Why fleets buy telematics for vans that can already send data

In late October, Samsara announced that HelloFresh had chosen it as its telematics partner after a pilot in the Netherlands. The planned rollout covers more than 500 electric delivery vans at more than ten hubs in Belgium and the Netherlands. HelloFresh’s European logistics director singled out the ability to give drivers feedback on how they drive.

But Volkswagen can already tell a fleet where an eligible e-Transporter is, how far it’s travelled and whether it’s charging. So why would HelloFresh still pay for telematics?

Well, follow a delivery round. HelloFresh already uses route optimisation software. The rollout adds real-time safety coaching and the Samsara Driver App, which can show drivers their jobs and let them message dispatch. Samsara will connect to HelloFresh’s own software, so the company can give drivers and depot staff tools for the round while keeping the systems it already uses to plan it.

Take cargo temperature, which HelloFresh plans to monitor as part of the rollout. Carhar insulated a batch of HelloFresh’s e-Transporters and fitted them with electric Konvekta refrigeration. Volkswagen’s published e-Transporter feed leaves out cargo temperature. For the reading to come through Volkswagen, the refrigeration system or sensor would have to pass it into the van’s connected systems, and Volkswagen would have to include it in the fleet’s data package. A fleet can use a separate cargo sensor and a compatible gateway to send temperature readings to Samsara, which can alert depot staff if the load warms up.

Factory data can still save fitting work. On an eligible van, Samsara can receive vehicle readings such as mileage through the manufacturer’s API using the modem already fitted. If those readings are all the fleet needs from a gateway, it can skip the fitting appointment and leave the van’s CAN bus alone. Where a separate cargo sensor needs a gateway, the fleet still has to fit one for that job.

And that option is available across more van makes. Ford and the four participating Stellantis makes accounted for 39% of the new battery-electric light commercial registrations PAVE Insight recorded in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2025. Adding Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, whose European integrations Samsara announced in 2026, brings the combined share of those same registrations to 69%. Each van still has to qualify, but a fleet replacing vans across several makes has more ways to carry on using the same software and draw on factory data.

So why Samsara in particular? Webfleet also offers driver coaching, cold-chain monitoring and factory connections. The Dutch pilot gave HelloFresh a chance to see how Samsara fitted its own delivery operation before committing to a rollout across both countries.

Another fleet can use its own pilot to see what it needs to fit, how drivers get feedback and who gets the warning if a load starts to warm up. So a dispatcher can know precisely where the salad is wilting, and the temperature alert earns its keep when it gives someone time to do something about it.