From 7 April 2008, cars for sale in New Zealand will have to display information about the vehicle’s fuel economy. This information, usually in the form of a printed label displayed with the car, will help buyers choose a vehicle that uses less fuel. The fuel labels and fuel information are available from the Fuel Economy Labelling site, built by Webstruxure, which got a lot of media coverage recently – it was the lead item on TV3 News last Wednesday (see http://tinyurl.com/2g7a4o).
Webstruxure was chosen to build the site by the Government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). This is the third vehicle sustainability site that Webstruxure has built for the Government over the last two years. These sites are becoming increasingly important for motorists hit by the strongly rising trend in fuel prices.
First came Fuelsaver, which allows motorists to work out the fuel consumption of their vehicle, or of a vehicle they’re thinking of buying, based on the vehicle’s characteristics and their own driving habits – and figure out how they can reduce fuel consumption and costs.
Next, we developed Rightcar for Land Transport New Zealand. Rightcar lets users compare vehicles on a range of criteria, including fuel economy, the safety of passengers and other road users, and carbon dioxide and pollutant emissions. The site has been a big success, with a lot of people researching potential car purchases online.
The Fuel Economy Labelling site allows car dealers and others in the industry to print the fuel labels that will be mandatory (with some exceptions, as explained on the site) from 7 April. It also provides information for vehicle buyers and private sellers, including an extensive set of FAQs.
Behind these sites are our tools for collecting and managing vehicle data on behalf of the various government bodies. This has to be understood and massaged into a shape useful for such things as information-based websites and fuel labels.
That’s the link between these sites and our products such as siteNav, Sketch and the forthcoming Canvas – we make tools to turn big blocks of data into useable information.
We are pleased that our expertise in this area has continued to be recognised by Government agencies. We’re also happy that we can make a contribution to improving the sustainability of New Zealand’s vehicle fleet.