Milk round service Milk & More is rolling out GPS and on-board diagnostic technology to its fleet, to boost the range of its electric vehicle and the number of customers per round.
The project so far has seen the distances the fleet can travel per charge increase by 19%.
Milk & More – which was spun-out of German owner Theo Müller Group in February – has partnered with Levl Telematics on the rollout, which it said was helping it “reduce rising energy costs by increasing the efficiency of its fleet”.
Among the technologies aboard the company’s electric fleet – which it claims to be one of the largest in the UK, with more than 500 vehicles on the road – is a real-time speed-limiting system designed to restrict vehicles to the most efficient safe speed for the road they are travelling on.
Monitored driver safety performance scores improved by 25% as a result of the speed-limiting system.
“With one of the largest electric vehicle fleets making one million deliveries each week, we wanted to find new and innovative ways to counter energy costs,” said Patrick Müller, CEO of Milk & More. “This is a challenging time in the UK for all businesses and consumers. Inflation and costs are continuing to rise and showing no signs of slowing down.”
The company said it was the first in the UK to use the speed-limiting system across its fleet to offset costs.
“The results we are seeing are promising. Charging times for our vehicles are down, which means our electricity costs are lower,” Müller added.
“The biggest benefit, however, is the increase in driver safety and reduction in accident costs. We will continue to monitor the progress and make adjustments to the system, in order to get the most benefits from it.”
Levl MD Jan O’Hara said Milk & More was “really pushing the envelope” when it came to electric fleet technology.
“Firstly increasing the range of the electric vehicle, by changing driver behaviour and driver interaction with the vehicle,” he said, “And now they have taken a further step by adding real-time speed limiters.
“This is a game-changer for Milk & More and the wider industry. The initial results look good, but we will be pushing hard to make it safer for drivers, and significantly reducing the energy used on each round.”
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