TomTom telematics might be celebrating its 15 year anniversary at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t do with one more testimonial, and now it has a great one. Car maker Toshiba has claimed that with the introduction of TomTom telematics in its European fleet vehicles, it’s seen an improvement in fuel economy by as much as 27 per cent.
Amazingly however, this was a fringe benefit which Toshiba didn’t even plan for. Initially the telematics technology was introduced for another, less talked about purpose: improving driver safety. As telematics can help curb dangerous driving practices like heavy acceleration of braking, it can make it much less likely to drivers to have accidents. Toshiba also introduced the technology to look at the difference in fuel economy between its newly introduced hybrid vehicles and the older fleet vehicles.
All of this was monitored through TomTom’s WEBFLEET platform, which has been ongoing for over a decade and a half in one form or the other. Over the past few years new features have been added, including its EcoPLUS function which allows companies to monitor fuel economy of their vehicles – if they pay for the added benefit. Overall Toshiba drivers were ranked from one to 10 on their safety and ability to save fuel, with some of the worst switched to more fuel efficient vehicles and given training on how to improve their driving, while the best were understandably praised for their safe driving habits.
“This has not only meant reduced fuel consumption but also means we can focus and report on CO2 reduction,” said Jonathan Barber, retail service director, Toshiba TEC Europe Retail Information Systems (via FleetWorld).
“An overall 27% increase in miles per gallon is a great result, which we hope to improve further with time.”
This is a pretty big saving for the company, which has a large fleet of vehicles in Europe. Not only will this contribute to saving the company money in terms of buying-in fuel, but it will also help prevent it having to offset as much CO2 through taxes.
Funnily enough, Tom Tom and Toshiba are bedfellows in one other respect too: they both make use of the office solutions provider, I Regus, and have announced further contracts with the company as both firms plan for expansions in Europe over the next couple of years.
We know from previous research that a third of firms believe the biggest obstacle to overseas expansion is the challenge of setting up a physical presence in a foreign country,” said an I Regus spokesperson via WiltshireBusiness.
“We are seeing high demand from British exporters for on-demand services such as Virtual Offices and business lounges that allow them to contain costs and minimise risk whilst establishing a credible presence rapidly, anywhere across the globe.”
