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Electrek
Ford is planning to double production of their upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, according to Reuters. The move comes in response to strong early demand, with Ford already racking up 120,000 customer reservations for the vehicle in advance of its spring 2022 release.
Ford’s new plan includes a ramp to 15,000 vehicles in 2022, 55,000 in 2023, and 80,000 in 2024. Ford will then target 160,000 vehicles in 2025 when the second-generation Lightning hits the road, which will be developed on Ford’s new electric-only TE1 platform.
Ford has already increased F-150 Lightning production before. Back in November, they announced a plan to add 350 more production jobs and increase production by 50% over previous plans. So now, Ford is planning to produce three times as many electric F-150s as the original plan. Only 6% of the trucks Ford makes in the next five years will be electric.
Read the article at Electrek.
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Press Release
According to a study by NHTSA, more than 94% of collisions are attributable to driver error, and of those incidents, a majority stem from risk factors that include distracted driving, speeding, tailgating, and improper turns.
Many of today’s telematics-based systems do not provide the full measure of risk, which means fleets and their insurance carriers are relying on lagging metrics and after-event reviews.
Nauto explores this topic in the new white paper that was released today entitled “Measure & Reduce Risk in Fleets” which provides a deep understanding of how commercial fleets can effectively measure and reduce their driving risk to reduce vehicle collisions and collision-related financial loss by hundreds of millions of dollars in just months.
Read more of the Press Release and download the white paper.
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Press Release
Discount Tire and Motorq are offering a new connected vehicle data analytics platform to Discount Tire’s fleet customers. The platform will access and analyze live data streamed directly from connected vehicles, giving Discount Tire’s fleet customers critical insights about their vehicles and drivers to make better business decisions.
“Now more than ever fleet managers can benefit from data that makes their fleets more efficient, safe, and increases the health of fleet vehicles,” said Chris Adams, Vice President at Discount Tire. “What’s most exciting to us is the ease of getting started: no third-party hardware or software. We believe this is a big benefit for fleet customers of all sizes.”
Information across three key categories are available to Discount Tire fleet customers from this new service: Vehicle Location & Travel, Vehicle Health & Maintenance, and Safety.
Read more of the Press Release.
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The Drive
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the national use rate of seat belts was at 90.3% in 2020. In the late 40s and early 50s, buyers started seeing cars with seat belts as options, and by the early 1970s, American car manufacturers were required to include seat belts in new vehicles.
Chevrolet expanded its Teen Driver mode (a suite of features to keep kids safe behind the wheel) in 2019 to include a “Buckle to Drive” mode that won’t allow the driver to shift out of park unless the seat belt is properly buckled.
Now it appears Buckle to Drive will be included as a standard feature on more 2022 SUVs and full-size trucks like the redesigned 2022 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra.
Read the article at The Drive.
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By Louis Efron
Will your next package or pizza be delivered by an electric vehicle? Will you be ushered to your destination by an electric Lyft or your children taken to school in an electric bus?
Fleets are going electric fast, and big industry players like Daimler, Cummins, Peterbilt, and Volvo sell commercial EVs to support the transition. In addition, start-ups such as BYD, GreenPower, Orange EV, and Proterra are filling in the gaps for commercial EV supply.
Unfortunately, customer-focused charging technology has not kept pace with the advancement of EVs. It is not uncommon for consumer EV drivers to pull up to a charging site that is not working or with long wait times. This dynamic is simply not sustainable and certainly not an option for commercial fleet operators who must keep their vehicles charged and on the road to support their business and customers.
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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.
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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
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