Industry insight: fuel cards and telematics

Continuing the discussion on fuel cards, our expert panelists examine how telematics is making fuel card data more meaningful, what ‘add-on’ services buyers should look out for, and how payment methods are advancing.

With fuel being an expensive part of running a fleet, organisations have to be able to monitor and control the fuel that staff use. But collecting receipts and expense forms, and paying back with petty cash, can be a time-consuming admin headache. Plus there is the risk that drivers round up mileage or add in fuel for personal usage.

With a fuel card, a driver can charge the cost of fuel directly to an account paid by their employer. The vehicle registration number and mileage are recorded at the time of transaction, and the invoice gives information on where, when and what time fuel was purchased, as well as what type of fuel and how much it cost. This method cuts out the paperwork burden, and the invoice data gives a good snapshot of a fleet’s fuel consumption performance.

Being able to access your account online at any time is a major administrative advantage for Bryan Glazier from Wex: “Online servicing is almost a given nowadays and is the one place where everything relating to your fuel card account can be found. This helps you stay in control of your fuel management.”

For further visibility into a fleet’s performance, many fuel card suppliers will be able to provide management reporting. Andrew Goodwin from Certas Energy says: “Alongside basic fuel consumption data, some fuel card providers are now able to tailor information to produce specific reports that a fleet manager requires. At Certas Energy for example, our account managers are able to work with companies to produce bespoke reports giving the exact information that a fleet managers is looking for.”

Telematics

With the growth of technology, many fuel cards providers allow their products to be integrated with telematics, which can give real-time access to data on vehicle location, mileage and driver style. This round-the-clock visibility into a fleet’s performance means employers can identify areas where a fleet is performing inefficiently, right down to individual vehicles and drivers. They can then put in place corrective action, such as driver training, better routing, or more efficient vehicles.

Charlotte Lecoutour from AS24 believes that using a fuel card with telematics means organisations can delve deeper into their fuel cost analyses and identify what factors are leading to a higher fuel consumption. She says: “Integrating fuels cards with telematics allows transport companies to go deeper in their fuel costs analysis. For instance, when a higher consumption of fuel might have different explanation, telematics can help to give some indicators on the probable cause, such as inefficient driving style, fraud, tyres issue, and so on.”

Andrew Goodwin from Certas Energy says: “Integrating telematics alongside fuel cards not only helps to reduce fuel costs but also enables improved vehicle efficiency as it ensures that fleet vehicles are taking the most direct route between jobs as the location of the vehicles can be tracked in real time. It can also aid with improved driver behaviour as telematics can report on poor driving – severity of speeding, braking, harsh acceleration and idle time. Accurate MPG and location of a fleet vehicle assists with fraud detection by reducing unauthorised vehicle use.”

Bryan Glazier from Wex points to the safety and security benefits: “Because you are monitoring locations, status and behaviours, you can improve driver skill, reduce insurance and potentially reduce accidents. Therefore, not only are you managing your fuel costs and your fleet, you’re also taking responsibility for supporting your drivers and supporting their journeys.”

Better control

Having some control over where and when staff fill up is a significant benefit to having a fuel card. Many providers allow organisations to set limits on usage, for example, to get drivers to fill up at supermarkets with lower-cost fuel, rather than motorway services with premium priced fuel.

Andrew Goodwin explains how it works at Certas Energy: “We provide the ControlMAX solution which enables fleet managers to control where, when and how much fuel drivers can draw, increasing their ability to manage fuel costs more effectively and efficiently. Fleet managers can create a bespoke set of rules for their fleets which can be applied to their account in real time. Fleet managers are able to define rules to state whether a transaction will be approved or declined, maximum transaction values, maximum fuel spends in a day or week and a ceiling on the number of transactions per day/week. Managers can also control the number of sites a driver can use each day, the day of the week, and the times that they are allowed to fill up.”

Added services

With many fuel card providers, it’s not just fuel that users can buy, but a host of other related products and services. Charlotte Lecoutour from AS24 says: “Fuel cards operators have developed a full range of ‘mobility services’ such as payment of tolls, parking and taxes, as well as tools to control, manage, analyse and predict fuel/tolls expenses. They can also offer VAT recovery, truck tracking, driving efficiency, and breakdown assistance.”

Agreeing with this concept of offering ‘mobility’ as a package, Gertjan Breij from DKV says: “Our philosophy now really tends towards introducing a mobility card, enabling the customer cashless payment of hotel costs, railway tickets and parking fees for instance. Additional services may contribute towards operational excellence. Consider, in this respect, VAT refunding services, tolls service, customs clearance services or 24-hr truck service.”

Adding to this, Bryan Glazier from Wex says: “To make journeys easier, many providers offer additional purchase options such as Lubricants, vehicles accessories, car washes, food and refreshments – to keep your fleet and your driver on the road. Additional payment options include toll payments and in some countries you have the ability to buy bulk fuels and pay for alternative travel methods such as trains.”

Changing the way we pay

In the past decade the payments industry has changed thanks to technology advances, such as chip and pin, contactless technology, fast internet payments, and smart phone payments. So how has the fuel card industry responded – and what does the future hold for fuel-card payment methods?

Although Certas Energy has introduced contactless technology at a number of its bunker sites, Andrew Goodwin believes that the fuel card industry is ‘behind the times’. He says: “We have seen a change in recent times, but the difficulty can be that the payment platform for fuel card suppliers needs to be consistent and make refuelling as convenient and quickly as possible which is why traditional methods, which have been used by drivers for a period of time, are sometimes preferred.”

Gertjan Breij from DKV agrees that the current payment infrastructure will still be around for a while: “The infrastructure for the fuel card is currently the most widespread. It will therefore probably not disappear overnight. But still, the card is already being replaced in many places – by smartphones and contactless chips, as is the case for electric and hybrid vehicles. After a transitional period of three to seven years, this trend will be firmly established as an additional payment method.”

Meanwhile, Charlotte Lecoutour from AS24 believes that: “Whatever the business model – contactless cards, smartphone, virtual transactions – digital payments will definitely get a strong place in the industry, provided that the same level of service regarding security and management easiness is provided.”

Bryan Glazier from Wex believes that more convenient ways to pay make life easier for the driver: “Opportunities for enriching drivers day to day activities can become even easier, with the development of app payments and contactless technology. Additionally technological developments into chip and pin and contactless payments, plus the opportunity to report cards lost or stolen means a reduction in unusual transitions and hopefully increased security.”

A green future

On the 20 July 2016, the European Commission published its strategy for low emission mobility. It detailed plans to speed up the deployment of low emission alternative energy for transport, such as electricity, hydrogen, advanced biofuels and renewable synthetic fuels, as well as removing obstacles to electric vehicle adoption. It also outlined plans for Europe to accelerate the transition towards low and zero-emission vehicles.

What’s more, in December 2015, the UK was one of 13 international members of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Alliance to sign a commitment to cut transport emissions, including an agreement to make all passenger vehicle sales zero emission vehicles by 2050.

With such a push for greener, alternative fuels, what does this mean for the oil industry?

Andrew Goodwin from Certas Energy believes that the short term involves conventional fuels becoming more environmentally friendly. He says: “Technological advances are making current diesel engines more efficient through SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) and AdBlue helping to reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen from the exhaust of UK diesel vehicles. SCR technology is one of the most cost-effective and fuel-efficient technologies available to help reduce diesel engine emissions.”

He continues: “In the UK the majority of our transport fuel comes from oil derivatives. Alternative fuel products such as paraffinic fuels, a new generation of cleaner transport fuels, will be fundamental to the transport industry. Certas Energy can now offer Shell GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) fuel; a fuel produced from natural gas that can help to reduce local emissions in conventional diesel engines.”

For Gertjan Breij from DKV, fuelling can be made greener in the short term by carbon offsetting. Some fuel card providers do this, and mean members contribute to certified environmental projects through fuel card transactions.

Expert final thoughts:
Andrew Goodwin: "Telematics are becoming ever more important from a fleet management perspective from just recording the basics such as fuel consumption, through to more in depth analysis. Telematics have given greater insights into fleet operations helping to improve efficiency and drive down costs. The potential gains of having an effective system are numerous. At Certas Energy, the solution we offer to customers helps them to keep in control of their fleet, drive fuel efficiency, improve duty of care and optimise staff performance."
www.certasenergy.co.uk

Gertjan Breij: "We believe that in the future our role will be twofold: the first goal is making services available based on important data. For example through routes, upcoming driving and rest periods, filling levels of diesel tanks with the recommendation of a low‑cost diesel pump en route and more. In the future, schedulers will no longer have to pay attention to such things, they will run automatically. And the system has a solution whatever the issue. Whoever has the best network will be in the lead. For this reason, our second goal is to collaborate with operators of other data platforms."
www.dkv-euroservice.com/gb

Bryan Glazier: "The combination of fuel cards with telematics is seamless. You get immediate access to vehicle and drivers in real time, no matter what your fleet size or business demands. Plus, you gain additional advantages such as improved driver skill, reduced insurance and potentially a reduction in accidents. This is because you are monitoring locations, status and behaviours. Not only are you managing your fuel costs and your fleet you’re also taking responsibility for supporting your drivers and supporting their journeys."
www.wexeuropeservices.com

Charlotte Lecoutour: "Fuel is now only part the offer. Fuel cards operators have developed a full range of ‘mobility services’ such as payment of tolls, parking and taxes and tools to control, manage, analyse and predict fuel/tolls expenses. They can also offer VAT recovery, truck tracking, driving efficiency, and breakdown assistance. Integrating fuels cards with telematics allows you to go deeper in your fuel costs analysis."
www.as24.com