By Ed Pierce, Fleet Management Weekly’s Brand Acceleration

Fluid Truck is an on-demand commercial vehicle rental platform where both individuals and businesses can access a variety of trucks and vans for short- and long-term use.

Through their mobile app, users can book vehicles online and pick them up from a nearby location any time of day or night.

While some small businesses may rely entirely on Fluid Truck for vehicle rental, the company also serves businesses that already have existing fleets.

“Fluid Truck gives individuals and businesses access to a commercial vehicle when they need it, whether it be a cargo van, pickup truck, or box truck,” says Stephen Joos, Vice President of Corporate Development at Fluid Truck.

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By Gina Bonini, VP and General Manager of Advanced Thermal Systems at Modine

Commercial EVs have requirements for wintertime operation that are somewhat different from those of their diesel counterparts, necessitating a departure from traditional winterization practices.

Despite being one of the least visible components, thermal management is one of the most critical EV systems since temperature impacts vehicle range, charging time, and battery life expectancy.

Thermal management is essential for all contemporary EVs, including passenger cars. However, e-buses, off-highway machinery, and other heavy-duty applications usually require dedicated, active systems.

Seasonal upkeep for commercial EVs may differ slightly from traditional internal combustion engines, but fleet managers can streamline this process by prioritizing diagnostic and maintenance software, including thermal management systems.

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By Ed Pierce, Fleet Management Weekly’s Brand Acceleration

Negotiation is an efficient and collaborative way of resolving disputes and challenges in B2B settings. It allows parties to explore solutions that meet everyone’s interests while producing mutually beneficial results.

Anxiety over negotiation skills may contribute to discomfort, thus making teaching negotiation skills essential in helping new managers resolve disagreements.

Businesses looking to maximize negotiation in business-to-business settings can use various techniques, including training and education to provide negotiation techniques to equip managers with the skills needed for effective negotiations.

Negotiation may be the best form of dispute resolution for building or sustaining a valuable business relationship that offers long-term benefits.

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“Hybrids now have very few compromises compared to their gas alternatives,” Andrew Frick, head of Ford’s the Detroit automaker’s gas and hybrid vehicle division, told The Wall Street Journal this week. Frick’s comments come as demand for hybrid vehicles soars, partly due to drivers’ worries about charging electric cars.

Those concerns have dented sales of EVs in recent months.

Cox Automotive expects 14% of the 15.7 million new vehicles sold in the US this year to be hybrids, higher than the 10% market share for EVs. There are about 70 hybrid models to choose from and they’re often significantly cheaper than electric cars.

via Autoblog

Recently, a woman rented an EV from Hertz but was sent out the door with no education on how to effectively use it. Things couldn’t have gone much worse for her.

She eventually had a low battery and stopped at a charging station but had no idea how to activate the charger. She then sat there for an hour and a half waiting for help with the accessory system on. This depleted the vehicle’s 12-volt battery, so once she got that all figured out, the vehicle couldn’t be charged.

By the time AAA arrived, they couldn’t help her activate the system and didn’t know what was wrong. AAA also didn’t know how to jump an EV.

via CleanTechnica

EV infrastructure startup Gravity just released a 200kW curbside DC fast charger. This speedy 18 x 9 x 27-inch DC charger can be mounted to street utility poles and uses the same advanced technology as Gravity’s record-setting indoor charging systems.

Gravity says its lightning-fast curbside EV chargers can deliver 200 miles of range in 13 minutes, don’t need utility upgrades or street reconstruction, and can be deployed en masse. What’s more, the UL Solutions-certified chargers are bidirectional.

via Electrek

GM was collecting driver data, such as acceleration, vehicle speed, braking, and mileage, using its OnStar Smart Driver feature.

Some drivers were reportedly unaware of that feature’s data-collecting capabilities. That data was being shared with data brokers LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk, who’d then sell it to the insurance industry.

“OnStar Smart Driver customer data is no longer being shared with LexisNexis or Verisk,” said GM Spokesperson Malorie Lucich, according to the NY Times. “Customer trust is a priority for us, and we are actively evaluating our privacy processes and policies.”

via The Drive

By Bryan Christiansen, CEO and founder of Limble

For today’s trucking businesses, staying on the road means balancing all the responsibilities of managing a diverse fleet of vehicles, complying with new safety standards, and mitigating business disruptions from unforeseen breakdowns.

For fleet managers to mitigate the impact of all types of downtime, they must overhaul their reactive strategy and instead embrace a proactive and preventative approach to fleet maintenance.

Predictive maintenance and preventive maintenance are two different approaches to managing equipment and assets more proactively.

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By Tod Trousdell, Fleet Marketing Consultant and Partner/RobertsTrousdell Communications

While this year’s NTEA Work Truck Week hit an all-time attendance record of 15,790 attendees and 536 exhibitors, let’s just say the 2024 version of Work Truck Week was a little less ‘electric.’

Seemingly gone are the days when the mere mention of electrification sent many fleets – pressured by corporate ESG initiatives and government edicts – blindly into EV adoption before anyone knew how to successfully implement them.

“EVs are going to be an important part of the story…there’s no denying what a game changer they are,” said David Hayward, Global Fleet Director for ABM. “It’s just that I think it’s going to take a while for EVs to develop fully and that’s going to require a lot of different options to help fleets meet sustainability goals along the way.

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By Ed Pierce, Fleet Management Weekly’s Brand Acceleration

As more interest in adding EVs to fleets surges, fleet professionals are running into roadblocks on electrification. There are obstacles that have prevented some fleets from taking the plunge to electrify.

The transition to electric vehicles can be intimidating and complex for fleets who have invested time and money into optimizing an ICE fleet, notes Josh Green, founder and CEO of Inspiration Mobility.

Inspiration brings EV leasing, EV-first fleet management, and charging under one roof to accelerate and de-risk the transition to EVs.

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