This Is The Next USPS Mail Truck
The United States Postal Service said Tuesday that it had given Oshkosh Defense a contract to build its next mail truck. The new truck is significantly bigger than the one we’ve all seen on the road for decades, and it looks significantly different from the one we saw tested a couple of years ago.
The contract is for 10 years, part of the USPS’s plan to replace its fleet of 230,000 vehicles. I’m sure you’re wondering at this point whether these will be internal combustion or battery-electric designs. The answer is: both, though it’s not clear how many of each.
The new vehicles will also have a lot of advanced safety features that the current fleet doesn’t have. And, big news for carriers: They will have air-conditioning. (Most of today’s postal delivery trucks lack that amenity.)
Read the article at Jalopnik.
Vehicle Relocation Logistics Opens Countless Ways to Drive Business Success
By FMW Editorial Staff
As companies look to rebound from the recent economic downturn, those with fleet operations are reassessing budgets, resizing fleets, uncovering hidden costs, and finding innovative ways to achieve operational efficiencies.
Fleet vehicle transport and relocation services provide a unique opportunity to reduce costs and increase productivity. Success depends on a carefully- planned schedule of ancillary services as part of a move.
These services might include one or more of the following: vehicle legalization, maintenance, de-identification, body repair, storage, and others. With a single-source, end-to-end solution, companies reduce vehicle downtime and keep drivers more productive.
Porsche Claims Its Synthetic Fuel Could Make Combustion Engines as Clean as EVs
Instead of making some cool electric cars, Porsche is considering a different option: clean-burning synthetic fuel.
In an interview with Evo, Porsche’s Vice President Motorsport and GT cars, Dr. Frank Walliser, stated that the company has been envisioning something called eFuel, a synthetic fuel that would have the same carbon output as an electric car. Testing is supposed to start off in 2022, and it would be possible to use this fuel in any internal combustion car without having to go through the lengthy—and expensive—process of converting it.
It’s going to take a lot of time and money to produce even a little bit of these eFuels, but Porsche is confident that it’s going to be a good thing for the market—and the environment.
Read the article at Jalopnik.
A Deeper Look at the Wheels – OnStar Partnership’s Value for Fleets
By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor
The recent announcement of a newly-formed partnership between Wheels and GM's OnStar Business Solutions promises to deliver a wide array of vehicle information with significant safety and operational benefits to the partners' fleet customers. OnStar-embedded hardware is available across most of the automaker's vehicle lineup.
Wheels senior product manager Sara Sweeney provided Fleet Management Weekly with an in-depth look at the benefits of the partnership for fleets: "Access to the OnStar data can help our customers tackle today's important business concerns. First, they can improve driver behavior and safety. Next, they can enhance fleet operational efficiency and customer service. Finally, they can gain insight into fleet electrification strategies," says Sweeney.
OnStar-connected data coming directly from the vehicle includes vehicle location, trip information, maintenance status, risk, or driver behavior indicators. Driving events, seatbelt usage, and speed are examples of the safety behavioral data points. There is also data collected on vehicle idling and hours driven. This data provides greater insight into how the vehicle is being used and how well it meets the driver and the company's needs.
Getting Tough on Safety & Minimizing Data Overload
By Adam Danielson, Director of Sales
Safety is one of the fleet industry’s most critical issues as it seeks to reduce crashes and improve safety standards. The benefits of creating a robust fleet safety culture go far beyond reducing crashes, it can also improve the entire organization while mitigating risk.
Where do you begin?
Continuous MVR monitoring, combined with a fleet safety program and other behavioral monitoring tools, is the ideal solution for effectively monitoring drivers’ risk profiles, ensuring compliance and safety, reducing liability, and minimizing business losses for any industry that employs drivers.
What to do with all that data?
When you add MVR monitoring, safety policies, training, vehicle anti-collision technologies, CSA scores, connected vehicles and telematics together, you create the beginnings of a very robust safety culture and A LOT of data. Too much data for the average fleet manager to manage and use effectively.How do you make the data actionable for your fleet?
