Hydrogen is considered to be an ideal energy carrier for low-carbon vehicles in the near future. It can be produced from water by using a variety of energy sources, such as solar, wind and nuclear, and it can be converted into useful energy efficiently and without detrimental environmental effects. The only by-product is water or water vapour in fuel cell vehicles, but small amounts of NOx are produced in combustion systems. Hydrogen can be used in any application in which fossil fuels are being used today, especially cars, buses and trucks. This paper considers how hydrogen can be combined with two other technologies; online vehicle monitoring and computer maps to give significant reduction in carbon emissions from combustion engines, especially on trucks.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to offload its car and van leasing business Lombard Vehicle Management (LVM) to ALD Automotive in a five-year deal.
The business will still operate as LVM under a white label deal being managed by ALD Automotive, which is owned by Societe Generale
Managing director of ALD Automotive Keith Allen said: “We’re delighted that RBS and Lombard have chosen ALD to provide contract hire and fleet management solutions for Lombard.
“The new proposition will have access to all the vehicle leasing business generated through RBS banking and Lombard relationships, reinforcing the success of the multi-sales channel strategy we have adopted to grow our business and driving the business further forward to become a top three player within the UK leasing industry.”
The new arrangement will be officially launched in June/July this year.
Fleet News reported more than a year ago that RBS, which is 84%-owned by UK taxpayers, was willing to listen to offers for the company as part of a programme to sell non-core assets.
But, with GE Capital understood to be close to acquiring the business, Sky News reported that RBS had pulled the plug on talks after failing to agree on the price and structure of a deal.
Lombard Vehicle Management had a risk fleet of 70,621 vehicles and a number five ranking in last year’s FN50, while ALD Automotive had a number six ranking with 63,561 vehicles.
A joint operation would give a combined risk fleet of more than 130,000 vehicles and would effectively put it in the number two spot, behind Lex Autolease but above LeasePlan, based on 2011 figures.
A new generation of police vehicles sporting common electronic underpinnings should be available within two years, according to officers on an ACPO-led initiative.
They maintain that the introduction of Single Vehicle Architecture, which gives cars a generic platform for new kit to be seamlessly integrated, is performing well in tests and will ultimately deliver better efficiencies plus cost savings.
Speaking at the Security and Policing Exhibition at the FIVE venue in Farnborough, ACPO ITS Project Officer Sgt Jonathan Pope told PoliceOracle.com that the Home Office was now preparing its own tests on the SVA concept.
He also highlighted that assessments of new Driver and Vehicle Management Systems that would be used in the architecture were also underway in a number of forces. Read the rest of this entry »
TTSI and Vision Motors deploy first-of-its-kind electric vehicle at the Port of Long Beach. The zero-emissions truck, developed in part with funding with a Port grant, reduces noise pollution as well.
Business Minister Mark Prisk has launched a new ground-breaking programme, UKH2Mobility, to position the UK for the commercial rollout of Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Following on from our previous post ‘Airmax Group HQ is converting to Microgeneration‘, we can now say that stage one is complete! 40 solar panels are now installed generating up to 10kW peek electricity.
The follwing image shows one of the frames to hold the panels and the concrete slabs to stabilise them against the wind:
Survey of 500 business drivers shows a major shift in attitude towards telematics.
A majority of business drivers say that in-car technology identifying the location of their vehicle is no longer an issue.
The findings, which can be revealed exclusively by Fleet News, suggest a major shift in the attitude of drivers towards the acceptance of telematics. Read the rest of this entry »
Airmax’s goal - is to design and assemble equipment to produce a local and sustainable fuel for vehicles and buildings – CHP. This will culminate in a demonstration of a working hydrogen station atour Verwood office using a solar array producing 14 kWp peak energy from the flat roof. Verwood is in area 3. Read the rest of this entry »
A car which stops itself instead of crashing, another which can work out for itself where you want to go and one which can tell if you’re about to have a heart attack.
These, apparently, are what we can expect to be driving in the future.
Vehicle development is traditionally a closely guarded secret but Richard Lister has been to Ford’s top secret test facility in Belgium.
The average insurance premium for a young driver is now nearly £2,500 ($3,890) a year in the UK but some companies are using technology to help bring premiums down.
Spencer Kelly looks at a box that can be placed in a car to record how someone is driving, then tries it out for himself.
Since oil prices and the environmental awareness have increased during the past years, hydrogen has gained interest as an alternative clean energy source to existing fossil fuels. This attention is mainly due to hydrogen being a non-polluting energy carrier and having energy saving potential in fuel-cell applications. Hydrogen can be directly combusted in an internal combustion engine, and a fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. A fuel cell converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process it produces electricity.
Vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells generate no exhaust emissions other than clean water vapour. Unfortunately, producing and distributing large quantities of hydrogen gas is impossible with current infrastructures. Researchers are instead turning to on-board fuel generation using electrolysis or and small scale hydrogen production from reforming fossil fuels – both ‘off the grid’ local production and more recently on-board micro reforming. However there are major issues with cost, scale and efficiencies. Read the rest of this entry »
Airmax supported the National Association of Police Fleet Managers’ Conference in its 38th year. The event is recognised as the oldest and one of largest Emergency Service Fleet Events in Europe.
Chief Inspector Mick Trosh, of ACPO Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Working Group used the occasion to launch the ‘One Box Single Vehicle Architecture’ initiative.
Airmax Remote is supporting the initiative and will offer its CANbus technology to comply with the new criteria. Read the rest of this entry »
Having been Highly Commended in 2010, Satmo has made the step up to the top of the podium thanks to a series of improvements to the system that already impressed last year.
The firm formed a strategic partnership with whatgas.com that means it now claims to identify the cheapest fuel within five miles of a vehicle at the click of a button in a development Satmo is in the process of patenting.
The system can also detect the London Low Emissions Zone, helping drivers of older commercial vehicles avoid heavy penalties, and the system analyses every journey a driver takes to ensure it’s as cost-effective as possible.
The company has developed applications for iPhone, Android and Blackberry formats, and Satmo also claims to have an industry leading level of vehicle tracking to within five seconds.
Such was the quality of entry, the judges felt the need to hand out two Highly Commended awards.
ALD Automotive’s ProFleet2 GPS system is the first. The leasing company claims its new telematics system is the only one integrated within a leasing product, the only one standard with a leasing offer and the only system incorporating driver access and a validated consent process.
Also Highly Commended was a new name in the form of vehicle safety and security provider Cobra. This innovative firm is developing packages via its black box technology designed to bring down the cost of insurance in the corporate sector. Pay How You Drive, Pay As You Drive and Pay Per Use are all devised to help responsible fleets trim cost from their insurance bills, across cars, vans and heavy vehicles.
Hydrogen is considered to be an ideal energy carrier for low carbon vehicles in the near future. It can be produced from water by using a variety of green energy sources, such as solar, wind and nuclear, and it can be converted into useful energy efficiently and without detrimental environmental effects.
Listening to and understanding our customers’ needs is fundamental to the growth of our business. That’s why we are continually investing in new and innovative solutions to meet the challenges the fleet market faces.
HALF of UK businesses are considering in-vehicle telematics to reduce risk associated with their company vehicles, according to ALD Automotive/YouGov research.
There are currently over 25 separate pieces of legislation which impact on the safe management and driving of employees while at work.
In response to the continuing demand from commercial vehicle fleets for a fully integrated “one box” solution combining state of the art Telematics and Job Scheduling, The Airmax Group and MSA Software Systems have agreed a collaboration programme that delivers an integrated “vehicle to back office” operational fleet solution.
Both companies have in excess of 800 established customer fleets under management with their existing telematics and job scheduling and optimisation products and expect that the new combined offering will negate the requirement on the part of fleets to source multiple elements in order to obtain a viable end to end system.
ALD Automotive’s ProFleet2 has been highly commended at the Energy Saving Trust’s Fleet Hero Awards in the category of ‘Innovation Services and Systems’.
The Fleet Heroes Awards, run by the Energy Savings Trust and supported by the Guardian Newspaper and the CBI, recognise innovation in the sustainable management of vehicle fleets.
With increasing demands placed on businesses to control their fleet costs, reduce risk and CO2 emissions, ProFleet2, which was first developed by ALD Automotive in 2004, confronts those issues by using a vehicle-data service that utilises telematics to record vehicle and journey data. Authorised parties such as a business’s fleet manager can then remotely access this data.
Commenting on the accolade, Keith Allen, managing director of ALD Automotive UK, said: “Over the past seven years the technology has continually evolved, delivering unparalleled functionality that enables businesses to better manage the costs and risk associated with their fleet”.
Now there is an alternative to dedicated fuel cards. A card you also can use anywhere. Airmax Scope™, part of the Airmax Group, introduces the first Prepaid Fleet Corporate MasterCard® in the UK that works like a branded fuel card – but only when it needs to.
Steve Perham and Phil Gallagher enjoy a successful trip to Turin to ‘meet and greet’ members of the Think Up promotion by the Torino Chamber of Commerce.
Think Up, the project aimed at promoting abroad a selection of best in class ICT (Information and Communication Technology) companies from Piemonte region, offering a reserved lane to meet them and develop business and cooperation.
The Piedmontese tradition in car manufacturing and the number of enterprises active in this field allow the development of strong competences monitoring and management.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to offload its car and van leasing business Lombard Vehicle Management (LVM) to ALD Automotive in a five-year deal.
A majority of business drivers say that in-car technology identifying the location of their vehicle is no longer an issue.
Having been Highly Commended in 2010, Satmo has made the step up to the top of the podium thanks to a series of improvements to the system that already impressed last year.
Now there is an alternative to dedicated fuel cards. A card you also can use anywhere. Airmax Scope™, part of the Airmax Group, introduces the first Prepaid Fleet Corporate MasterCard® in the UK that works like a branded fuel card – but only when it needs to.
