Fleet News Group podcast host Caroline Falls holidayed in Milan recently and took the opportunity to speak with Davide Gibellini, managing partner of Europe’s largest fleet management group fleetcompetence.
In a fascinating conversation, they talked about the bind facing European car makers as they ramp up EV production, the incredible advance being made by ENI’s vegetable oils to power fleets, cost-free moves fleets are making to cut emissions with their traditional ICE vehicles, and how AI is revolutionising remarking of used vehicles.
“One of the most compelling questions is: is the future of Europe’s car industry one of collapse? I think the talking about the fall of the European car industry is a little bit premature. Most, if not all, of the EU car makers are still selling a lot of cars and making money, so they are in a good area, but they’re facing big issues,” said Gibellini.
Fleetcompetence is the largest international consulting firm in the fleet and mobility industry in Europe. It operates in 40 geographies, most of them in Europe but also in the USA, Canada, and Latin America. The firm focuses on compliance and policy, optimisation and savings, and sustainability, helping companies make informed decisions and implement them.
Remarketing fleet vehicles using artificial intelligence was among the top hot topics the fleetcompetence group would talk about at their upcoming meeting in Milan in late October, just days after the recording of this podcast.
AI is definitely going to change all the processes of dealer marketing, said Gibellini, adding, AI will be used to identify vehicle damage and the internet will be where buyers and sellers meet. It would also be talked about at an upcoming fleet conference in Europe in late October.
“Once they see the car from a totally different perspective, they can really enter into the car. They can have something that resembles the famous look and feel experience, even though they’re standing in front of their PC, or their mobile.”
Gibellini added: “As far as our group is concerned, we are particularly interested in helping those companies that want to improve their carbon footprint.
“This is really a hot topic today, because, as we all know, sustainability has a cost, and in order to be sustainable from a holistic perspective, it also needs to be financially sustainable, and also you also need people acceptance. I think we’re all familiar with the famous three-P approach — the planet, profit and people. So once you can find the proper trade off between these three P’s, then it’s really fully sustainable. We also have to put sustainability into the commercial vehicles.”
He said Fleetcompetence emphasises eco-driving tips to reduce emissions by 15-20 percent without capital expenditure.
“One final thing which is not so often mentioned, is about the so called E-fuel, which is very interesting, if you think just about an Italian Fortune 500, it’s a big oil company called ENI, they just discovered a couple of years ago, a new E fuel diesel called HVO, which has reduced by 90 percent CO2 emissions. It’s a fully vegetable diesel. I mean, that’s amazing. It’s incredible. Starting from Euro five cars, any car, you don’t need any device, you don’t need any transformation, you don’t need anything. And we already have 1,000 stations, for instance, in Italy, that can provide such E-diesel. That’s amazing. That’s really a turnaround.”
