All posts by Andrew Kopecki

One of the most daunting tasks a fleet manager can take on is the implementation of new technology that will alter the way a fleet is currently managed. At Advantage Asset Tracking our fleet experts will help guide you into a smooth rollout. Here are the 11 steps for successfully completing a large, automated vehicle location implementation:

1. Know the project size and shape

2. Review the solution

3. Appoint project managers

4. Establish and maintain a communication rhythm

5. Develop a statement of work

6. Develop field best practices

7. Create a job aid

8. Plan the whole project and keep it updated

9. Review as you go

10. Never stop retrofitting

11. Leverage OEM technology

1. Know the size and shape of the project

It sounds like an oversimplification, but taking the time to document a complete vehicle list, home location for each vehicle, its availability and the existing installation is key to the rest of this list. Be sure to remove any vehicles from the list that will be decommissioned before the end of the upgrade window and plan for new additions that will be coming in during the same time.

2. Review your solution

Take a hard look at the data and insights you are receiving from your solution so that you can take advantage of additional functionality you may not have needed during the initial installation. For example, has driver behavior proven harder to coach than anticipated, triggering the need to add camera technology? Would you gain market share by adding temperature sensors to your refrigerated trucks? Now is the time to make those changes.

3. Appoint a project manager at every partner organization

This is an often overlooked step that can prevent problems from occurring in the future. The end customers and any other interested parties like third-party installers should each set a project manager for the retrofit. By having an individual that knows they are responsible for this project, it is likely that it will run more smoothly.

4. Establish and keep a communication rhythm

Weekly meetings with all project managers and other stakeholders provide the assurance that no more than a few business days will go by before everyone can discuss an issue. Even if there is very little to discuss, keep the schedule going. Some of these meetings will be five minutes long, and some will be an hour. It will all depend on the nature of what is going on that week but constant communication is very important.

5. Develop a statement of work, and keep it updated

One of the project managers should take the lead and develop a project plan or statement of work that outlines who does what, key deliverables and deadlines. By agreeing to these specific goals in advance, and making the inevitable changes together, the working group can avoid confusion and hold each other accountable.

6. Develop field best practices

Before undertaking dozens or hundreds of vehicles at a time, the team should develop a step-by-step description to remove the old device, install the new one and any new Geotab IOX Add-Ons, document the installation and update the portal. Existing documentation can serve as a starting point, but specifics will need to be discussed. Using an assembly line approach to removing the old device, installing the new one, confirming communication, securing the installation and finalizing the install can be sorted out as well.

7. Create a job aid

By documenting the best practices developed above, the project management team can turn any employee with basic mechanical skills into an installer. When a small number of vehicles cannot practically be brought into a central location or a third-party must be hired, a thorough job aid can provide training before the installation and accountability after. Setting good expectations for the final product is always a good idea.

8. Plan the whole project, and update it often

After establishing procedure and a job aid, but before fully diving into the installation or retrofit project, the project management team should update the statement of work to include estimated installation timelines for each site and vehicle type. This plan should be examined at least two weeks in advance of any planned activity to ensure any needed hardware can arrive on time and there are no last minute surprises.

9. Review as you go

Do not wait until the last installation to review deliverables. One member of the project management team should be responsible for confirming that no mistakes have been made in naming vehicles by comparing vehicle name, VIN and device serial number to confirm they are all showing up as expected.

10. Never stop retrofitting

Each time a device is reinstalled into a new vehicle, it should be evaluated to confirm that the cellular network technology is viable for the projected life of that vehicle. Additionally, evaluate whether it supports any potential Add-Ons or changes and is in good working order. The more devices you upgrade ahead of time, the more risk you can mitigate.

11. Leverage OEM technology

Geotab has valuable partnerships with vehicle manufacturers like Ford and General Motors. Take the time to work with your provider to understand the data that comes from these OEM telematics units so that you are ready to leverage the insights. If your project is delayed due to extreme weather, pandemic response or other factors, knowing which vehicles can leverage OEM telematics will empower you to use them and reallocate your installation resources to those that cannot. Fleet managers can use OEM technology on new deliveries of vehicles to quickly deploy them, and then replace with a more robust implementation as resources allow

By following these 11 steps for an automated vehicle location implementation, your fleet can prepare for a smooth process. To make it easier for your fleet, create a checklist of these steps and start your large scale AVL implementation today.

Let us help you

No matter the size of your fleet, our team of experts that can guide you through the process of telematics implementation and make sure your telematics needs are identified from the beginning. Contact us for a demo.

Video telematics — telematics augmented by video data — is one of the fastest growing segments in the aftermarket telematics space due to the expanding needs of today’s fleet operations. More specifically, dash cams are becoming more prevalent and, in some circumstances, indispensable to commercial vehicles of all kinds and sizes. Given a dash cam’s real-time visibility and ability to offer valuable insights into overall performance, it can really help fleets increase their safety and bottom line. As camara options continue to grow, it is essential to keep certain criteria in mind when selecting the right solution for your fleet’s needs.

Here are some key points to consider when selecting a video telematics solution:

• Reliability — it goes without saying that your camera solution needs to work when you need it to. There are numerous low cost options in the market today that can eventually become a liability for fleets if these cease to function within a year or two. The last thing fleet managers need is to deal with a faulty dash camera after they’ve come to rely on it more and more in their operations.

• Vendor Reputation & Longevity — there are numerous telematics startups with video solutions that have gone out of business or lost market share because they provide a low quality product. When looking for a video telematics solution, look for providers with longevity in the market and solid customer reviews. Companies that have not yet proven themselves, even with amazing marketing, could end up being a gamble for its customers.

• Data Privacy & Ownership — this is a big criteria to look out for as not many customers are aware that some video telematics providers reserve the right to sell their data at any given time. Fleet operators need to make sure they are working with a provider that would never sell their camera data under any circumstance. They can ensure their data is secure and not sold or used elsewhere by looking into the provider’s privacy policy.

• Expandability —it is crucial for today’s fleets to work with a video telematics system that can expand with their changing needs over time. While you may not necessarily need an AI solution right now for your fleet, your business needs may change with time and require a camera solution that has expandable functionality. For that reason, you will want to look for an enterprise platform that offers a technology roadmap that is robust with expansive integration options.

Lastly, selecting a video telematics solution does not need to be an undertaking you do on your own. When speaking to different vendors that meet the above criteria, you will want to work with someone who is serving as a true consultant and not just a sales representative. A truly effective consultant will think of your relationship as a partnership and pay close attention to your current needs as well as keep an eye on what may lay ahead for you down the road.

On the surface, a sustainable fleet strategy may not seem cost-effective. However, it turns out, greening your fleet not only reduces your fleet’s carbon footprint and helps you meet emissions targets – it can also result in meaningful cost savings.

We certainly don’t want to overwhelm you. Here are four major areas of focus when it comes to greening your fleet, regardless of fleet size.

1. Fuel efficiency

While the importance of fuel efficiency is well known, it can be difficult to identify what steps need to be taken in order to improve it. To start, you must have a clear understanding of how much fuel you’re using and why – after all, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Telematics can help you better understand not only how much your fleet is consuming fuel, but also why. With that information in hand, fleet operators can implement effective measures to help improve fuel efficiency, like monitoring tire inflation and providing real-time driver feedback to curb unwanted behaviors that contribute to inefficiency (and dangerous conditions.)

2. Vehicle utilization

While it may be tempting to keep underutilized vehicles in your fleet, ensuring you’re operating a right-sized fleet can provide cost savings, which in turn can be reinvested in the procurement of better-suited vehicles – including EVs.

On the other hand, it’s also important to ensure the vehicles you do have are being used to their full potential. Proper fleet asset utilization can help you identify vehicles that could be repurposed, rotate vehicles to manage downtime and see how conditions impact trips to inform how shifts could be adjusted.

3. Route planning

Better route planning plays a major role when it comes to ensuring fleet efficiency. With efficient route planning, fleets can benefit from a decrease in fuel consumption, and reduced stress for drivers resulting in safer driving practices. The reduced mileage that comes with efficient route planning can also save labor costs associated with dead time between deliveries.

Also, make sure heavily used vehicles are the most efficient available. As different makes, models, and sizes of EVs become increasingly available, fleet operators have more options at their disposal to ensure they choose the best vehicle for the job.

4. Driver behavior

Improving driving practices contributes greatly to the efficiency of your fleet. Monitoring common issues like harsh braking and cornering, as well as acceleration and speeding can help fleet operators understand the areas to focus on for improvement. Supporting a more environmentally friendly driving style not only helps fleets become greener, it also boosts efficiency resulting in cost savings.

Paired with the capabilities of the Green Fleet Dashboard, these four key factors can help fleet operators take the first steps toward greening their fleets. Contact our team to learn more about sustainability solutions from Geotab at Info@advtracking.net

Within two and a half weeks of each other late last year, three big-name pharmaceutical companies—Pfizer (working with BioNTech), Moderna, and AstraZeneca—produced viable COVID-19 vaccine candidates. When it was reported that the Pfizer vaccine had to be kept at a frigid -70 °C, many experts predicted its difficult storage requirements would pose a distribution challenge that inevitably could lead to waste.

Another area of concern lies in the food industry where the United States has been established as the global leader in food waste. It’s been reported that Americans discard nearly 40 million tons of food every year. That’s 80 billion pounds of food which equates to 30-40 percent of the country’s food supply. And while personal food waste is a leading contributor to these disturbing numbers, approximately 12 percent of all food waste occurs during distribution when room temperature changes often take place.

Both the pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries are part of what’s known as cold chain logistics. Temperature-sensitive products like chemicals, meat, plants, drugs and vaccines require temperature-controlled environments from production to consumption and every step in between. Temperature consistency ensures the quality of these products as they move through their respective supply chains. Unfortunately, ensuring temperature consistency is often challenging.

The good news is that determining whether consistent temperatures have been effectively maintained is much easier today due to advancements in the cold chain itself as well evolving technology and tracking capabilities.

Temperature monitoring can save the pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries thousands of dollars per year in lost or spoiled goods. With a temperature monitoring system in place, distribution fleets can keep an accurate record of temperatures within trucks in order to prevent lost loads and maintain high quality customer service.

Wirelessly Monitor Up To Four Refrigerated Zones At A Time

Advantage Asset Tracking’s Temperature Monitoring ELD add-in, Advantage TempTrac, has been specifically engineered to help meet today’s demanding temperature-sensitive delivery requirements by allowing drivers to customize temperature ranges based on the type of load they are hauling. Whether it be fresh produce, frozen goods, or high-value assets such as pharmaceuticals, Advantage TempTrac ensures accurate, reliable and safe deliveries by displaying current and historical temperatures in the Geotab Drive ELD app with visual and audible alerts if the temperature goes outside of the temperature range for the type of load their hauling.

Compliance Made Easy

Our solution can facilitate Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) compliance as it monitors up to four zones simultaneously, and can be operated either as a stand-alone solution or seamlessly integrated through Geotab’s GO Device. From there, integration into the MyGeotab fleet tracking system allows fleet managers to monitor vehicle location and cargo temperature from one convenient platform.

How It Works

Advantage TempTrac uses four simple components to create one complete temperature monitoring solution. Once installed, monitoring temperature is as simple as it is effective. The diagram below indicates a typical setup on a reefer truck.

Features:

• Cold chain compliant (US FSMA, EU EN12830)

• Real-time monitoring of temperature inside the trailer, every 4 seconds

• Immediate SMS or email alerts for over and under temperature changes

• Track temperatures through the life of a shipment and trend temperatures over time

• Wirelessly monitor up to 4 zones in real time (additional sensors sold separately)

Benefits:

• Real-time monitoring removes the need for manual temperature inspection

• Prevent spoilage of temperature sensitive loads

• Reduce liability and number of rejected goods due to spoilage

• Improved visibility on high value shipments through fleet tracking

To learn more about how Advantage Asset Tracking’s temperature monitoring system can help your fleet, reach out for a demo today.

In the U.S., ELDs are now mandatory for most commercial motor vehicle drivers to manage records of duty status (RODs), with Canada not far behind in needing to observe this requirement. The government mandates are intended to create a safer work environment for drivers. Naturally, any new implementation will yield questions from its users. Here are the most-asked questions on ELD compliance to help you save time:

1. How do you edit the HOS status Logs in Geotab Drive and MyGeotab?

In the Geotab Drive Mobile App, you can easily record HOS status and perform vehicle inspections using a phone or tablet.

If you need to edit your HOS status log:

1. Go to the dashboard and click HOS > Logs

2. Then tap the log you need to edit.

3. To select the appropriate status select the Pencil icon.

4. Add an annotation and hit Save.

Keep in mind, automatic HOS logs can be annotated, but not edited. For more information, and a full breakdown of instructions, read: How to edit HOS status logs in Geotab Drive.

Fleet managers can also edit HOS Status Logs from MyGeotab.

1. Go to Activity > HOS > Duty Status Logs

2. Select the driver and date period.

3. Tap Apply Changes.

4. Click the duty status that needs editing.

5. Select the appropriate status from the Status dropdown list.

6. Add an annotation and hit Save.

7. A pending edit has been created, and will show in yellow until accepted by the driver.

2. How does a driver log into the Geotab Drive App?

Logging into the Geotab Drive App is simple.

1. First, enter your username and password and select Log in. The system will synchronize your data before loading the main interface.

2. Select your vehicle. You can review recently driven vehicles in the Suggested Vehicles tab, or search by vehicle name, VIN, or license plate in the Find Vehicles box. (This step is skipped when connected to IOX-USB). If you do not know which vehicle you will be driving, click No Vehicle.

3. The next screen in an Assets screen. Select trailers by clicking the + icon next to Trailers, then select a trailer from the list. To add a new trailer, type its name into the Find Trailers box and then click Add. When you are finished selecting trailers click Continue.

4. To add a new shipment, tap the + icon next to Shipments, and then enter the shipment details, then hit Add. When you are finished selecting shipments click Continue. Remove any assets by clicking the X icon.

5. Hit Save and Continue once you are done selecting assets.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of these steps and further settings, such as how to add annotations, complete DVIR inspection, or how to view pending Log edits, watch the video below.

3. How do you pull an IFTA report?

Users can easily pull an International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) mileage report from MyGeotab. After logging in, go to Activity and then scroll down to the IFTA Report option.

4. How do you apply Personal Conveyance?

In Geotab Drive, you can find Personal Conveyance by going through HOS > View Exemptions on the dashboard. If you do not see Personal Conveyance within View Exemptions, please reach out to an administrator to enable this feature.

Of course, we are ready to help anyone new to ELDs make a smooth and easy transition.

Contact us today at (888) 680-5833 or info@advtracking.net.

Join Us for Our Very First Happy Magic Hour!

Help us fight off the winter blues with an hour of family-friendly fun with Comedy Magician, Erick Olson! This free virtual event will take place on Thursday, March 11th @4:30pm EST.

As seen on America’s Got Talent, Erick Olson is a cross between Jay Leno and David Copperfield with amazing magic, comedy, visual gags and quick one-liners. Erick’s action packed show is fantastically entertaining and will keep you hooked all throughout.

Advantage Asset Tracking wants you to get a great laugh and big cheer right before the weekend. If you like magic, Erick’s show will leave you scratching your head and asking “How did he do that?”

This free event will take place LIVE on Thursday, March 11th @4:30pm EST.

Click HERE TO REGISTER for the event.

We have been posting a number of blogs on the electrification of fleets across industries with an emphasis on the heavy-duty fleet sector. Without a doubt, the electrification in transportation is an inevitability and with reason: not only does it lead to technological advances that increase efficiency but it also offers an essential response to environmental and sustainability concerns.

We covered both the barriers and benefits of the electrification of heavy-duty fleets in our last blog post (link to Blog Post C). Now we turn our attention to the implications of adding electric models to heavy diesel industries, among other updates on the advancement of heavy-duty fleet electrification.

Air Quality and Health

Much of the air pollution in lower-income communities comes from the diesel trucks that move products to and from nearby industrial areas. Diesel emissions are also a major source of nitrogen dioxide which prevents these areas from achieving air quality levels necessary for good public health. The state of California estimates that their new electric truck mandate could prevent 900 premature deaths in these communities and deliver $9 million in public health benefits.

Impact to Grid

Electrification of the heavy-duty sector presents unique challenges and opportunities compared to light-duty EVs. With considerably larger batteries and higher charging rates, if left unmanaged, charging heavy-duty vehicles could have negative impacts on the grid. However, implementing smart charging systems can reduce these impacts. Mechanisms such as off-peak electricity demand charging, dynamic controlled charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) could all help to mitigate the impact of electric trucks (eTrucks) and electric buses (eBuses) on peak demand and reduce electricity generation capacity needs.

Oil Demand and GHG Emissions

Even though trucks represent less than 5% of the global vehicle stock, their high fuel consumption and mileage means that they are responsible for over a third of global diesel demand and 3% of total global energy demand. The electrification of these trucks would therefore have a significant impact on overall diesel and oil demand. Across all vehicle weights, it is estimated that EVs will displace 4.3 million barrels of oil per day by 2030. GHG emissions are closely related to fuel consumption, and medium- and heavy-duty trucks are responsible for a sizable share of total GHG emissions. As diesel drivetrains give way to electric, the resulting fall in GHG emissions will be considerable.

Government interventions to accelerate the transition of heavy-duty transport to electric

California is the first state to approve specific legislation to accelerate a large-scale transition of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Regulation was passed by the California Air Resources Board to help the state meet its mandates to reduce air pollutants, in order to protect public health and meet climate change targets.

The regulation requires that manufacturers who certify Class 2b-8 chassis or complete vehicles with combustion engines would be required to sell zero-emission trucks as an increasing percentage of their annual California sales from 2024 to 2035.

Seven other states and the District of Columbia have signed a statement of intent to pursue a similar medium- and heavy-duty zero emission vehicle initiative.

The importance of varied EV model support for complete fleet management

As fleet and sustainability managers make their long-term plans for fleet electrification, it’s vital to select a fleet management platform that can support the greatest range of makes / models, and that has the capabilities to accommodate the most new EVs as they come to market.

Geotab has been independently ranked as the number one commercial telematics vendor for two years running. And with support for over 100 electric vehicles, it’s the strongest telematics provider in the EV space.

It’s likely that managers will initially have to operate a fleet consisting of both electric and conventional vehicles. The fleet management platform must therefore be able to work with all drivetrains, so that performance data such as mpg and mpg-e can be directly compared. The platform also needs to be able to collect electric-only data such as battery state of charge, to ensure optimal performance and maximum ROI during the transition to an all-electric fleet.

Our Geotab fleet management platform offers the widest make / model support of all EVs, from light- to heavy-duty, to support your fleet today and into tomorrow.

(Article source: https://www.geotab.com/white-paper/heavy-duty-fleet-electrification-trends/)

In a recent blog post we talked about the five electric commercial truck companies we are watching in 2021. Today we will go deeper into the latest trends we are seeing in the heavy-duty fleet category. Although this segment of the commercial vehicle market is still young, the world’s largest manufacturers have made it clear that they see electrification as an increasingly important piece of the freight transportation industry.

Just in the past few years, we have started to see an increase in market share of electric trucks (eTrucks) and electric buses (eBuses). Most of the major Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and several start-ups are preparing to launch their respective battery electric or fuel-cell/battery models in 2021/22, and the electric bus market is already well established in the U.S. With the early adoption of EVs, fleet and sustainability managers can get ahead of stringent emission regulations, which will make it inevitable that transit agencies, school districts and logistics companies deploy cleaner fleets.

Barriers (and Benefits) to Electrification in the Heavy-duty Sector

With such new technology, naturally there will be challenges to adoption. We note the most obvious ones below. We also highlight some of the benefits to adopting electrification in the heavy-duty sector as these certainly will offset the barriers through further technological advances and challenges being addressed.

Range

One of the greatest challenges facing heavy-duty electric vehicles is range. Trucks are intended to haul heavy trailers and loads, which are demanding tasks that contribute to quick battery drain. Load weight is another consideration in the heavy-duty sector. The benefits of eTrucks will certainly depend on load weight as a factor, as it can potentially result in higher electricity consumption and shorter range capability. Load capacity claims from OEMs suggest that they will be capable of matching today’s load standards, but they will require real-world data to prove this out.

Charging times

In order to counter the issue of range, manufacturers currently have to use larger, or more, batteries. The larger the battery capacity, the longer it takes to charge. Most eTrucks will take well over two hours to fully recharge on the fastest available charging systems, and some vehicles will have to plug in overnight to fully recharge a drained battery.

Carrying capacity

For a given GCWR (gross combined weight rating), electric trucks can’t carry as large a payload as their diesel counterparts, because their tractor weighs significantly more. This can leave the trucks with a several thousand pound shortfall in carrying capacity. This results in logistics companies needing more eTrucks to do the same amount of work as their conventional alternatives.

Now let’s look at the benefits of an electrified heavy-duty sector:

Improved torque

A feature that’s unique to eTrucks is instant torque, or the ability to deliver peak torque at zero RPM. This enables electric trucks to tow and haul a large payload at much lower speeds than their conventional counterparts.

Reduced maintenance requirements

Although pure electric vehicles require some scheduled maintenance for their electrical systems, this is minimal compared to that required for their ICE counterparts. This is because a pure electric vehicle has far fewer moving parts than a combustion engine, and no oil or transmission fluids to replace. Brake systems also last longer than for conventional vehicles, thanks to their regenerative braking systems.

Environmental noise reduction

While rolling noise remains a constant when comparing electric heavy-duty vehicles with their ICE counterparts, the propulsion noise is considerably lower without a combustion engine. This makes the biggest impact when vehicles operate at low speeds, as they most frequently do in urban areas, where noise pollution is the greatest concern.

Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

In the U.S. long haul market, McKinsey predicts that medium- and heavy-duty trucks will reach TCO parity with diesel in the early 2030s. In urban operations, light-duty trucks and eBuses will have achieved parity by 2025, and medium-duty trucks pre 2030.

In our next blog post, we will cover the implications of adding more electric models to heavy diesel industries and the importance of EV model supports for successful fleet management transitions.

All over the world, businesses, governments and individuals are equipping their vehicles with internet connection, while the top auto manufacturers are embedding telematics devices in their newest models, making these the most game-changing smart device in recent years.

A connected car is a vehicle that is equipped with mobile technology, and therefore “connected” via the internet. Telematics is also used to connect cars, by means of a small device that plugs into the vehicle, or through embedded technology. The telematics device acts as an Internet of Things (IoT) hub which sends vehicle data to a cloud service, where it can be processed and 5G will speed up connected car benefits.

Fifth Generation of Wireless Technology

The introduction of 5G promises to improve the speed and reliability of mobile internet connection. At its peak, 5G operates 100 times faster than 4G and has extremely low latency. This means 5G devices can download and send vast amounts of data in a fraction of the time it would take using 4G.

5G is expected to grow the market for the ever-increasing number of tools, whether smartphones or thermostats, that rely on stable internet connection. One such tool, a connected car, generates millions of data points each day, which can be transferred faster than ever using 5G. Real-time tracking will become even more accurate, improving solutions like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems which help drivers avoid collision hazards.

OEM Telematics

A trend is emerging among leading vehicle manufacturers — or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) — to embed telematics devices directly into new vehicle models. Embedded devices are capable of processing OEM-specific vehicle information and telematics data once the consumer has given consent to the manufacturer. This data can then be integrated with an online fleet management platform that standardizes the user experience, enabling owners of fleets with a variety of vehicle and connectivity types to see all vehicle information in one place.

Connected Vehicle Technology and Applications

Once vehicles are connected, rich GPS and on-board diagnostics (OBD) data can be processed and presented on an online fleet management platform. Fleet managers can use this information to make critical business decisions, measure the effectiveness of those decisions and benchmark performance against similar fleets.

Here are a few ways fleets can benefit from connected vehicle technology:

• Productivity: Track factors that influence fleet productivity, such as idling time, driving time, customer visits or ignition locations.

• Safety: Detect risky driving behavior such as harsh braking, speeding or sharp cornering. Set up driver coaching and advanced driver assistance, or install dash-cam solutions to gain visibility into on-road activity.

• Maintenance: Access vehicle health data. Use a connected fleet management platform to set up predictive maintenance to minimize the risk of unexpected, and potentially dangerous, vehicle failure.

• Sustainability: Get precise data on fuel usage and inefficient activities like idling. Fleets made up of EVs, or a mix of EVs and conventional vehicles, can monitor charge levels, range and battery degradation.

How connected vehicle technology is changing the fleet industry

Today’s capabilities, such as those offered by Advantage Asset Tracking, go far beyond providing location information. Connected fleet managers can easily view and monitor variables like driver behavior, fuel usage, harsh events and engine health. This information can be used to construct comprehensive plans for improving fleet safety, productivity, sustainability and more.

Many government agencies may currently have larger than needed fleets. This means they have more vehicles than needed resulting in massive underutilization and unnecessary increased costs associated with maintaining those assets.

In any organization, it is important to utilize all assets as efficiently and effectively as possible. This is sometimes difficult with motorpools. Here’s why:

1. TCO — The total cost of ownership becomes very high, especially when all vehicles are not being used in the same way and potentially sitting in parking lots not being used.

2. Key management — Organizations must plan manual and physical ways to coordinate key drop-off and pick-ups, which becomes increasingly difficult during times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Billing and paperwork — When motorpools are shared between different departments, it increases manual billings and paperwork which can become time consuming for everyone involved.

4. Sustainability — Fleets with excessive vehicles have a larger carbon footprint. This works against state, local, federal or provincial sustainability mandates for reducing the use of combustion engine vehicles or decreasing carbon emissions.

5. Increased costs — There is an increase in costs including annual maintenance and labor, such as having to jumpstart a vehicle with a dead battery because of underutilization.

What’s a solution? Introducing Geotab Keyless: a digital key solution to help maximize motorpool utilization, providing a seamless car sharing experience and reduction in costs. Below are a few benefits of using this digital key solution.

Geotab Keyless eliminates the need for physical keys and helps organizations ensure only authorized employees have access to vehicles.

Get complete fleet visibility to reduce, repurpose or redistribute assets to increase utilization. With more drivers sharing one car, you can grow carsharing without growing the number of vehicles. Plus, Keyless makes it easier to prioritize vehicles with the lowest miles to maximize usage.

Geotab Keyless makes it easy to share vehicles between departments in a government agency. Additionally, you can digitize billings with integrated software to reduce overall paperwork.

No staff is needed to physically manage keys or replace lost keys which will lead to a reduction in costs and save time.

With all vehicles being properly utilized, agencies can work toward achieving their sustainability goals.

For government agencies, having the power of a telematics platform alongside secured keyless technology provides fleets with a safer way to control and manage day-to-day operations.

Geotab Keyless supports all vehicles that have a keyfob including electric, hybrid, Light-Medium and Heavy-Duty vehicles. It is easy to install and users also have the flexibility to use the application with a mobile app or NFC tags along with the ability to operate a free-floating or centrally located motorpool operation.

Whether you are new to motorpools, or want to rightsize your fleet, explore the solution first-hand and sign up here to learn more. For more information or additional inquiries about Geotab Keyless, please email info@advtracking.net