How does the digital tachograph work?

The digital tachograph electronically registers the driving and rest times, the speed, the number of kilometers, the activities and who the driver is. This data is stored in two places:

• On the chip of the driver card 
• In the memory of the digital tachograph 

Driver card

The driver card records the driving and resting times and other data from the driver over a period of at least 28 days. After this period the data from the first day will be overwritten. You must read the driver card at least every 28 days and keep the data on the company. There is special reading equipment for this.

In practice it has been found that with many stops per day the storage capacity is reached sooner than after 28 days. You must then ensure that the driver card is read out earlier, so that no data is lost.

On the digital tachograph, the driving and rest times made with the vehicle are stored over a period of 365 days. In addition, it also records which driver cards have been entered and whether erroneous actions or fraud attempts have been made. You must download the vehicle data from the digital tachograph every 90 days and store it on the company.

This is dealt with extensively in the tachograph book of evofenedex. You will find useful tips and information on how to use the digital tachograph.

Company card

Apart from the driver card, a company must also provide a company card. This card has two functions:

• Link the used vehicle to the company
• Download the data from the digital tachograph 

You connect a vehicle to your company by putting the company card in the digital tachograph before the first use of the vehicle. The company is then 'locked' to the vehicle. If the vehicle is no longer used, you can put the company card back into the digital tachograph ('unlock'). This means that another company can not drive in your name and your data can no longer be seen.

You can download the data by putting your company card in the digital tachograph. You store the data on a memory stick or laptop to take it to the company.

You can apply for driver cards and company cards at Kiwa Register BV. The tickets cost 97 euros each and are valid for five years.