November 19, 2019

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Editor’s Analysis & Top Industry News



Best Practices and Proven Strategies

FMW is delighted to launch a new column in this week’s issue. The first in a series written by Randy Read, president of EnVue, is The Continuing Evolution of Telematics Technology. Randy will not promote particular products in the series but share best practices and proven strategies he has gathered from working with a variety of businesses.

Many of us experience the effects of the twice-yearly one-hour time change on our internal clocks. Art Liggio focuses on the serious risks to both drivers and pedestrians in Don’t Let an Extra Hour Throw You Off Course – Tips for Navigating the Time Change.

If you manage a federal fleet, don’t miss Adlore Chaudier’s piece: Confusing Changes to Two Key Federal Fleet Fuel Performance Metrics.

Speaking of the Feds, California raises the stakes in its tussle with the Trump administration over the state’s clean car rules.

Enjoy the issue and drive safety!

Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief


VIDEO: A Seamless Global Driver Training Solution

This tried and true driver training solution is truly global in its approach.

VIDEO: Fuel Delivery for Fleets


 Last Mile Delivery Company Sees Big Benefits in Getting Fuel Delivered
 

For one last-mile delivery company, having Booster deliver fuel has translated to huge benefits when it comes to time and money saved.


VIDEO: Tires and Safety

 Run-Flat Tires Save Time and Improve Safety
 

Bridgestone has been working on a variety of new products of interest to fleets, including a run-flat tire that lets you drive up to up to 50 miles at 50 miles per hour after puncture.


The Fleet Spot



Driving Dynamics’ Cormier Talks Driver Safety Tech at the IP Utility Safety Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina

Driving Dynamics Inc. announced Carl Cormier, senior driving instructor for the company, will present: “The Brave New World of Technology and Driver Safety: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” on Wednesday, November 20th from 7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. at the upcoming utility fleet conference.

His session will focus on educating participants about the safety challenges utility fleet drivers face in an era of emerging technologies and how these new tools and systems can help and potentially hurt fleets from a liability perspective.

READ MORE.

Holman Enterprises Announces Executive Appointments

Holman Enterprises Release

Company veteran Rick Tousaw will fill the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer for Holman Enterprises, overseeing the strategic development and execution of the organization’s marketing efforts.

Tousaw also serves as Chief Commercial Officer for the Holman businesses focused on serving the fleet industry – ARI, Auto Truck Group and Holman Parts Distribution.

ARI has promoted Anthony Foursha to Executive Vice President, Sales and Service Excellence. Additionally, Craig Balfour has been named Vice President of Marketing for Holman Automotive.

READ MORE

Booster Expands On-Demand Fuel Service to Seattle

Booster Fuels

Booster announced it has started gas routes in Seattle, Wash. The company launches the market with new, local customers including Advanced Government Services, Century Link, and Monarch.

Current customers have also expanded Booster service to their Seattle fleets including Traffic Management Inc. and Imperfect Produce. Seattle is the first market the company has launched since its $56 million series C funding round in June.

“Seattle holds a special place in Booster history. It was after sitting in line at a gas station on Capitol Hill one rainy day that I was inspired to create Booster,” said Frank Mycroft, CEO, Booster. “We’ve delivered over two million tanks of gas safely and sustainably. It’s exciting to see how much we’ve accomplished, and we’re just getting started. We believe a gas station that is mobile and comes to consumers and fleets is the future.”

Read more of the release.

Reciprocation Drives Positive Results

By Laura Jozwiak, Senior Vice President of Sales and Client Relations, Wheels, Inc.

Social cues help us understand if we’re being understood, accepted, rebuffed, or if we’re just being plain annoying to the people around us.

Have you noticed when you’re talking to someone across a table and they lean back in their chair with their arms folded at their chest? Perhaps even with their brows furrowed?

I want you to engage in a little social experiment: sit back in your chair, cross your arms, narrow your eyes, and furrow your brows. How does that feel? It probably doesn’t feel very positive, does it? And it may remind you of a time that your actions caused this behavior in others. I have certainly been in that position before!

Social cues can lead to positive or negative reciprocation.

READ MORE

Safety & Risk


By: Art Liggio, CEO and President of Driving Dynamics

For those of us who have reverted from Daylight-Saving Time to Standard Time, be careful! Unaccustomed to the early onset of darkness, drivers struggle as their internal clocks are trying to adjust, and even once that happens, there are still additional challenges.

While it’s hard to believe that gaining an hour can put someone at risk, multiple traffic safety studies conclude that there is an increase in the average number of collisions following the end of Daylight-Saving Time. In particular, according to the National Road Safety Foundation, higher crash rates occur in the late afternoon due to the reduced visibility from an earlier sunset and drowsiness.

Not only does the change in sleep patterns and decreased visibility adversely affect drivers, but pedestrians suffer the consequences as well.

READ MORE

 

Telematics Technology Today


First in a Series on the Benefits and How to Select, Implement and Optimize

By Randy Read, President, EnVue Telematics

There are many good telematics products in the marketplace today. The basic platforms of most of these products have more similarities than they do differentiators. The “secret sauce,” if you will, is in how we use telematics to produce and optimize value — value that is quantifiable and sustainable.

My focus will not be to promote any particular product but to share my experiences and best practices; ideas I have gathered from working with companies of all different sizes in all types of business verticals and with products from a number of different providers.

The purpose of my article today, and the subsequent ones to follow are to share some of the proven strategies for how to create sustainable, maximum value for your organization with the use of telematics and complementary technology products, and how to enhance the values your existing technologies can deliver.

READ MORE

 

In the Public Interest


All fleet programs should have goals and strategies for minimizing petroleum consumption and increasing alternative fuel consumption, as required by law, and strive for annual progress

By Adlore Chaudier, Associate Vice President, Mercury Associates

In 2018, the Trump administration issued confusing guidance on two core federal fleet performance metrics that affect fuel efficiency and the use of alternative fuels. These modifications are part of the overall “streamlining” of regulations across the federal government.

The changes in federal fleet management came about via an executive order signed by President Trump, which delegated overall responsibility for fleet strategy to the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

READ MORE


Fleet Trends & Issues



LeasePlan Introduces Revolutionary Product OneConnect

LeasePlan USA today launched a unique new platform further evolving its telematics value proposition into a new frontier in fleet management.

OneConnect is a new Connected Vehicle cloud platform that merges real-time raw data from vehicles on the road with proprietary LeasePlan fleet management data providing the best 360-degree view of overall fleet performance and driver behavior.

“OneConnect provides a window into never before-seen fleet insights,” said Felipe Smolka, executive vice president of transformation, who leads on strategy and innovation at LeasePlan USA. “The uniqueness of our new approach lands a fresh flavor on how to look at a fleet, as we now have the opportunity to marry all relevant data points into one single pane of glass.”

Read more.

Germany Welcomes Tesla Gigafactory to Berlin-Brandenburg Location

Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI)

Tesla founder Elon Musk reportedly plans to establish its fourth so-called Gigafactory in the Brandenburg town of Grünheide as well as a design and engineering center in Berlin itself.

The project will create an estimated 10,000 jobs and is expected to be up and running by late 2021. The Brandenburg facility would produce batteries and both the Y Model and flagship Model 3.

“We’ve been talking to Tesla for around three years,” says GTAI CEO Robert Hermann. “Tesla’s decision reflects how attractive Germany is as a place of investment and technology, and its central location will make it possible for the company to expand quickly into further European Union markets.”

Read the article at Germany Trade & Invest.

The 10 Most Reliable Vehicles for 2020

The Detroit Bureau

When it comes to cars and how reliable they are, keep in mind that newer isn’t necessarily better, according to Consumer Reports’ latest “Auto Reliability Survey.”

Updated models or entirely new replacements for outdated models often come with new technology or applications that can be prone to problems.

“When you redesign a new vehicle, often you get better fuel economy, better safety, potentially better features,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing for Consumer Reports. “But if you want … reliability, your best bet is to wait a year or two until those initial growing pains have been worked out.”

Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.

It Will Take More Than A Cool App To Get People Out Of Their Cars

City Lab

“Mobility as a Service” (MaaS) boosters say that technology can nudge drivers to adopt transit and micromobility, but that isn’t enough to liberate cities from our reliance on automobility.

Technology platforms that allow commuters to easily book and plan trips across an array of urban transportation services—including transit, bikeshare, ride hail, e-scooters, and more, could help wean them off privately owned automobiles, but not if the bus only runs once an hour, or you have to ride that scooter or bike on a street shared with cars and trucks zooming by at 45 miles per hour.

Without supportive policies and investment decisions, such as new taxpayer funding, the smartest MaaS technology in the world won’t be able lower all the barriers to living a car-free lifestyle.

Read the article at City Lab.

Electric Vehicles for California


Inside EVs

Effective immediately, the California state government has stopped buying gas-powered cars, with the exception being for public safety vehicles, most likely because electric versions may not be plentiful or even available for those specific needs.

Furthermore, starting in January, the state will no longer buy vehicles from manufacturers that refused to voluntarily agree to follow California’s clean car rules.

The new rules mean that electric vehicles like the Toyota Prius Prime and Chevy Bolt won’t even be considered for state purchase anymore, since Toyota & General Motors, as well as Fiat Chrysler, recently sided with the Trump administration with regards to tailpipe emission rules. Meanwhile, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and BMW may get a boost in sales, since they all agreed to continue to follow California’s strict emission rules, even though they may no longer be required to.

Read the article at Inside EVs.

 

Parking, Fleets and SpotHero


Becca Rabinowitz, Director of Strategic Business Lines at SpotHero

For decades, personal cars have been mobility’s bread and butter.

But with the rise of attractive alternatives to personal vehicles, car ownership is no longer a necessity for people living in urban areas. And with a new generation fully accustomed to finding services through their smartphones, dozens of shared car providers are looking to fill the new desire for cars-on-demand.

But when you consider how much work goes into maintaining just one car, it makes you wonder how car share fleets are managing the logistics of car ownership—the responsibilities consumers have been quick, and thankful, to relinquish.

Companies like ReachNow, Canvas, and LimePod have felt the weight of these challenges in recent months, making now an important moment to think critically about how fleets can continue to support this growing demand. Before assuming responsibility over thousands of cars at once, fleets will need to master the three core logistical challenges of managing shared cars at scale: storage, payments, and servicing.

READ MORE

 

Disruptive Leadership


By John Wysseier, CEO and President, The CEI Group, Inc.

Panic is never a preferred business mode, yet so much has been made of the dire threat of disruption over the last few years that it may seem that’s the emotion the business and trade press have been trying to instill.

That hasn’t been my objective. Instead, what I and most of the keen-eyed observers I’ve been following have been trying to do is to persuade senior executives that they need to appreciate the dramatic ways in which digital technology is changing the face of business, and to deepen their understanding of the ever-expanding array of applications that may be used to undermine or strengthen their competitiveness.

To be sure – and as I’ve cited in recent posts – the pace of change in the business world driven by new technology is accelerating and is being reflected in the speed by which the roster of industry leaders has been changing recently and is forecast to continue.

READ MORE





Fleet Management Resources

 

ACERTUS
Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.

eDriving
eDriving partners with its clients to engage with drivers and their managers to create a culture that supports lasting behavioral change to reduce collisions, injuries, license violations as well as a fleet’s total cost of ownership.

SuperVision
SuperVision is a fleet driver management solution for MVR & license monitoring, fleet management, fleet safety oversight and driver performance and retention.

The CEI Group Inc.
CEI is North America’s largest provider of fully integrated fleet accident management, driver safety and risk management services.

NAFA Fleet Management Association
NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.

WEX
WEX fuel cards and fleet management solutions give you powerful tools to reduce spending — for any business, any fleet, any size.

Driving Dynamics
Driving Dynamics was established to help corporate fleet drivers develop expert, safe driving skills using proven, advanced driving techniques.

PARS
PARS’ mission is to provide you with high-quality service at competitive prices for all of your transportation needs.

Wheels, Inc.
First in fleet for 80 years. Wheels helps you build tomorrow’s fleet today.




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