The Corporate Fleet Manager As Change Agent
By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor
With the many concurrent changes affecting business fleets these days, how has the role of corporate fleet manager changed?
More than ever, the successful fleet manager is now an agent of change, not a victim of change.
Rather than being whipsawed by higher fuel operating costs, for example, while dealing with vehicle management direction to tamp down expenses due to market conditions, today’s fleet manager must stay on top of the economic, market, customer, competitive, and internal goings-on as thoroughly as they manage fleet operations using advanced fleet analytics.
GM Wants to Make EV Road Trips Easier With Countrywide Charging Network
July 14, 2022 - General Motors announced Thursday that they plan to set up 2,000 coast-to-coast DC charging stalls at 500 centers. Each of these stalls will be stationed at 50-mile intervals across the U.S. focused on major highways.
For this project, GM said they were partnering with Pilot Company, which operates truck stops all across the U.S., and EVgo, a public electric vehicle charging company. The company said their stations will offer “numerous” fast charging EVgo stalls that charge at 350 kW. The companies did not say how much users will pay to charge or give any idea of a timeline.
The charging stations will be located at Pilot stops. The truck stop company said it has 750 Pilot and Flying J centers in 44 states and five Canadian provinces.
NHTSA to EV Drivers: No Selectable Low-Speed Sounds for You
July 13, 2022 - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has scrapped a 2019 proposal that would let automakers give drivers a choice between several different low-speed sounds.
NHTSA takes low-speed EV noises quite seriously and demands that the noises not resemble anything that could be misconstrued as a natural sound. Vehicles capable of operating silently are required by law to emit sounds at speeds up to 19 mph to alert pedestrians to the vehicle's presence.
"The great majority of the comments on the [Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] including those submitted by organizations and people who are blind or who have low vision, did not favor the proposal to allow [hybrid and electric vehicles] to have an unlimited number of different pedestrian alert sounds," NHTSA wrote in its final ruling. "To the contrary, most of those comments were in favor of more uniformity, rather than less."
Leadership: Even the Little Things Matter
When it comes to leadership, even the little things matter … and it’s also very important to love what you do.
Striking a Balance
We are always striving to find a healthy balance in our lives and in our work. Today many fleet managers are striving to find a balance between electrification and other challenges, as Paul Lauria articulates so nicely in today’s top video.
Speaking of balancing priorities, Safety is always top of mind in this industry. Art Liggio outlines How to Produce a Fleet of Well-Trained, Competent Drivers who can keep your fleet as safe as possible!
Used EV Prices Surge
Have you noticed that used EV prices are soaring? In fact, they’ve outpaced the price increases in used cars by 12% in the last quarter. Mike Sheldrick explains why we should pay attention in his article today.
Ted Roberts
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