The latest news in fleet management from LeasePlan.

Welcome to On The Horizon

The world’s attention has been turned to the Olympic Games this month, with their usual unmissable combination of success and heartbreak, feats of strength and endurance and occasionally spectacular failure. This edition of On the Horizon looks behind the scenes at the fleet of Nissans used by event organisers to keep things running smoothly, as well as some intriguing new technology which may power the Games of the future. We also preview next month’s Fleet Forum get-together, which will look at what lies ahead, plus timely reminders about filling up and changing driver details. Let the reading begin!

Olympic effort from Nissan

While records were being set on the track and at the pool, the 2016 Rio Olympic Games was kept running behind the scenes by a fleet of 4200 Nissan vehicles.

The ‘official car of the event’ was a new SUV designed for the South American market called the Nissan Kicks. The Kicks has a 1.6 litre engine and 114 brake horsepower and is one of the first Nissan models to apply the concept of ‘Intelligent Mobility’, first presented at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year. In this case, this means driver-stress-reducing technology such as full-360 degree exterior cameras and alarms which go off when a moving object such as a pedestrian is within range. The SUV also features Nissan’s Active Trace Control, which intervenes whilst driving around corners by discreetly applying brakes to wheels individually, and Active Ride Control, which applies the brakes for a split second after the car has been over a large undulation in the road, to reduce the ‘bounce’ effect on the suspension.

Other cars in the Olympic fleet included a number of full-electric Nissan Leafs, used to transport Brazilian athletes, as well as other Brazilian models the Marcha, Ventra, Sentra and the Frontier pickup truck.

Around 750 volunteers were assigned to drive the cars, which no doubt proved a challenge at times in Brazil’s crowded streets.

Nissan also utilised the attention focused on the Olympic event to showcase two new prototypes at Rio’s new Museum of the Future: the Nissan BladeGlider, a 100 per cent electric sports car, and a solid oxide fuel-cell (SOFC)-powered prototype (see ‘Powered by... poo?’ below). The BladeGlider is a highly streamlined, fully electric vehicle which has butterfly doors and a seamless, wrap-around windscreen.

Small is beautiful

We’re a small country, with a large number of small businesses — and big dreams. The winter edition of LeasePlan’s Steering Column magazine celebrates the small and the beautiful, from its exciting new small-fleet products to Kiwi small towns and the world’s most popular and enduring small car — the Mini. Plus there’s also an extract from a new book about American entrepreneur Elon Musk, who’s taking on the big boys one Tesla at a time.

Changing driver details

Things can change during the life of a lease, so we've made it easy for you to change the details of who’s driving a leased vehicle on the LeasePlan website. Just click on the ‘For Fleet Managers’ tab, type in the vehicle registration and add or change the driver’s details, or download the driver information template if you have multiple changes to make.

It’s quick and easy to do, and ensures your fleet is always up to date. If you have any questions, call the team at 0800 LEASEPLAN.

You can also view the Fleet Managers page by clicking here.

Pay attention at the pump

It’s an easy mistake to make — and many people make it. Getting the petrol and diesel fillers mixed up at the gas station — or simply getting distracted while refueling — can have catastrophic and costly consequences. Statistics suggest around 30,000 ‘mis-fuelling’ incidents a year in New Zealand — about one every 15 minutes.

This mistake is most likely to be made by people driving multiple vehicles, such as pool vehicles which use different fuels, or if they use a vehicle running on one fuel type for work and another in their personal time.

The most common mix-up is putting petrol into a diesel vehicle — but unfortunately this is also the most serious mistake to make. An AA Motoring blog explains that vehicles that run on diesel have fuel pumps which need to be lubricated by the viscose diesel fuel. Petrol has a lower viscosity and will strip the lubricant, resulting in harmful metal-to-metal contact of moving parts. The AA warns that ‘if the fuel pump is damaged or contaminated fuel reaches the common rail system, you’ll need to pay for the fuel pumps, injectors, fuel rail, filters and tank to be cleaned out and you might even need replacements.’ Ouch!

The reverse mix-up, putting diesel into a petrol engine, is harder to do and therefore less common, as diesel pumps are well-signposted and require unlocking before filling up — something which should ring alarm bells for even the most distracted of refuellers. After putting diesel into a petrol car it will probably just fail to start, or run for only a short distance, before too much damage is done. The fuel tank will still have to be drained to fix the problem, however.

The AA’s best advice if you realise you have pumped the wrong fuel is not to start the car. ‘If you’ve just put the wrong fuel in your car and turn on the ignition, it will soon be circulating its way through the fuel system, causing damage in a matter of seconds. Leaving the ignition off gives you a good chance of minimising the damage and you may need only to get the tank drained and topped up with new fuel to be able to get you on your way again.’

Check your fuel card if you are unsure what fuel to use, and if you have a LeasePlan managed vehicle and think you have filled your vehicle with the wrong fuel, or have any other issues with refuelling, the LeasePlan team can help you 24/7. You can contact us on 0800 LEASEPLAN.

Super Future

Time is running out, so don’t forget to register for this year’s unmissable Fleet Forum. The information-sharing and networking event is being held at Auckland’s ANZ Viaduct Events Centre. Running from 7am to 2pm, the event includes breakfast and lunch, informative speakers and plenty of time to meet with like minded colleagues to discuss current trends and the way forward.

The event’s theme is ‘Super Future - shape a better tomorrow’, and presenters will look at how rapid changes to technology and society are enhancing business and vehicle mobility.

Emceed once again by the popular Jeremy Corbett, speakers include Gordon McDonald of WorkSafe, financial commentator Bernard Hickey and keynote presented by Dr Tom Mulholland, founder of the Healthy Thinking Institute. ‘Dr Tom’s’ presentation on how to keep your head in good shape will be both entertaining and informative.

Get online and register at www.leaseplan.co.nz/fleetforum and make sure you’re there to hear all about it.

Powered by... poo?

There may be a range of alternatives to fossil fuels, but have you ever considered running your car on... well... poo? A new project in Japan is doing just that, converting biogas from sewage into hydrogen fuel for fuel-cell cars.

Japan has been pursuing hydrogen-cell technology for some time, but is now pushing ahead. The Japanese government has doubled its funding for fuel-cell vehicle subsidies, construction of filling stations and hydrogen energy farms to about NZ$392 million, up from NZ$168 million last year.

Japan’s Mainichi newspaper reported that every year about 89 million cubic metres of biogas is disposed of as waste, which could instead be used to produce 130 million cubic metres of hydrogen — enough for about 2.7 million fuel-cell car fill-ups.

Biogas, a combination of methane and carbon dioxide, is created by micro-organisms living in the sewage, and is already harnessed for larger scale power generation in Japan. The prototype plant, at a sewage plant in Fukuoka in southern Japan, is producing enough gas to fuel up 65 fuel-cell cars, but could provide enough gas to fuel up to 600.

At the moment the plant is not cost-effective, costing around $140 to create 1 kg of hydrogen fuel, which is being sold at a subsidised rate of $11 per kg.

Japan is however committed to develop the technology, and has pledged to have 200 hydrogen-powered buses on Tokyo streets for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, in the current Olympic host country, Nissan has released a prototype fuel-cell vehicle powered by a solid oxide fuel-cell (SOFC), running on hydrogen created from natural biofuels based on crops such as corn or sugar cane. Field trials are underway using a modified e-NV200 light commercial van with a 5 kW SOFC, a 30 litre fuel tank and a 24 kWh battery that serves as an energy-storage buffer between the SOFC and the electric drive motor.

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