By Sheila Keyser, Senior Director, Client Services, Wheels, Inc.

The COVID pandemic has forever changed the workplace environment. For many companies, it is all about flexibility more now than before.

As I think about meeting expectations, I reflect on the Fall of 2020 when the hope for a COVID vaccine was the topic of conversation.

We saw companies get creative on the different ways to keep their businesses moving, while meeting customer expectations.

But for Wheels, flexibility has always had a place in the workplace especially when it comes to taking care of customers. Flexibility is essential to the success of meeting customer expectations.

And we saw those expectations change.

READ MORE

By Art Liggio, President and CEO, Driving Dynamics

We often see headlines about traffic deaths centered around highway safety statistics, but seldom do we see the data on how many people are injured.

Even though traffic volume decreased significantly in 2020, our roadways have been deadlier. Last year 42,060 people died in a crash-related incident—the highest in 13 years.

These highway fatalities represent a 24 percent spike compared to 2019 which was noted as the highest fatality rate in 96 years since 1924.

But what received little to no attention was the dramatic increase of nonfatal, medically consulted injuries. The injury estimates for 2020 is a staggering 4,795,000!

Whether you manage a fleet of vehicles, oversee a mobile salesforce, use a reimbursement program, or simply employ commuters, ensure your driver safety program and policy adequately addresses the risk factors that contribute to these injuries and disabilities. When examining your safety program, you should consider the following examples.

READ MORE

ITA Communications

The key components that make up a successful driver safety program include…

– An assessment of needs and performance shortfalls vis a vis a written policy
– Alignment with corporate social and employee safety goals
– Key training performance goals and metrics
– Active senior leadership support
– Engaging, relevant learning content and communications channels
– Continuous reinforcement of model behavior and performance with impactful consequences and rewards
– Ongoing marketing to gain driver acceptance, understanding, and advocacy

As a long-time fleet marketing specialist, I see that the same proven marketing concepts employed by companies to win customers and strengthen customer relationships can be applied to win drivers’ perceptions and behavior.

READ MORE

CNET

Before you sign on the dotted line for an electric vehicle, new or used, there are some things you should know so you’re not surprised by a car’s real world range.

Cold weather can substantially drop your EV’s range by as much as 25% at freezing temperatures. The newer an EV you buy, the better it’s likely to handle cold weather due to improvements in battery management technology, a good reason to assess a used EV carefully before deciding it’s a bargain.

Battery age is the main reason a used EV may not be a bargain.

Read the article at CNET.

Electrek

A new study from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory offers the most comprehensive results yet of the costs of owning and operating different types of vehicles and how costs vary by powertrain.

The study found that the maintenance costs of battery electric vehicles are 40% lower than ICE vehicles.

Overall, hybrid electric vehicles currently tend to be the lowest-cost powertrain. However, battery electric vehicles will reach cost parity as battery prices drop, and hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric vehicles will reach cost parity with conventional vehicles as the price of hydrogen drops.

Read the article at Electrek.

Autoblog

A new study reveals that the ways in which we manufacture hydrogen in the United States may actually be doing more damage to the environment than good.

The mining of natural gas creates significant quantities of carbon dioxide. The study also found that during the natural gas mining process as much as 3.5% of the gas leaks into the atmosphere, a consequential portion of which is methane. Methane can be, by some estimates, 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide in regards to the greenhouse effect.

While many energy companies are promoting hydrogen as an alternative fuel due to investments in natural gas mines, it would be far more friendly to Mother Earth if hydrogen was manufactured using solar or other forms of renewable energy.

Read the article at Autoblog.

EVANNEX

A recent article in Bloomberg makes the bold assertion that sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles have already peaked, so the future of the global auto industry belongs to electric vehicles.

EVs may still be more expensive than fossils, but that won’t be the case for much longer. Bloomberg finds that, in Europe, battery EVs are approaching purchase-price parity with ICE vehicles.

On a total-cost-of-ownership basis, driving an EV is already cheaper than driving a comparable legacy vehicle.

Read the article at EVANNEX.

McKinsey & Company

The shared-mobility market accounted for approximately $130 billion to $140 billion in global consumer spending in 2019. Out of this, e-hailing accounted for the largest share.  Car sharing and peer-to-peer car sharing account for less than 10 percent of this market, which reflects e-hailing’s higher convenience.

Private vehicles remain the most popular mode of transport in almost every country.  Car sharing is the least used mode on average by consumers today. E-hailing is the most popular for consumers in Brazil, China, and the United States – in China, 90 percent of consumers stated that they use e-hailing services at least once per week.

When considering future mobility modes, respondents are open to robo-taxis, with more than half of them interested in trading in their car in the future, while 7 percent of consumers express they would even pay a premium compared with owning a car.

Read the article at McKinsey & Company.

By Ed Smith, President, Agile Fleet

What would you say if I told you that you could reduce fleet costs tomorrow?

You can. Did you know that having, communicating, and consistently enforcing policy can dramatically reduce fleet costs? I like to say that having good fleet policies is like having a money tree. If a cost-saving policy is communicated and enforced consistently, it will save you money every time.

Do you have a money tree?

Despite the obvious benefits and the relatively low cost of developing them, many fleets do not have written policies. If they do, they do not have systems in place to efficiently communicate and enforce them. Why? Seriously, why?

One great example of such a policy is limiting the use of personal vehicles for official use. There are many reasons it is not a good idea to have employees using personal vehicles for business purposes in most cases. Cost is chief among those reasons.

READ MORE

By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor

Samuel Kellner-Steinmetz, the Chief Sales Officer of Fleet Logistics Group, recently sat down with Fleet Management Weekly to provide insight into the current European fleet market as new challenges and opportunities demand the remaking of European and global fleets.

Headquartered near Munich, Germany, Fleet Logistics is Europe’s largest independent fleet management supplier, serving as the link between the leasing company and the company operating the fleet.

He says, “The world has undergone two significant dislocations in the recent years. First, there’s the COP21 Paris Climate Agreement. The second dislocation is COVID-19.

How do these two events affect the acceleration of electric vehicles, among other trends in Europe and worldwide?”

READ MORE