Buying vehicles has always been part of fleet management. Electrification is making everything around the purchase increasingly important.
Data analysis, employee engagement, charging infrastructure, change management, executive support and long-term planning were recurring themes when four Fleet News Group Awards finalists joined a panel discussion at Everything Electric Sydney.
Representatives from Allianz, Ausgrid, Blacktown City Council and City of Parramatta shared their experiences transitioning fleets towards electric vehicles.
Their approaches were different, but there was a common message. The vehicle is only one part of the job.
Blacktown: Start with the data
For Blacktown City Council’s Kris Nair, the first step shouldn’t involve buying anything.
“Get the data right,” Nair said. “You don’t need to convert anything tomorrow, but at least have a roadmap.”
That means understanding road gradients, travel paths, load factors and the experience of the people operating the vehicles.
“Buying the car or the truck is the easiest part,” he said.
Blacktown City Council is a finalist for Fleet Sustainability, Fleet Technology and Fleet of the Year in the Fleet News Group Awards program.
Parramatta: Bring the drivers with you
City of Parramatta has concentrated heavily on stakeholder engagement.
After identifying employee concerns about EVs, including range anxiety, the council introduced EV drive weeks that allowed employees to use different electric vehicles during normal work activities.
The initiative has subsequently expanded to include exposure to electric commercial vehicles and trucks.
Reweena Kaur said early engagement should form part of the transition plan.
“I’d also encourage early stakeholder engagement,” she said. “That carries really heavy weight in a successful EV transition plan.”
City of Parramatta is a finalist for the Fleet Sustainability Award.
Allianz: Get executive buy-in
At Allianz, Matthew Harvey highlighted the importance of support from the top of the organisation.
The company’s EV program has executive-level KPIs attached to it, helping create organisational momentum behind the transition.
“My tip is actually a top-down approach,” Harvey said. “You really need that top-down approach to try and get the buy-in into business around the change.”
Allianz has progressed from a 12-vehicle pilot to a position where EVs are becoming business as usual as existing leases expire.
It is another finalist for the Fleet Sustainability Award demonstrating that the transition involves organisational strategy as much as vehicle selection.
Ausgrid: Let people experience the technology
Ausgrid’s Nick Black also emphasised the people side of the transition. The electricity network created what it calls the “EV experience”, allowing employees to borrow an electric pool vehicle for a weekend.
Employees can also charge their privately owned EVs at Ausgrid depot chargers. Black believes giving people direct experience with EVs helps overcome one of the barriers to adoption.
“Allow people to experience the electric vehicles,” he said. “The customer experience and getting people over the psychological barrier is one of the important aspects.”
Ausgrid is a finalist in the Fleet of the Year category.
Fleet management is getting broader
None of these activities replace the traditional fundamentals of fleet management.
Whole-of-life cost still matters. Safety still matters. Utilisation, fit-for-purpose vehicle selection, maintenance, replacement planning and operational requirements still matter.
But electrification is adding another layer.
Fleet Managers increasingly need to understand charging infrastructure and energy, interpret telematics data, engage employees, communicate with executives and manage organisational change.
The discussion between the Fleet News Group Awards finalists at Everything Electric demonstrated that the fleets making progress aren’t simply asking which EV they should buy.
They’re asking what the organisation needs, what the data says, how vehicles are being used, where they will charge and how the people who rely on them will respond.
That’s a much bigger job than buying cars. It’s also increasingly what modern fleet management looks like.
