Is Right-Sizing Your Fleet All That Important? The Answer is Yes and Here’s Why
By Ed Smith, President, Agile Fleet
Having a right-sized fleet is essential to fulfilling the mission of your organization.
Whether you are a community college with 15 vehicles or a large government, utility, or commercial enterprise with tens of thousands of vehicles, understanding and managing fleet utilization should be a top-of-mind thing that is at the core of right-sizing initiatives. Why? Because utilization metrics tell you about the size of your fleet relative to your needs.
The size of your fleet directly impacts the ability to complete your mission, and, it has a significant impact on your organization’s financial bottom-line. Too few vehicles and you can’t get work done. Too many vehicles and you’re burning money needlessly. The key is to have the “right” utilization when it comes to your fleet.
What is a right-sized fleet?
AAA: EV Yearly Operating Costs $600 Higher than Gas-Powered Counterpart
New research from AAA finds that over five years and 75,000 miles of driving, the annual cost of owning a new compact electric vehicle is only slightly more expensive – about $600 annually – than its gas-powered counterpart.
The study also revealed that the experience of owning an electric vehicle eases one of the biggest fears associated with these cars – range anxiety.
AAA believes that if consumers have a better understanding of the real cost and experience of owning an electric vehicle, then the gap between expressed interest and adoption will begin to close.
Read the article at AAA Newsroom.
Rivian Preparing to Build EVs for Ford, Amazon, and Itself
The modern automaker, Rivian is dedicated to producing only electric vehicles and bought the Normal, Illinois plant from Mitsubishi in 2017 for $16 million and is preparing it to make an interesting assortment of vehicles.
The Rivan R1T five-passenger electric pickup, the Rivian R1S electric SUV, an electric luxury SUV for Ford and a fleet of large electric commercial delivery vans for Amazon, to be branded Prime will all roll of the same line.
The factory will have one line dedicated to building a skateboard chassis that all three brands will share—skateboard EV chassis bundle the battery pack(s), suspension, electric motors, and other hardware in a vertically short package so that various bodies can be attached. There will be another line tasked with assembling the three different battery packs Rivian will offer, and it will feed those directly to the skateboard-chassis line.
Read the article at Motor Trend.
Trump Administration Backs Down: Will Approve Modest Annual Mileage Increases
The White House is reversing itself on federal fuel economy standards, a draft resolution now calling for mileage to rise 1.5% annually through 2029 after originally scheduled to freeze at 2020 levels.
Companies that had wanted a midterm review indicated the freeze went too far. Other manufacturers indicated they didn’t expect to adjust their product plans no matter what the administration did.
Should Trump be defeated in November 2020, the expectation has been that a victorious Democrat would likely tighten mileage rules once again. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor running for the Democratic nomination is calling for the replacement of all gas and diesel-powered vehicles with EVs by 2035.
Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.
NETS: Driven to Wellness
Did you know that eating and sleeping habits, physical activity, and mental and physical health affect driving behavior?
NETS is pleased to share the latest insightful Drive Safely Work Week® (DSWW) road safety campaign focused on a unique and often overlooked aspect in your road safety program: wellness. Integrating wellness components into your road safety efforts can have a positive impact on your employees' overall health and driving habits.
This is where NETS “Driven to Wellness” toolkit can help. The toolkit includes a number of valuable concepts and proven solutions on how employees can reach a healthy body weight and increase sleep, as well as tips on how to become more physically active to develop and maintain better health – which ultimately improves safety on the road.
