A new service could help fleets and drivers avoid vehicle downtime through SMS alerts of low or dead batteries.

The SMS service alerts the driver when a vehicle’s battery is getting low on power as a result of inactivity

An over-the-air update sent by Redtail Telematics to its black boxes already in situ means they can now send battery status information to their data warehouse, which can be passed onto the vehicle owner by email or SMS; a key benefit with many vehicles currently being laid up due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The new service is a latest example of how telematics is increasingly being used to provide proactive services to prevent vehicle faults before they happen.

Analysis of sample data from the 430,000 vehicles in Redtail’s systems revealed 10% of batteries are currently reaching critical charging levels of 20% – the minimum charge required to reliably start a vehicle.

Dr Colin Smithers, Redtail CEO, said: “Redtail is a one-stop shop telematics company serving insurance, fleet and OEM customers, and so it is easy for us to re-programme our boxes over the air and modify the data warehouse functionality to create these custom alerts, and all done 100% remotely from our homes.”