THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

April 2008

AFS GROUP

Since 1995, the AFS Group (Pty) Ltd has supplied fuel management solutions to customers in various industries in Southern Africa. AFS is a black-owned company with 30% of AFS’s equity held by previously disadvantaged people and allocates significant resources to facilitate skills transfer. 

AFS has offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Windhoek with operational support infrastructure throughout South Africa as well as Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia. 

The scope of AFS’ services includes automation of in-house refuelling (home bases), automation of retail filling stations, outdoor payment solutions and eFuel retail refuelling service stations, site and vehicle maintenance and mining solutions. With support from the Department of Transport, Transnet and other large fleet owners, AFS has succeeded in building the eFuel network which is detailed further on. 

Fuelomat

Fuelomat technology, in the words of AFS, pre-authorises and concludes a refuelling event, recording the details of what was dispensed. The system assures users that the fuel is appropriately managed and accounted for. Site control solutions incorporate bank cards, keys, smart cards, keypad entries and barcodes. Vehicle tags offer electronic control of mobile bowser dispensing and lubricant dispensers.

With SABS certification, Fuelomat electronic components function in rugged environments and have operated in more than 50 different countries. Station control units enable complete automation where vehicles are equipped with tags - or RFID microprocessors - that enable vehicles rather than drivers to authorise refuelling. 

Recording of transaction information includes the amount of fuel dispensed, vehicle ID, type of fuel dispensed, vehicle departmental allocation if required, date and time of transaction, nozzle number and location and odometer or hour meter reading. 

AFS details benefits such as secure and controlled refuelling, accountability for each transaction, accurate information without human intervention – odometer or hour meter readings, eliminates intentional manipulation and accidental error, highlights excessive fuel consumption and unauthorised use of vehicles and assists maintenance scheduling and control of assets. 

eFuel – On Road Refuelling

eFuel is a card-free, cashless system using technology to preauthorise and conclude refuelling transactions. The vehicle, not the driver, authorises the transaction. 

• eFuel eAsy is a system to facilitate refuelling with manual input of vehicle odometer reading. 

• eFuel eXtra facilitates automated refuelling with automatic capture of odometer readings. 

• eFuel is selected by a consortium of oil companies in South Africa that includes Afric Oil, Caltex, Engen, Exel, Sasol, Total and Zenex. The infrastructure provides a common platform enabling vehicles to refuel at any eFuel equipped site. 

When the nozzle is inserted into the tank inlet, an “electronic handshake” takes place through RF communication. If the authorisation process is successful, the dispenser commences the refill. 

Benefits include: You pay only for what was authorised, access to a national network of automated sites, accurate information without human intervention, easy access to current transaction information, access to fuel 24 hours a day seven days a week as well as the help desk every day of the year. 

eFUEL IS a card-free, cashless system using technology to preauthorize and conclude refueling transactions. The vehicle, not the driver, authorizes the transaction.

The business side

The AFS Information Management System (AIMS) is available to eFuel customers in a variety of forms. Information is collected and collated daily. It is reviewed and analysed for exceptions before being detailed on reports spelling out vehicle consumption, network usage and various other exception reports. Reports can be transmitted as PDF, HTML files, or in Excel format and can be sent daily, weekly or monthly. 

According to AFS, the benefits include flexibility, user friendliness and freed up time to enable you to focus on other priorities. 

eFuel has an impressive customer base including government fleets at various levels, many large and diverse fleet owners both locally and in neighbouring countries. A printed version of eFuel customers is available from AFS. 

Enter eFuel-eMpower using eFuel-VIT (Vehicle Identification Technology)

The title of this new AFS initiative, based on its recently developed vehicle identification technology, sets out to afford end-users specific advantages over fleet cards. In the process of describing the new technology, a short synopsis of fuel card technology is relevant. 

For some time now, the fleet card industry has explored ways to improve product features and benefits. However, the very nature of the process driving fleet cards has hampered progress in this regard. The cost of changing central switching and clearing house facilities and procedures would require significant capital expenditure which may not be deemed productive given there are more than 550 000 active fleet cards. The post-authorisation method of fuel procurement is probably the most significant aspect hobbling the concept. 

WHEN THE nozzle is inserted into the tank inlet, an “electronic handshake” takes place. If authorization is successful, the dispenser commences the refill.