The scheme is being offered by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and leading mileage capture software provider Vertivia Mileage Management in a move to evaluate the effectiveness of eco-driving training.

As part of the programme, the EST will provide free Smarter Driving training to an organisation’s drivers, then analyse the fuel savings achieved over the next year. The study will include controls to minimise the impact of other factors on fuel consumption. One organisation has already signed up to participate in the trials, which will take place until March 2014.

The two organisations say this is the first time that the long-term effectiveness of fuel-efficient driver training will be measured on a large scale in the UK. The EST has delivered Smarter Driving training sessions to business car and van drivers for the last five years, with participants achieving an average 15% improvement in MPG immediately after training.

Around 500 drivers will participate in the trials in total, with a sub-sample receiving a second in-vehicle coaching session to assess whether refresher training helps maintain fuel savings.

Vertivia’s software will provide accurate fuel and mileage data for each driver so individual fuel consumption can be calculated.

Tim Anderson, senior knowledge manager at the EST, said: ‘I am pleased to announce this partnership with Vertivia. Research undertaken in Germany as part of the ECOWILL project found long-term savings of eco driving of around 3-4%, but this is the first time such a study has been carried out in the UK.

‘We hope that understanding changes in driver behaviour over the long term can provide useful insight for Government to use when creating policy.’

The EST expects to publish the result of the trials in the summer of 2014.

To find out more about the trials, and whether you would be eligible to take part, please call the Energy Saving Trust on 0845 602 1425, or email [email protected]