Starting from this month, the two fleets will be carrying out rigorous in-field trials of the new moDrive telematics solution, which is aimed at cutting fleet fuel bills and carbon emissions, reducing wear and tear costs, improving driver behaviour and meeting duty of care obligations.
Officially launched at the BVRLA dinner in March, the new solution has been developed in a partnership between online solutions provider Ebbon-Dacs and motor accessories supplier VGroup International. The product is based around conventional dealer-fit, black box hardware, which is currently in use by tens of thousands of cars, and commercial and blue light vehicles throughout the UK.
Information captured through the vehicle’s on-board diagnostics (OBD) port is fed via a roaming data SIM card to an Ebbon-Dacs secure web portal, where the information including mileage, fuel data and immediate impact information regarding driver behaviour is captured and displayed as management information in a series of dashboard graphics.
Mileage will be linked to service information for all manufacturer makes and models, enabling fleets to control when the vehicle is going to need servicing and the level of service required.
MoDrive is said to be priced extremely competitively and is intended to be significantly lower than other competitive products currently in the fleet marketplace. The solution is also designed to be scalable and is able to handle many tens of thousands of vehicles.
MoDrive will be offered in two variants. The first is primarily aimed at major leasing companies that manage large numbers of high value assets, and will be customised to meet their exact requirements.
The second is a packaged version with a pre-defined set of features for smaller fleets that may not need the level of functionality or systems integration that leasing companies require.
Vicky Arnold, head of sales at VGroup International, said: ‘We are delighted to announce two new trials of the moDrive telematics solution, which we firmly believe offers a suitable and cost-effective solution for companies operating fleets of company cars who want to focus on fuel saving and duty of care, rather than a more expansive tracking-centric approach.
‘By combining VGroup’s expertise in vehicle fitments and Ebbon-Dacs’ experience in large scale portals, we know we can provide the lowest cost and simplest telematics solution to help car fleet operators run their vehicles in the most cost effective way, as well as meeting their duty of care obligations.’
Steve Molyneux, head of commercial at Ebbon-Dacs’ Leaselink International division, added: ‘MoDrive is a project we’ve been working on for some time now and we believe it will transform vehicle data capturing capabilities for fleet operators.’
