New E-guide Available: Re-Opening Your Fleet, Managing Vehicles, and Changing Fleet Operations in a Pandemic Environment
Chances are good that your fleet utilization is lower than normal during these troubling times. And, although fleet utilization dropped off rather abruptly in March of 2020, utilization likely will not turn on as if a light switch was flipped. The result could be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of leases or other fleet costs - just sitting in your parking lots.
For an in-depth look at this issue, DOWNLOAD this new E-BOOK created by the experts at Agile Fleet that addresses the pandemic fleet environment.
Safely Sharing Our Streets and Highways
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, lately beset by tragic fires, and we’re seeing something we rarely see roaming our urban neighborhood streets, large animals like mountain lions and deer. So, the timing couldn’t be better for FMW's newest contributor, Donald Dunphy, to write about how you can prepare your fleet to deal with an unusual vehicle-animal collision season.
In Call to Action: The Pandemic-Driven Sales-Support Marketing Audit, marketing guru Ed Pierce makes a powerful case for a return to strategic planning in the wake of slashed budgets. He says, “A high-level B2B Sales-Support Marketing Audit can help rebuild your program to achieve growth while ensuring a much higher degree of resource efficiency – dollars and human.”
We are enjoying the AFLA NextGen 2020 Virtual Corporate Fleet Conference and are delighted to congratulate Yogi Shivdasani, VP North America Supply Chain at LKQ Corporation, honored with AFLA’s 2020 Fleet Executive of the Year Award, and Lee Pierce, Director of Fleet at Nutrien AG Solutions, who was named Fleet Manager of the Year!
FMW thanks Mike Pitcher for his video reminding us that October is Distracted Driving Awareness Month! Did you know that nine people a day die from distracted driving and 1,000 are injured? One is too many.
Stay safe!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Beam’s Amazing Solution to the EV Charging Infrastructure Challenge
Solar-powered, no construction costs, no permits required
By Mark Boada, Executive Editor
September 2020
One of the biggest challenges North American fleets face when considering converting to electric vehicles is the relative lack of charging infrastructure. The solution, at least for depot-based fleets with routes that run under 100 miles a day or so, is to install their own.
But there are a couple of not-inconsiderable hurdles to that option. One is price: in many cases, connections to the local utility company require the digging of trenches at the fleet’s expense, which, alone, can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another is time: it can take many months and sometimes well more than a year to get a charging station up and running, given the availability of construction crews and that permits usually have to be obtained, by which time the fleet’s charging requirements may have changed.
Once installed, though, such new infrastructure is permanent, and if the depot’s location changes the charging infrastructure has to be rebuilt elsewhere at additional expense. And then there’s the fact that the electricity isn’t free and is subject to brown-outs and black-outs that occasionally strike utility companies.
Journey Management: Preparing Drivers to Safely Travel During Times of Civil Unrest
By Art Liggio, CEO and President, Driving Dynamics
September 2020
The very first amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects individual rights of free speech along with other important civil liberties.
Over the decades, Americans have cherished and embraced this right and, in many cases, this freedom has contributed to producing a better society. Free speech has often been exercised as citizens gather to protest unfair practices and decisions made by government mandates on both the federal and state levels, and to address other societal wrongs.
During 2020 we have experienced both the good and the bad, as demonstrations have surged to new levels and continue today. About 95 percent have remained peaceful but five percent of these events have resulted in civil unrest, violence, and police enforcement.
Conducting a Fleet Utilization Study? Don’t Miss These Expert Tips
By Ed Smith, Agile Fleet Is your organization being asked to conduct a fleet utilization study? Some organizations are required to do formal studies at fixed intervals. For example, GSA Fleet recommends that a Vehicle Allocation Methodology (VAM) survey be done every five years. Others may need to perform utilization studies to validate desired objectives, […]
