‘Chipping’ vehicles — or remapping their engine control units — is usually associated with improving performance, and generally has a slightly racy image.

However, these days it’s not all about speed: commercial vehicle operators are getting in on the act, in the hope of cutting fuel bills by improving engine efficiency and emissions.

A case in point is Walsall-based home assistance provider HomeServe, which is currently having around half of its fleet remapped by specialist firm Viezu Technologies, who have a solid reputation for commercial-quality remapping solutions (in 2012, it remapped 20,000 vans for BT).

Viezu is deploying its BlueOptimize technology to reducing the fuel consumption and emissions of HomeServe’s existing fleet, and estimates that BlueOptimize can cut fuel use by up to 15 per cent.

Commenting on the initiative, Jadon Silva, HomeServe’s Director of Procurement said:

“I am very proud of the initiative we have introduced with Viezu.  Not only have we been able to make significant reductions in our vehicles emissions, we expect to cut fuel costs by 15 per cent.

The introduction of this technology into our fleet of vans represents both an opportunity to protect the environment whilst also ensuring the fleet continues to operate to its maximum capability.”

The technology is being installed to half of HomeServe’s van fleet, with the remainder set to be completed later this year. The technology consists of bespoke software which includes a combination of throttle, rev, speed and power limiting.