approved garage network 

FixMyCar has unveiled plans to launch FixRated, a new approved network of trusted garages. 

In partnership with The Motor Ombudsman, the new programme aims to serve demands for business and consumer servicing and repairs.

FixRated will provide customers with a choice of garages that can meet more specialist needs across aspects such as fleet and warranty work

FixMyCar said that the new approved network will guarantee that all FixRated garages are vetted for quality and reliability and adhere to the code of practice established and enforced by The Motor Ombudsman.

Garages that join FixRated will appear on FixMyCar’s website, which was visited more than 5 million times in the past year and generated in excess of 1 million car maintenance and repair jobs. 

FixRated garages will be given a digital badge displayed on their profile to enable drivers to easily identify them as part of this high-quality new network within garage listings.

FixMyCar currently provides a simple online booking platform for a wide range of car repair and maintenance jobs. From MOTs to bodywork repairs. FixMyCar has network of more than 15,000 garages, dealerships and mobile mechanics across the UK. 

FixRated will sit within this wider network to amplify and reward the most trusted garages on FixMyCar that maintain high-standards and excellent customer service. 

As part of their FixRated membership, garages must permit site assessments, be rated at least 4 stars or above on Trustpilot or Google and be a member of The Motor Ombudsman to ensure service quality.

The Motor Ombudsman’s complaint handling process will also be provided as a benefit to FixRated garages and includes in-house and impartial alternative dispute resolution service should a complaint remain unresolved via their own internal complaints-handling processes.

Interim CEO at FixMyCar, Amanda Webb, said: “Garages continue to battle against an unfortunate reputation for being unreliable in honesty and quality, a stereotype that is not reflective of the many hard-working garages we work with every day. 

“FixRated is just one step we’re taking to help combat this for the good garages we know are out there and we look forward to welcoming and supporting those garages onto FixRated.”

FixMyCar expects the sign up of the first FixRated garages to begin as early as January 2025.

Europcar partners with Film Logistics to support EV transition

Film Logistics is working with Europcar Mobility Group to help it deliver sustainability goals put in place by the film industry. 

Experts in providing costume, props, camera, sound and construction vehicles to any studio or location, Film Logistics has a mission to deliver sustainable solutions.

Europcar has been working with Film Logistics for over a year to help the business meet the sustainability goals of the industry whilst delivering effective mobility solution for its clients.

Richard Mills, director at Film Logistics, said: “Due to the ever-changing needs of our clients and the time pressures we face to get to several locations across the UK, a fixed fleet simply wouldn’t meet the needs of the business. 

“To make sure we comply with the various eco and sustainability targets that the industry sets, we were looking for a partner that could match our mission. 

“Europcar was the obvious choice because as well as giving us flexibility, we now have access to carbon neutral vehicles with no long-term financial commitments, deposits or early-termination penalty charges.”

Tom Middleditch, head of electric mobility at Europcar, added: “By accessing full electric and hybrid vehicles on short or long-term rental, an organisation can flex and ‘green’ their fleet on a case-by-case basis.”

FleetCheck OCR technology saving “hundreds” of hours in fleet admin 

Advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology introduced by FleetCheck earlier this year is saving “hundreds” of hours in fleet administration during extensive trials.

A new tool created by the fleet software company uses OCR to scan invoices from suppliers as they arrive, with all data automatically populated into the correct fields rather than having to be manually keyed.

One of those who has been using the product is Chesterfield-based MDel Fleet Management, which operates 2,000 cars and vans. MD Mike Cuckson said: “Previously, we had to type in the details for every invoice, which was time-consuming and prone to error. Now, with this streamlined system, we’ve significantly reduced administrative time and are ensuring greater accuracy. 

“OCR has not only saved us a considerable amount of time but has also allowed us to allocate resources to more critical tasks, ultimately driving better productivity and cost savings across the business.”

Callum Haymon-Collins, chief operating officer at FleetCheck, said that typically, the OCR technology reduced the time spent processing each individual invoice from around five minutes to less than 60 seconds.

He explained: “All of the important details on the document are automatically recognised from the image and populated into our system. They can then be passed directly to each company’s accounting software in the appropriate format. 

“On the basis that each vehicle in your fleet generates at least one invoice a month, that kind of saving in administration equates to a saving of 40 hours a year on a 50-vehicle fleet. For larger fleets, hundreds or even thousands of hours could be gained.”

He added that FleetCheck planned to roll out the use of OCR across a range of other documentation in 2025 including fuel receipts, driving licences, preventative maintenance inspection documents, penalty charge notices and insurance documents.

Targa Telematics allows analysis of optimised vehicle utilisation

Targa Telematics has expanded the offer of smart mobility by introducing a new feature – the analysis of optimised vehicle utilisation, also called saturation analysis.

When applied to corporate car sharing, it provides essential insights for optimising investments, reducing costs and maximising service levels. 

By adopting a data-driven approach, decisions are made based on objective information and real needs, says Targa Telematics. 

Roberto Bordin, smart mobility product owner at Targa Telematics, said: “Our customers' needs are always at the heart of developing new services, and saturation analysis is no exception, as it is designed around their real requirements. 

“This allows them to make data-driven decisions based on objective insights and actual operational needs.” 

By analysing real-world cases, Targa Telematics calculated that in a large corporate car-sharing fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles, the adoption of new functionality enables a 16% reduction in the number of vehicles needed.

In another case involving a medium-sized fleet of approximately 300 vehicles, it was possible to reduce the fleet size by 22%.

The service can be used by fleets and mobility managers through a dashboard that collects data and dynamically shows where and how to intervene to achieve maximum fleet efficiency over time.

Telent appointed by National Highways to manage nationwide network

Telent has been appointed by National Highways to operate and maintain its corporate wide area network (WAN).

As well as providing the WiFi infrastructure for all National Highways staff, the service connects and supports crucial operational systems across over 130 National Highways sites, including regional operations centres, satellite offices, and depots.

Telent will help to ensure greater collaboration between these strategic sites by providing a secure, robust, and flexible network, with maximum network availability – critical in connecting those people who keep traffic on the UK’s motorways and A-roads flowing safely.

Telent will additionally be providing enhanced network security monitoring, enabling National Highways to better secure its large volumes of data and applications.

Nigel Weldon, highways business development director at Telent, said: “The road networks are the backbone of this country with countless people and businesses relying on them every day, so it’s vital that governing bodies such as National Highways have the resilient IT infrastructure needed to ensure our roads are flowing freely and safely.”