Technology specialist Lightfoot has signed a partnership with Drax Electric Vehicles, a leading EV charging solutions provider, to support fleet and facilities managers with their transition to electrification.  

By installing Lightfoot’s proven open-platform telematics technology into vehicles, Drax customers will receive advanced data insights about usage, driver behaviour and vehicle status, allowing them to optimise fleet performance, efficiency and sustainability.

Drax already provides comprehensive support to businesses transitioning to electric mobility, offering services that encompass planning, installing and managing charging infrastructure. The partnership with Lightfoot brings a new brand of telematics to Drax’s offering. With the integration of Lightfoot’s cutting-edge technology, Drax can now bring an additional layer of intelligence to fleet and facilities managers.

Lightfoot’s CEO, Paul Hollick, said of the strategic partnership: “Our technology provides next-generation data to fleets to help them better run their businesses. Our solution helps businesses with the shift from internal combustion (ICE) vehicles to EVs – ensuring that when they make the investment, they have access to crucial data on hardware, fleet vehicles and drivers.”

With Lightfoot devices installed, thanks to the in-cab coaching, fleets typically see a 15% uplift in the average range of electric vehicles. As well as driver coaching and telematics data, drivers can sign up to competitions that reward efficient and safe driving.

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Lightfoot generates more than a billion miles’ worth of data every year, allowing firms to understand which drivers and vehicles could make the switch to electric immediately, and which might need more time and planning.

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“This is where the collaboration with Drax is extremely exciting,” said Hollick. “Drax provides a fleet with a detailed roadmap for electrification, and overlaying our data from the operational vehicles will provide the full picture. Businesses can electrify with complete confidence that the investment in infrastructure, vehicles and support will be successful.”

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Naomi Nye, Head of Sales at Drax, added that the partnership will help to speed up the pace at which many fleets transition to electric and deliver cost savings too.

“We’re already able to support organisations with planning, installing and managing their charging infrastructure investment,” she said. 

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“We can now also recommend Lightfoot’s advanced fleet management solution to fleet and facilities managers. Lightfoot’s open-platform telematics technology provides the evidence organisations need to kick-start electrification – and the insights they’ll need to optimise fuel and cost-saving efficiencies.”

The partnership between Drax Electric Vehicles and Lightfoot brings tangible benefits to both companies and their customers. With Drax’s expanding customer base, Lightfoot gains an opportunity to reach an even broader audience with its market-leading technology.

“85% of businesses trialling Lightfoot devices become long-term Lightfoot customers,” adds Paul Hollick. “We are confident that Drax customers will find immense value in our solution, further strengthening the case for EV adoption and fleet efficiency.”

Drax offers customers access to its powerful and user-friendly My Electric Vehicles portal, which seamlessly integrates with Lightfoot in-cab devices to provide actionable insights. This allows fleet managers to analyse key data such as journey mileages, travel patterns, and vehicle idling and dwell periods. By leveraging this intelligence, businesses can make data-driven decisions regarding fleet electrification and infrastructure investment.

“We don’t just provide data; we provide solutions,” explains Hollick. “Our technology ensures that fleets operate efficiently, safely, and sustainably.”

Nye added: “By installing Lightfoot devices in their vehicles, Drax customers gain a new way to unlock driving insights – enhancing the telematics capabilities they already benefit from, and enabling fleet-efficiency optimisation while cutting costs. This is a partnership that offers fleets every tool they need to electrify.”

To find out more about how Lightfoot can transform your fleet for the better, visit www.lightfoot.co.uk
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About Drax Electric Vehicles

We believe in the value of end-to-end electrification partnerships. From assessing suitability and helping build the business case to installing and maintaining cost-effective, future-proofed EV charging solutions, we’re with customers for the journey.

Our focus on understanding installation sites and operational requirements – and our supplier impartiality – ensures that we implement hardware and software that fits with customers’ needs, budgets and business objectives. And our ability to schedule and orchestrate installations minimises disruption and protects business-as-usual activities.

We take maintenance and ongoing support seriously, updating software and identifying and resolving potential hardware issues before they affect operations. As true partners, we look for optimisation opportunities and track emerging developments to keep customers’ electrification investments ahead of the competition.

As part of Drax, we offer reassurance thanks to our scale and heritage. But we also provide a decarbonisation focus that enables customers to make sustainability claims and accelerate their net zero journeys.

‍About Lightfoot

Lightfoot is an award-winning, government-supported technology that is helping to make roads safer, the environment cleaner and business vehicles less expensive to run.  

Its revolutionary technology has become the fleet management solution of choice for many of the UK’s largest fleets, including Tesco, Asda, Virgin Media, and South West Water.

Backed by Volpi Capital, Lightfoot rewards better drivers with a platform that monetises good driving.

A ‘Fitbit for cars and vans’, Lightfoot is pioneering a new standard for measuring efficient driving. Lightfoot’s technology has been developed in partnership with leading driver-behavior experts at Bath University. Using advanced, real-time engine analytics that measure different factors such as load and road gradients, it provides live, in-cab coaching to help drivers improve efficiency and safety.  

Tests at Bath University’s Institute of Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems proved a direct correlation between Lightfoot’s in-cab visual alerts and reductions in NOx. Studies showed when drivers halve the number of lights on Lightfoot’s in-cab dashboard device, a fivefold reduction in NOx is achieved.

Lightfoot’s industry-leading solution combines instant in-cab coaching via the dashboard mounted device with its driver rewards platform to deliver substantial, sustainable results. The dashboard display device uses live engine data to provide drivers with real-time visual and audible feedback, allowing them to manage their own performance and build better driving habits.

Alongside the in-cab device, Lightfoot also provides a dedicated Drivers App. Here, drivers can view their performance data, keep track of their driving score, and compete in league tables with other drivers. When they reach Lightfoot’s ‘Elite Driver’ standard (scoring 85% or higher) they gain access to a range of exclusive competitions, including The Drivers’ Lottery, where they can win up to £200 each week, and a host of prize giveaways, such as consumer tech. Together, this helps to incentivise better driving, ensuring long-lasting results.

Lightfoot has two core components:

1. A small device that communicates directly with the vehicle’s engine and provides the driver with visual and verbal feedback to stay within the engine’s ‘sweet spot’ (optimum efficiency).

2. An exciting rewards platform enabling drivers to benefit personally from better driving (whether at work or at home) through competitions, prizes, discounts and other incentives.

The benefits of Lightfoot:

• A rapid and measurable improvement in driving styles

• Improved welfare and safety of drivers  

• Changes sustained over time because of ongoing cab engagement  

• Minimal management input required – Lightfoot gives results, not lots of data

• Fuel and emissions savings of 15-20% (validated by Professor Chris Brace of Bath University)

• In EVs, a more uniform Lightfoot-enabled driving style contributes to range increases of up to 15%.

• Accident reductions of up to 40% (validated by Allianz Insurance Plc)

• Tracking, driver ID, business v private mileage is all available and easy to use

• Reduced wear and tear on vehicles (downtime reduced by 45% - Ian Thorn, CEF)

• Lightfoot regularly achieves driver engagement levels in excess of 60%, which compares favourably with conventional telematics that struggle to achieve engagement levels higher than 5%.