FPS Operate Joins the Dots for JOLT
The Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (CSRF) is led by academics from Heriot-Watt University and University of Cambridge. CSRF leads Project JOLT, a consortium of leading industry partners including vehicle manufacturers and fleets. Project JOLT aims to accelerate the electrification of the UK’s heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
The programme involves deployment of electric HGVs and rigid trucks from Volvo and Scania with fleets like John Lewis Partnership, Nestle, Welch’s Transport, Knowles Logistics, Howard Tenens, and Campeys. The collaboration allows them to test integrating eHGVs under a wide range of operating scenarios and use cases can be understood by the industry.
The challenge
The CSRF academics have extensive experience of vehicle data logging and analytics. However, understanding electric operations requires data to be captured from a wide range of other sources, like EV chargers and building metering systems, as well as route data.
The solution
FPS is deploying its FPS Operate platform with participating fleets and using it to capture and aggregate data for the trial.
Impact
The platform logs data at the rate of about 2 million data points per year for vehicles and around 1000 data points per year for chargers. The fleet operators are using FPS’ intuitive dashboards to advance their understanding of how their electric trucks and their drivers are performing in the field.
The platform is also creating a data set that the academic teams are using for analysis that will inform the entire industry’s shift to net zero.
“Weʼre excited to participate in the JOLT initiative as part of our net zero strategy and
longstanding reputation for environmental innovation. Joint trials of battery electric vehicles offer
a unique opportunity to share our data and operational experience with other transport providers,
creating a larger pool of collective knowledge. Ultimately, weʼre looking to gather real-world
operating data that will help us understand how these zero emission vehicles can integrate into
our logistics, supporting our efforts to transition to a more sustainable, net zero future.”
Anna Rickard, Environmental Consultant, Howard Tenens Ltd