Vehicle Environmental Impact Improvement Study
Vehicle Environmental Impact Improvement Study
Introduction
Dulas Ltd is well known and respected supplier of renewable energy orientated products, serving the global market. The nature of the business places a high emphasis on all elements of business activities to ensure that environmental impact is kept to a bare minimum. Over the last few months Duals has engaged with Plant-i Ltd to assess company vehicle environmental impact and demonstrate where improvements that would create reductions in C02 emissions can be made in line with the ethos promoted and projected by Dulas Ltd
The nature of the project was to
Ø Measure the original fuel benchmark
Ø Analyse the driving performance
Ø Ascertain if additional driver training would reduce environmental impact and costs
Ø Implement ECU Optimisation technology
Ø Measure the benefits with tangible evidence
Ø Produce an executive summary including recommendations.
Stage 1.
The project commenced in January 2011 with the installation of an OBD II type vehicle tracking system in to vehicle DX58 VZS (Vauxhall Vivaro).The driver nominated to participate in the project was Grace. During the last decade all cars and vans have an On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port installed; this is often situated in the driver’s foot well. The OBD port has links to the vehicles CANbus networks to enable the vehicle diagnostic status to be read and allow software updates to be easily updated onto the vehicle ECU. There is a constant stream of data available that can be used to analyse the way the vehicle is driven, it is this data which permits Plant-i to ascertain if driver training and/or technological intervention is required to improve the vehicle or drivers capabilities to facilitate any potential improvements in terms of reduced emissions and running costs.
The initial benchmark period ran from 04/01/2011 until 04/02/2011 during this period the vehicle covered a distance of 949 miles, burned 36.45 gallons of fuel which emitted 442.26kg of C02 into the atmosphere. The logged economy reported by the vehicle was 26.03mpg.
To gage the driving standard Plant-i systems incorporate a “Driver Scoring” report. Drivers identified scoring 0-50 in the red zone require significant driver training time, drivers scoring 50-75 in the amber zone require some type of formal training and drivers scoring 75-100 in the green zone are deemed as competent drivers. Plant-i is pleased to confirm that Grace scored an overall score of 81 demonstrating an overall good standard of driving.
Driver Scoring consists of the following elements
RPM
A drivers RPM score is based on how far above a threshold (set in their tracking unit) they go and for how long. The chart shows how much the driver is exceeding this threshold in different bands. The maximum RPM achieved during the trial was 3600rpm.
Idling
A driver’s idle score is based on excessive idling, where the engine is left running for a pre-set period of time without the vehicle moving. The chart shows the percentage of the total travel time that the vehicle was left idling. The total idle time was 50m 48sec with the longest single duration reported as 7m 22s.
Acceleration
A drivers harsh Acceleration score looks at how quickly the vehicle has accelerated and, if deemed by Plant-i’s algorithm to be excessive, this counts against the driver in their score. Each vehicle has their threshold set appropriately to both their use and engine type/size to ensure a comparable score can be obtained between 2 very different vehicles. The chart shows transgressions in different bands; Low (just over the threshold), Medium (somewhat over the threshold) and High (far over the threshold).
Braking
A drivers harsh Braking score looks at how quickly the vehicle has slowed down and, if deemed by Plant-i’s algorithm to be excessive, this counts against the driver in their score. If a vehicle slows down very quickly on a regular basis it is a good indication that they were driving too quickly prior to braking. Therefore they will use more fuel and introduce more wear and tear onto the vehicle. The chart shows transgressions in different bands; Low (just over the threshold), Medium (somewhat over the threshold) and High (far over the threshold).
Speeding
The Plant-i database contains details of all the road speeds that your vehicles have driven on. Using this information we can determine if the driver of the vehicle has been speeding regularly, or not. With this information we apply a complex matrix to determine a score where for example doing 85mph in a 70 zone gives a worse score than doing 36mph in a 30 zone, despite the percentage over the limit being the same. These proprietary algorithms and matrices are unique to Plant-i and give an excellent indication of how a driver is performing. The chart shows number of transgressions in each speeding zone. The maximum speed attained during the benchmarking period was 82mph.
Stage 2.
Following the initial benchmark period, it was deemed that Grace demonstrated a level of driving that would not produce tangible improvements if driver training were to be carried out. It was agreed that Plant-i would take the vehicle to our Technology Centre in Bromsgrove where we would be able to run the vehicle on a rolling road to determine the optimum improvements we could make to the vehicles ECU settings to assist Dulas in reducing environmental impact.
The practice of adjusting ECU settings has become common place; originally the technology was almost exclusively used for performance enhancement. Over the last 5 years the price of fuel has risen dramatically coupled to a greater understanding of the importance to reduce unnecessary carbon output. This has developed a whole new industry in ECU optimisation with the primary function of reducing fuel burn rather than improving performance. All diesel engines can be improved; this is partly attributable to the global manufacturing processes employed by vehicle manufacturers to keep their production costs down. Many vehicles and derivatives within a vehicle range use the same engine and drive train with multiple ECU maps to enhance the number of product offerings within the vehicle range.
To carry out this process Plant-i downloads the original software map; it is then optimised to be vehicle specific and re-loaded back to the vehicle ECU. From this point on, the vehicle runs at optimum efficiency for UK fuel standards, climate, altitudes and engine conditions, which is how we attain our improved fuel economy and lower the vehicles CO2 emissions. All of this is achieved without ever exceeding any of the safe tolerances of the engine;
The above Dynograph shows the pre and post optimisation figures for vehicle DK58 VZS carried out on 04/02/2011.
Stage 3.
Following installation of the modified ECU economy profile, stage one was repeated again, still keeping Grace as the driver. The overall driving profile remained similar with the driver score awarded as 80 out of 100 been just a single point different from stage 1.
Results
Following the ECU optimisation the vehicle reported an improved economy of 29.86mpg over a distance of 825m miles; this consumed 27.62 gallons of fuel and emitted 335.16kg of C02 into the atmosphere. This is an improvement of 14.71% and represents a typical expected gain from this type of vehicle.
Implications
Based on this vehicle only covering a relatively short distance throughout the year of approximately 12,000 miles the annual saving at the current fuel price (ex vat) is £320. The CO2 will be reduced by 0.76 tonnes from 5.97 tonnes to 5.21 tonnes. Plant-i would expect very similar results from across the Dulas fleet, therefore providing the potential to not only reduce the current emissions output by numerous tonnes but to also provide a financial return within a one year period.
Conclusion
The VEIIS has clearly demonstrated to Dulas that as well as maintaining good standards of driving ECU optimisation is a proven method to further reduce environmental impact and unnecessary fuel usage. Plant-i believes that there are two possible options open to Dulas that would complement the companies ethos on environmental impact.
1. Fleet vehicles (subject to suitability) could be installed with ECU optimisation technology.
2. Drivers could be issued with their own OBD devices to be used individually for self teaching and awareness about their driving habits. Dulas need not have any login rights to facilitate corporate vehicle tracking.
