C4 Logistics, which handles expedited and specialist automotive shipments, is providing electric vehicle (EV) maker Bolloré with track and trace technology on the inbound delivery of parts to its Bluecar assembly facilities in France and Italy. The logistics provider is also managing the delivery of the parts inbound to Bollore’s plants.
The Bolloré Bluecar is a 100% electric car that runs off a 30kWh Lithium Metal Polymer (LMP) battery, and was one of the first European vehicles to be deployed as part of the Paris Autolib car-sharing scheme to halt congestion and harmful CO2 around the French capital.
The EV maker’s suppliers are spread across wider Europe, mainly in Germany and Poland. C4 is now coordinating the progress of consignments into the carmaker’s production line as well as collecting from those suppliers and shipping the parts by road to the assembly facilities.
C4 has developed an application that uses geolocation to track the delivery drivers' mobile phones.
"As we specialise in time critical logistics, using dedicated vehicles (one shipment, one driver and one vehicle), tracking a mobile phone provides real time information about the position of the vehicle," explained a spokesperson for the company. "This information is then relayed to our server and consequently made available to our customers via their dedicated C4 customer portal and the C4 customer app. The information is displayed on a map which shows the progress made by the vehicle and therefore their shipment. Via their customer portal and the C4 customer app, our clients have access to all their live shipments, all their previous bookings, their in-depth KPIs, invoices, account statements and other information, which provides the highest degree of transparency for their most urgent shipments."
The company said the track and trace GPS provided traffic dependent, ETA updates and total supply chain transparency, with money back guarantees if it failed make the delivery through reasons within its control.
The technology has been made available to all of C4's approved suppliers, which adds up to 1,500, providing access to 6,000 vehicles). "They only have to download the C4 Suppliers app available on androids and iPhone," added the spokesperson.
Production of the Bluecar has increased following the company’s €150m ($168m) commitment to roll out an electric car charging network across the whole of France.
