Viezu’s BlueOptimize technology uses ECU remapping to cut fleets’ fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
Cutting fuel costs has become a key operational requirement for fleet operators over the last few years. Manufacturers are increasingly helping by including advanced telematics and driver training aids as standard, but one approach that has proved successful for some operators is to have an advanced, bespoke ECU remap.
Remapping is normally associated with performance gains, but it can also be used to reduce fuel consumption and cut emissions. Viezu is a company that specialises in ECU remapping, and its BlueOptimize technology recently won a Motor Transport 2013 Award after BlueOptimize helped save one of the UK’s largest fleets save an estimated £30m in fuel costs over eight years.
Through a clever combination of speed, rev and throttle limiting which are tailored to the user’s specific vehicle use and needs, BlueOptimize offers savings of up to 15 percent in fuel costs and 20 percent reductions in CO2 emissions.
Viezu didn’t mention which fleet contract led to the award, but it did say that “bespoke software files were written for each of the company’s 24,000 vehicles over a six month period by Viezu’s centrally located team of software development engineers. New remap files were supplied back to the customer’s 63 garages with an average response time of just five minutes.” This matches the company’s description of its BT fleet contract award, which was announced late last year.
Whoever, the client, the gains delivered by BlueOptimize are impressive and demonstrate the advantages of intelligently limiting vehicle performance to optimise fuel consumption and emissions. It’s a similar but more sophisticaed approach to the Zeta ExcelArate I first mentioned back in 2010, which restricts the performance of empty vans and trucks so that they drive as if they were fully loaded, all the time, saving up to 10% on fuel in the process.
Similar technology has since become available as original equipment on a number of vans and trucks — expect more to follow, as this is a definite winner from a fleet operator’s perspective.