FLEETS could soon be paying for their fuel via a smart chip installed in their car with information downloaded by electronic data interchange or the Internet. Shell and other fuel suppliers are actively involved in the hi-tech revolution and while Tim Betts, manager of Shell Fuel and Fleet Services, admitted the technology was already available the costly infrastructure had still to be established.

With company car drivers being issued with receipts and fleet managers being bombarded with management information Betts said: 'We would like to get away from paper completely and would therefore like to supply information on disk, through EDI or through the Internet. We can do it on disk and we will be able to do it through the Internet shortly. We are planning to go on-line as soon as possible - perhaps in the next six months. We are racing to get there because there are huge advantages both to us and fleet managers.'

Technological advances mean that in the future fuel companies will be able to bill fleets for their fuel purchases 'without human intervention', which, said Betts, would eliminate mistakes and the possibility of fraud. Drivers would fill up with fuel at a filling station and a smart chip, which could be on a card, keyfob or in a transponder in the car, would be read either in the cashier's office or on leaving the filling station and information on the car, driver and purchases downloaded immediately.