Question:
My fleet has several hybrid vehicles. How does that affect tracking data if a trip is defined as the period between ignition “on” and ignition “off?”
Based on our partnership with the Go Green movement, we employ a device-level script especially for hybrid vehicles that maintains a continuous trip as long as physical and/or electronic movement occurs within two minutes. (Most stop lights are 90 seconds or less.) Some of the specific conditions that will maintain a continuous trip include:
- An increase in voltage.
- Movement, even if creeping forward in a right/left turn lane.
- Movement based on the accelerometer.
Most providers’ data captures ignition status change events only. Because alternative vehicle engines shut off when stopped, at a red light for example, their data would show that a driver’s trip ended in the middle of the road, when in reality that isn’t true. Wex Telematics’s data, on the other hand, shows true trip activity because our device logic allows us to accommodate various voltage variables present on the ECM/ECU in alternative vehicles. Our data would show that the vehicle was indeed stopped, but that the trip is still in progress and stopped at a red light. We also can provide accurate data for when the ignition is truly off.