Innovative IoT devices will be fuelling buses in Nottingham after FUELlink Systems, A Bellshill-based fuel management firm, has secured a contract with Nottingham City Transport to install smart data collection systems on Nottingham’s latest fleet of environmentally-friendly bio-gas buses.

The new buses are capable of integrating with IoT-enabled device called ‘VINIE’ – a device which FUELlink themselves developed with support from CENSIS, the Scottish Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems.

VINIE will be attached to the dashboard of individual vehicles, relaying information from its engine management computer back to fleet operators; thus allowing them to monitor and store crucial data such as fuel usage and odometer readings.

VINIE does more than just monitor basic fuel usage, however. It allows detailed insights into the hours worked per litre of fuel, can detect fuel tank leakages and also set miles per gallon targets for operators. Because VINIE is a fully automated system which uses bluetooth to register bus details with a central system, it is hoped this will improve the efficiency of the bus fleet by lowering the time constraints of traditional manual duties, such as refuelling and depot management.

IoT Fuelled Innovation

FUELlink were one of five companies to win at the Scottish IoT Boost event in 2016, and provide other local authorities and operators, such as Lothian Buses, Stirling Council and First Buses with innovative data monitoring systems.

Craig Fleming, Senior Business Development Manager at CENSIS, says the contract with Nottingham City Transport will be “instrumental in allowing them to showcase the benefits of VINIE onto bus and coach fleets across the UK” and that this showcases not only the innovative nature of the device, but “demonstrates the value in applying the IoT and sensor technology to business processes, allowing companies to run more efficiently.”

Future Growth

This move could spark further growth for FUELlink as many local authorities and operators hoping to expand their bus fleets and replace older models with more efficient vehicles could adopt the VINIE device onboard. The device is not exclusive to newer vehicle models, however, and FUELlink also offer the opportunity to retrofit the device to older fleets.

John Ashley, Director at FUELlink Systems says although they are currently only supplying to local authorities and operators, the long-term goal is to branch out and offer companies across a wide range of industries access VINIE’s innovative management capabilities, saying: “At the moment, we’re focused on introducing the product to local authorities, bus operators and haulage firms, but in the future, we hope to diversify and allow companies across industries to take advantage of VINIE’s versatile data monitoring and storage capabilities.”