By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

Possibly the most viewed “Call to Action” column I’ve written is “Think Sales to Get the Best Return on Your Next Trade Show.

In fact, NAFA has referred fleet service providers to this column to prepare properly for the NAFA I&E. That column’s conclusion was that a big booth, giveaways, and other marketing ideas do not ensure an acceptable return on the investment without a sales focus. All in all, an industry trade show exhibit and conference strategy should be handled by a sales and marketing double-team.

Trade show participation can shorten the decision-making time on the typically long sales cycle. It can help initiate or bolster relationships between sales and multiple sourcing team members. It also provides a unique opportunity for captive-audience product differentiators or user experience demonstrations.

Because conferences are must-attend events for so many decision-makers, they are convenient and timely opportunities to arrange single-customer or customer advisory group meetings with your company’s management team.

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Fleet risk management is part of an organization’s DNA

By Jim Noble, eDriving’s Vice President of Risk Engineering

Over the years I’ve met many fleet professionals who are extremely knowledgeable about fleet safety. Yet, I’m always surprised how many don’t regard themselves to be involved in fleet risk management. Effective driver safety is fleet risk management. And, it’s time for them to be recognized as part of the same mission.

While a focus on employee safety is always a positive, all too often companies concentrate solely on the safety processes that take place within the workplace. For example, the company might develop a view of known risks by using previous losses and incidents to identify risk. Compliance – while crucial – is often a safety priority, with procedures such as drug and alcohol testing at the forefront of activities. Typically, safety requirements and messaging are focused at middle management and the frontline, and safety might be described as a “core function”.

Risk management approaches risk in a more holistic way, by evaluating its causes and its solutions.

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Harvard Business Review

Moody’s recently warned that climate change will cause $69 trillion in economic damage globally by 2100, even with warming held to only 2 degrees Celsius.

Fossil fuel interests use their enormous influence to protect a subsidy the International Monetary Fund estimated to be $650 billion in 2015 in the U.S. alone. The bigger problem, however, is that America’s top corporate trade associations follow the fossil fuel industry’s lead.

With so many economic and scientific warnings out there about climate change, America’s corporate trade associations should be steering Congress toward the safe harbor of a strong climate bill. But that’s not what’s happening now — in fact, the opposite is true.

Read the article at Harvard Business Review.

Road Show by Cnet

UPS uses hundreds of planes and thousands of trucks to deliver about 20 million packages a day and will start getting some help doing all that work from some self-driving minivans.

The delivery giant has teamed up with Waymo to test its fleet of autonomous vehicles to move packages. Waymo minivans will start driving residential and business shipments dropped off at UPS Stores around Phoenix and drive them to a nearby UPS sorting building for processing.

The vehicles will drive themselves, though a driver will be on board to keep tabs on things. The self-driving cars are expected to get packages into UPS’ network faster and more frequently, helping speed up deliveries.

Read the article at Road Show.

Forbes

A California start-up has produced a vehicle ignition system it says reduces harmful emissions and raises fuel economy, while tossing aside century-old science still being used today, as the world awaits greater consumer acceptance of electric vehicles.

The system developed by Transient Plasma Systems (TPS) of Torrance, Calif. substitutes low-temperature plasma for the traditional spark and also does away with ignition coils.

Running an extremely lean mixture, meaning having a lot more air than fuel, you can burn at lower temperature which is going to produce less NOX and you’re going to have a more efficient engine because there’s less heat losses burning at a lower temperature

Read the article at Forbes.

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.

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MSN

The development of advanced driver assistance systems represents one of the biggest steps forward in safety technology since the introduction of airbags in the 1970s and the requirement in 2012 that all vehicles have electronic stability control.

The downside is that repairs cost more when ADAS components are damaged or even jarred slightly in minor collisions. Sensors integral to ADAS usually live in peripheral, easy-to-damage areas—inside bumpers and windshields, and in side mirrors.

“Ten years ago, our average repair ticket was about $1,600,” said Tim Cook, owner of “A” Auto Body Shop in the Richmond, Va., area, which is qualified to work on ADAS-equipped cars. “Now, it’s over $4,000. We’re seeing more and more cars declared total losses because of the cost of repairing them.”

Read the article at MSN.

eiQ Mobility

A new nationwide study of thousands of take-home fleet vehicles reveals that the vast majority could be replaced with commercially available battery electric vehicles today with no loss in operational capability.

The study, conducting by eIQ Mobility of Oakland, California, found that “of the 5,900+ passenger cars analyzed, we found that 91 percent could be replaced with electric vehicles today using only Level 2 EV chargers” overnight at drivers’ homes.

The study based its findings on studies of major business fleets in a wide range of industries, including pharmaceuticals, utilities, logistics, beverages and equipment services across the U.S. and Canada. “We have shown that an electric vehicle fleet can complete all daily trip requirements with overnight charging. Electrification is feasible in practically any climate and under and majority of driving profiles. “

Read the full article here.

The Detroit Bureau

Key obstacles, such as EV range and price are rapidly fading away, meaning pure battery-electric vehicles could reach a “tipping point,” with prices reaching parity with gas-powered vehicles by as early as 2023.

With EVs expected to become less and less expensive to own and operate, fewer motorists will be willing to give up the freedom and flexibility of having a car in the driveway and always at the ready.

In its 2018 EV study, the Boston Consulting Group estimated about 48% of U.S. vehicles would use some form of electric propulsion, with an emphasis on mild, conventional and plug-in hybrids. The latest survey raises the figure to 51 percent.

Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.

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.