January 28, 2020

Follow us

Editor’s Analysis & Top Industry News

Being Relevant, Staying Relevant

I attended the Geotab Connect conference in San Diego a couple weeks ago, where I met tons of great people and soaked up tons of great learning! Luckily, I also got some great on-camera interviews while I was there – including this one from Geotab’s Colin Sutherland, imploring fleet managers to be relevant by understanding your vehicles’ data.

Jerome Toliver from Predictive Coach was one of the interesting new people I met at Geotab Connect, and in this on-camera interview he explained how telematics data can be used to assign relevant driver training.

Also in this issue, SuperVision’s Trent Dressen writes about the power of Continuous License Monitoring. Did you know that 40 years of continuous license monitoring for a 1,000-driver fleet, on average, costs less for a company than just one fatal accident?

Enjoy the issue and drive safely!

Ted Roberts
President


VIDEO: Fleet Managers: Be Relevant, Understand Your Vehicles’ Data

A plea to fleet managers to be relevant this decade – by being custodians, owners and managers of the data that comes from their vehicles.

VIDEO: Customer Retention


 A 99% Retention Rate and a Passion for Customer Service
 

SuperVision has an impressive 99% customer retention rate, and a dedicated account team for every single client is one of their strongest offerings.


VIDEO: Predictive Coach

 Using Telematics Data to Assign Relevant Driver Training
 

Predictive Coach is able to use telematics data to automatically assign relevant training to drivers who need it.


The Fleet Spot

Three Local Communities Partner with Enterprise Fleet Management to Upgrade Fleets and Reduce Costs

Three municipalities across the United States have entered into agreements with Enterprise Fleet Management to enhance their vehicle management programs.

The partnerships with the cities of Bunnell, Florida; Hearne, Texas; and Mexia, Texas, will enable them to improve fleet performance, upgrade aging fleets and reduce ownership costs.

As part of its agreement with the City of Bunnell, Enterprise will supply 18 new vehicles – from police cruisers and medium-duty crane trucks to SUVs and half-ton pickup trucks. The partnership, which is projected to save the City of Bunnell more than $90,000 over the next eight years, has the potential to increase to 34 vehicles.

READ MORE

Fleet Logistics Appoints New CEO

Steffen Schick has been appointed as the new CEO of the Fleet Logistics Group, Europe’s largest independent fleet management company.

He takes over the reins of the company from current Chief Financial Officer, Michael Beck, who had also held the position of interim CEO since March 2019.

“With Steffen Schick, we found a leader for Fleet Logistics who has extensive expertise in the automotive industry and in fleet management. The brand neutrality of the vehicle portfolio and the independence from leasing companies should continue to be the most important cornerstones of the corporate strategy,” explains Patrick Fruth, Head of the Auto Service Division at TÜV SÜD.

READ MORE

Major Companies Join New Alliance to Accelerate Transition to Electric Vehicles

Press Release

Ceres announces the launch of a new alliance to help companies accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, a key component of tackling the climate crisis.

Amazon, AT&T, Clif Bar, Consumers Energy, DHL, Direct Energy, Genentech, IKEA North America, LeasePlan, Lime, and Siemens lead push for expanded electric vehicle market and improved policy landscape through the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, led by Ceres.

The Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance will help member companies make and achieve bold commitments to fleet electrification, and is expected to boost the electric vehicle market by signaling the breadth and scale of corporate demand for electric vehicles — expanding the business case for the production of a more diverse array of electric vehicle models. It will also provide a platform to coordinate support for policies that enable fleet electrification.

Read more of the Press Release.

NETS: Driven to Wellness

Did you know that eating and sleeping habits, physical activity, and mental and physical health affect driving behavior?

NETS is pleased to share the latest insightful Drive Safely Work Week® (DSWW) road safety campaign focused on a unique and often overlooked aspect in your road safety program: wellness. Integrating wellness components into your road safety efforts can have a positive impact on your employees’ overall health and driving habits.

This is where NETS “Driven to Wellness” toolkit can help. The toolkit includes a number of valuable concepts and proven solutions on how employees can reach a healthy body weight and increase sleep, as well as tips on how to become more physically active to develop and maintain better health – which ultimately improves safety on the road.

Continuous License Monitoring


Just one liability lawsuit can bankrupt a company

By Trent Dressen, Director of Sales, SuperVision

We get it, businesses are always trying to save money while increasing profit. At first glance, continuous license monitoring may appear to be an additional unnecessary expense, but this proactive approach yields substantial cost savings for fleet management in the long run.

Myth: Continuous License Monitoring is Too Expensive

Fact: Save money with risky driver alerts.

Across the industry, it is reported that 20% of each fleet is involved in a crash annually. Just one “bent metal” crash cost employers $5,800 on average. For a fleet of 1,000 drivers, that’s 200 crashes and $1.16 million in employer cost per year, if there are no injuries or fatalities. When crashes become more severe causing injuries or fatalities, the costs to employers will grow exponentially. Forty years of continuous license monitoring for a 1,000-driver fleet, on average, costs less for a company than just one fatal accident.

READ MORE

 

Autonomous Vehicles


By Mark Boada

Since 2013, Lukas Neckermann has been one of the most visible proponents of shared, electric, self-driving vehicles as the means to achieving the three “zeroes”: zero roadway accidents, zero tailpipe emissions and zero private ownership of cars.

Managing Director of the London, UK-based Neckermann Strategic Advisors, he is the author of three books on what’s widely called the “mobility revolution,” and has appeared as a keynote speaker at a number of fleet industry conferences. Neckermann is also an adjunct instructor at New York University and includes OEMs, government agencies and mobility startups worldwide among his clients.

In his latest report, “Being Driven,” Neckermann and his colleague Frederic John sound a first cautionary note for the high-tech and auto industry companies that are continuing to invest billions in the development of those kinds of cars. Subtitled, “A Study on Human Adoption and Ownership of Autonomous Vehicles,” the 71-page report, containing original research and released late last year, documents that many consumers aren’t as ready to buy in as quickly as the autonomous vehicle community would like or need them to.

The following is an edited transcript of an interview Fleet Management Weekly conducted this month in Neckermann’s London office.

 

In the Public Interest


Driver qualifications (DQ) and monitoring road behavior are cornerstones of driver management programs and, when properly implemented, can significantly increase safety, enhance operational efficiency, and reduce costs

By Bradley Kelley, Senior Vice President, Mercury Associates

Editor’s Note: According to industry surveys and fleet consultants, government fleets lag behind business fleets when it comes to proactive management aimed at preventing traffic accidents. While governments enjoy a certain amount of immunity against liability for accidents involving on-duty emergency vehicles, they can still be sued for damages when non-emergency vehicles are involved.

As business fleets have discovered over the last 10 to 15 years, safety programs that monitor their divers’ fitness to drive and on-road behavior and that identify a fleet’s high-risk drivers have improved fleet safety performance and prevented collisions. In this article, the author offers an introduction to the various ways and benefits of monitoring fleet driver behavior.

For those readers unfamiliar with a DQ program, it is the perpetual documentation and screening of driver credentials, motor vehicle records, and physical health to ensure they are “qualified” to get behind the wheel and drive.

READ MORE


Fleet Trends & Issues

The Cost and Prevention of Non-Driving Injuries

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

While it’s true that some of the most significant fleet costs are the result of highway accidents – especially when fatalities are involved – a very substantial amount are the result of injuries that work truck fleet drivers suffer aren’t collision-related.

We’re talking here about non-fatal musculoskeletal injuries suffered by drivers of every truck class, from light through heavy-duty. The injuries include sprains, strains and neck, shoulder, back and knee injuries resulting from overextension or repetitive motion. They come from a variety of non-driving tasks that work truck drivers are required to perform, like lifting heavy objects while making deliveries or climbing utility poles, but others merely from getting into and out of a truck cab improperly, multiple times a day, day after day.

Billions of dollars lost per year
No figures are available for just work truck drivers alone, but the 2019 Liberty Mutual Safety Index says that soft-tissue injuries cost businesses across all industries $16.8 billion a year in worker’s compensation claims and more than 100 million days lost from work.

READ MORE

AAA: EV Yearly Operating Costs $600 Higher than Gas-Powered Counterpart

AAA Newsroom

New research from AAA finds that over five years and 75,000 miles of driving, the annual cost of owning a new compact electric vehicle is only slightly more expensive – about $600 annually – than its gas-powered counterpart.

The study also revealed that the experience of owning an electric vehicle eases one of the biggest fears associated with these cars – range anxiety.

AAA believes that if consumers have a better understanding of the real cost and experience of owning an electric vehicle, then the gap between expressed interest and adoption will begin to close.

Read the article at AAA Newsroom.

Rivian Preparing to Build EVs for Ford, Amazon, and Itself

Motor Trend

The modern automaker, Rivian is dedicated to producing only electric vehicles and bought the Normal, Illinois plant from Mitsubishi in 2017 for $16 million and is preparing it to make an interesting assortment of vehicles.

The Rivan R1T five-passenger electric pickup, the Rivian R1S electric SUV, an electric luxury SUV for Ford and a fleet of large electric commercial delivery vans for Amazon, to be branded Prime will all roll of the same line.

The factory will have one line dedicated to building a skateboard chassis that all three brands will share—skateboard EV chassis bundle the battery pack(s), suspension, electric motors, and other hardware in a vertically short package so that various bodies can be attached. There will be another line tasked with assembling the three different battery packs Rivian will offer, and it will feed those directly to the skateboard-chassis line.

Read the article at Motor Trend.

Trump Administration Backs Down: Will Approve Modest Annual Mileage Increases

The Detroit Bureau

The White House is reversing itself on federal fuel economy standards, a draft resolution now calling for mileage to rise 1.5% annually through 2029 after originally scheduled to freeze at 2020 levels.

Companies that had wanted a midterm review indicated the freeze went too far. Other manufacturers indicated they didn’t expect to adjust their product plans no matter what the administration did.

Should Trump be defeated in November 2020, the expectation has been that a victorious Democrat would likely tighten mileage rules once again. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor running for the Democratic nomination is calling for the replacement of all gas and diesel-powered vehicles with EVs by 2035.

Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.

Rolling Back Clean Car Standards


NRDC Expert Blog: Luke Tonachel, Director for Clean Vehicles and Fuels, Natural Resources Defense Council

When the Trump administration proposed its ridiculous rollback of clean car standards in 2018, it pretended that the increased costs for drivers at the pump, the loss of jobs and devastating pollution impacts were worth it because of some safety benefits.

It was clear from day one that analysis was done in bad faith and just plain wrong. Now, as it moves to finalize that regulation, the administration is bowing to reality. In a strange plot twist, the administration is now acknowledging that its reworked rule (one that some continue to pretend is “dialed back”) won’t save lives, will increase costs for drivers at the pump and may lead to even more carbon pollution than its original plan.

But, in its unstoppable ineptitude, the administration is still working on issuing the rule.

Read the NRDC blog

 

Safety & Risk


The unique hazards that parking lots create for drivers can be avoided if the appropriate safety measures are taken. By maintaining awareness, avoiding congested spots, and using safe parking techniques, drivers can safely navigate parking lots, avoid collisions and prevent damage to their vehicles.

By Art Liggio, President and CEO, Driving Dynamics

Driving in parking lots may seem non-threatening with low speed limits and neatly organized rows and spaces, but according to the National Safety Council, tens of thousands of crashes occur in lots and garage structures annually. And, further analysis of data indicates that 9 percent of pedestrian deaths in parking lots result from backing incidents. (National Safety Council, 2016)

While new vehicle advancements such as rear cross-traffic warning systems and rear-view cameras may lessen these risks by alerting drivers of potential hazards, drivers can’t solely rely on technology to prevent collisions. Drivers must always take responsibility to remain attentive and employ safe driving skills while driving through lots and parking and backing their vehicles in these environments.

READ MORE

 

Right-Sizing Your Fleet


By Ed Smith, President, Agile Fleet

Having a right-sized fleet is essential to fulfilling the mission of your organization.

Whether you are a community college with 15 vehicles or a large government, utility, or commercial enterprise with tens of thousands of vehicles, understanding and managing fleet utilization should be a top-of-mind thing that is at the core of right-sizing initiatives. Why? Because utilization metrics tell you about the size of your fleet relative to your needs.

The size of your fleet directly impacts the ability to complete your mission, and, it has a significant impact on your organization’s financial bottom-line. Too few vehicles and you can’t get work done. Too many vehicles and you’re burning money needlessly. The key is to have the “right” utilization when it comes to your fleet.

What is a right-sized fleet?

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.




Index to FleetManagementWeekly.com 

Fleet Management Weekly Newsletter Archive
Access to back issues of the FMW newsletter.

FMW Mobility
How mobility is rapidly changing the fleet management landscape.

Subscribe

FMW Fleet Videos
Video clips of industry leaders speaking on a variety of engaging hot topics in fleet.

FMW Autonomous Vehicles
The constantly evolving landscape of autonomous vehicles.

Contact Us

FMW Fleet Trends & Issues
A wide scope of topical news for today’s fleet professionals.

FMW Fleet Safety
News and practices to help you bring your drivers home safely, every day.

Media Kit