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The van fleet sector appears to be splitting into thirds over eLCV adoption, FleetCheck is reporting, with “sceptics” set to be a potential issue.

Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet management software company, said that operators could be classified into enthusiastic adopters, those who saw electrification as inevitable, and others who were determined to resist electric vans as long as possible.

“The idea of ‘thirds’ is, of course, a useful simplification but also largely true, as far as we can see across our user base at this point in time. We all know about the major fleets that are buying hundreds of eLCVs and blazing a trail, and there are those who are not enthusiastic but view the arrival of electric vans as something they just have to do.

“However, it is not difficult to find others who are determined to drag their heels and this has potential implications for fleet van operations. Especially among SMEs, it is not unusual to find vehicles that are 6-8 years old still in daily use. Even though diesel production ends in 2030, they could still conceivably be in use a decade later, which is highly undesirable.

“Now, the views of these sceptics are likely to be gradually changed over time when they see other people successfully using eLCVs – but they are still likely to prove a potential drag on the overall move towards electrification.”

Peter said that a process of education alongside a range of operational and fiscal incentives and disincentives may be necessary to convince objectors to switch.

“The main concern that I have heard from most electric van sceptics are about cost and range, and perhaps more needs to be done to show how these issues are being tackled over time. The installation of kerbside charging and the way in which the prices of electric vehicles should fall are important points, as is the potential for PHEVs as a stepping stone to 2030.

“Also, there will be operational disincentives such as the growth of Clean Air Zones and potentially market incentives such as ongoing vehicle subsidies and taxation measures. All of these have a part to play in changing minds.

“However, we also shouldn’t shy away from simply promoting the environmental benefits of van electrification. It is very possible that within a few years, businesses seen to be using diesel vehicles will be viewed as out of touch by consumers, and there is every possibility that will equally apply to major corporations and small local companies.”

Electric vehicle company car schemes are proving to be a key retention and recruitment tool as the job market heats up following the pandemic, FleetCheck is reporting.

With more than one million job vacancies in the economy, providing the right company car offering was becoming an especially attractive benefit, said Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet management software company.

“Higher levels of taxation in recent years have seen petrol and diesel company cars become perceived as less of an advantage within an overall employment package but EVs have changed that perception completely in a very short space of time.

“We are hearing a lot of anecdotal evidence from across our customer base that, where EVs are being offered to employees, there is a definite increase in satisfaction. It’s partially a financial benefit because benefit-in-kind taxation is so low, but there is also a genuine momentum behind people wanting to adopt EVs.

“Especially, there is a high degree of attractiveness to the employer bearing the financial risk of an EV. Fleet operators now know that whole life costs for EVs are comparable to petrol and diesel equivalents, but the monthly lease rates still look prohibitively high from a consumer point of view.

“As long as the driver’s personal profile makes them a suitable driver of an EV in terms of factors such as vehicle range and having access to off-street charging, there is a currently a very good argument to offer them an option within their budget from a human resources point of view.”

Peter said that there were also indications that EVs were proving to be highly attractive to employees as part of salary sacrifice schemes.

“Our view is that every employer of every size should be considering offering EV-based salary sacrifice at the moment. It provides a substantial employee benefit at little or no cost to the employer and seems very much a no-brainer.

“At a point in time when the jobs market looks as though it could be more competitive and fluid than for many, many years, the role of EVs in recruitment and retention appears to be something that will only grow while taxation remains low.

“The question, ultimately, is where EV benefit-in-kind taxation heads after the tax tables that we have until the middle of the decade? Will the government start to move it back to the levels that we have seen for petrol and diesel vehicles, or will it view the company car market as an ongoing means of promoting electrification of the overall car parc?”

Shortages in drivers, vehicles and fuel mean fleet management is undergoing a fundamental change in becoming more resource rather than cost-based.

Fleet software company FleetCheck said that the situation – prompted by everything from the pandemic to the semiconductor shortage to Brexit – was likely to persist for some time.

Peter Golding, managing director, explained: “Without realising it, fleets have been operating through an extended period of plenty. If you needed drivers or vehicles or fuel, you could get them and they were in sufficient supply that you could afford to aim for the best cost.

“We’ve now very clearly moved beyond that. Virtually every cost that fleets face is rising while, at the same time, supply has become noticeably limited in several essential areas.

“This really does represent something of a paradigm shift. Beyond safety, which should be the first consideration of every fleet, we are now moving into a situation where resource management, rather than cost, is frequently becoming the key consideration.

“Shortages mean that simply keeping your fleet moving is taking up more and more management attention and so cost is taking a metaphorical back seat. We have seen this in recent weeks with fuel shortages, where many fleets have had to pay whatever price was being demanded for petrol or diesel, just to keep their operations functioning. In the longer term, there’s a similar situation underway with drivers and rapidly increasing wages.

“When fleet managers are faced with those kinds of instances, simply getting hold of the resources they require is the overwhelming priority in order to keep vehicles on the road.”

However, Peter added, this did not mean that any attempt at controlling costs should be abandoned because it remained crucial to work hard to minimise increases.

“In a very real sense, if costs are going up, it is ever more important to continue to follow fleet management best practice when it comes to purchasing and operations. If costs in an area could’ve gone up by 15% but you keep them down to 10%, that’s a real achievement.

“This is something we’ve seen very much happen in fuel. Costs were rising in this area even before the recent shortages but, by working with our user base, we’ve been able to help many of them keep those increases to a minimum by following basics such as adopting a fuel card, promoting responsible driving and monitoring fuel consumption across different employees.

“The same principle applies to other areas. If you are the person who is able to keep cost increases as low as possible for your employer, that can provide a real competitive edge.”

Fuel shortages in recent weeks have caused a rapid loss of control over fleet running costs, says FleetCheck.

Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet management software company, said that because company car and van drivers were often being forced to buy fuel where they could get it, their employers were having to pay whatever prices were being asked.

He explained: “Petrol and diesel prices had already been rising rapidly before the onset of the fuel crisis and, since then, have only increased further. There have been some reports that prices are at an eight-year high.

“Most well-managed fleets have fuel policies that are designed to minimise costs, for example by specifying certain types of outlet or using a fuel card, but those measures have very much gone out of the window and there has been a rapid loss of control.

“We can see, for example, that company car and van drivers at some of our software users have been buying fuel from motorway services, which would generally be almost unknown. Presumably, they’ve been unable to get petrol and diesel anywhere else.

“It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that some fleets will have seen their pence per mile fuel costs increase by a 25% over the last year.”

In addition, Peter said, there was evidence that some fuel outlets had been profiteering in the wake of shortages.

“There are certainly reports of prices at individual fuel outlets that provoke a sharp intake of breath. While this might be the product of an understandable supply and demand situation, it still leaves a nasty taste. There has to be a high degree of trust between fleets and their regular suppliers, even when it comes buying petrol or diesel.”

He also pointed to advice from FleetCheck’s affinity partner for petrol and diesel purchasing, Wex Europe Services, operators of the Esso fuel card, suggesting that there were actions that fleets could take to manage the fuel situation.

“This is something that can be proactively tackled. Users of fuel cards will tend to have access to preferential fuel rates, for example, as well as being provided with more information about fuel availability. Telematics also has a potentially important role to play in ensuring that employees are driving in a style that helps to maximise fuel economy.”

Additionally, FleetCheck last week issued a five point guide to fleets designed to help them maximise fuel use while the crisis was underway.

Peter said: “The reaction we’ve had to this has been good. What we are seeing now is that the fuel crisis has become very regionalised. In some areas, it appears to be over while, in others, there is still queueing going on. Where shortages persist, fleets have been very receptive to this guidance.”

The five-point plan is:

1. Encourage more economical driving. Ask employees to drive smoothly by accelerating and braking gently, taking maximum notice of what is happening on the road ahead. Change up early and, as always, stick to the speed limit or lower – drive at 70mph and you’ll use up to 9% more fuel than at 60mph and up to 15% more than at 50mph, according to the AA. always

2. Explain to drivers how to prepare their vehicles. Some simple steps can have a positive impact on fuel consumption. Remove roof racks or other heavy items from vehicles that don’t need to be carried. Only use power-hungry devices such as air conditioning and rear window demisting when needed. Tyre pressures should checked as they can have a significant effect. Also, don’t leave the vehicle running before use.

3. Measure your fuel use. A large number of fleets simply don’t know how much fuel they use overall, per driver or per vehicle. The easiest way to put a monitoring system in place is to buy all petrol and diesel through specialist fuel cards. You can then access the data collected as software-generated reports.

4. Analyse your fuel data. Fleet software provides the means to analyse the information you have gathered – enabling you to identify drivers and vehicles that are not achieving the kind of fuel consumption that you expect.

5. Don’t be afraid to challenge employees. The single largest factor affecting fuel economy in the real world is driver behaviour. A disparity in fuel economy of more than 30% is not unusual between drivers in identical vehicles on similar routes. Let drivers know that they are being monitored, especially if you are using telematics, and talk to those who seem to be using excess fuel, and offer help and advice.

A new five-point fuel plan for fleets has been launched by FleetCheck as petrol and diesel shortages continue across the country.

Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet management software company, said that the plan contained basic advice that company car and vans operators could adopt quickly and easily, and also longer-term suggestions.

“We’ve been discussing internally how we can help fleets through the current crisis and the fact is that there is no easy answer. If drivers simply can’t get hold of the fuel they need, then there is no real solution.

“However, the advice we are providing here should help fleets to maximise mileage from the fuel that they can obtain and also to understand their fuel use better over time, in case similar situations arise in the future.

“There are measures that can be put in place quite easily, such as drivers using their vehicles in a more fuel efficient manner and adopting more fuel efficient driving styles, that can have a really positive and immediate impact on fuel consumption.”

The five point plan is:

1. Encourage more economical driving. Ask employees to drive smoothly by accelerating and braking gently, taking maximum notice of what is happening on the road ahead. Change up early and, as always, stick to the speed limit or lower – drive at 70mph and you’ll use up to 9% more fuel than at 60mph and up to 15% more than at 50mph, according to the AA. always

2. Explain to drivers how to prepare their vehicles. Some simple steps can have a positive impact on fuel consumption. Remove roofracks or other heavy items from vehicles that don’t need to be carried. Only use power-hungry devices such as air conditioning and rear window demisting when needed. Tyre pressures should checked as they can have a significant effect. Also, don’t leave the vehicle running before use.

3. Measure your fuel use. A large number of fleets simply don’t know how much fuel they use overall, per driver or per vehicle. The easiest way to put a monitoring system in place is to buy all petrol and diesel through specialist fuel cards. You can then access the data collected as software-generated reports.

4. Analyse your fuel data. Fleet software provides the means to analyse the information you have gathered – enabling you to identify drivers and vehicles that are not achieving the kind of fuel consumption that you expect.

5. Don’t be afraid to challenge employees. The single largest factor affecting fuel economy in the real world is driver behaviour. A disparity in fuel economy of more than 30% is not unusual between drivers in identical vehicles on similar routes. Let drivers know that they are being monitored, talk to those who seem to be using excess fuel, and offer help and advice.

Peter added: “We’ll be distributing this advice to our 1,300 customers and making it freely available through channels such as social media. Also, we are working individually with some fleets to help them maximise their fuel consumption.”

The rate of growth of the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is likely to dictate which power option many fleets choose for panel vans over the next few years, says FleetCheck

The fleet software specialist points out that, for some fleets, the EV panel vans now on sale require considerable operational compromise, which hydrogen could potentially solve.

Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “For fleets that carry low-medium weights in urban environments over short-medium distances, an electric panel van is a good solution, and there are a wide range of options becoming available on the market.

“However, if you currently move more than a tonne payload 200-300 miles in a day, up and down motorways, they are much less practical. In winter, completing that kind of working day could require not just an overnight charge but a couple of additional charges.

“That is why hydrogen is being talked about more and more by operators, and was a major source of conversation at the recent CV Show, with the hydrogen Vivaro on the Vauxhall stand due for arrival in 2023 a particular source of speculation. Because it can be refuelled with the speed and ease of a diesel vehicle, while providing similar range, it potentially solves those specific operational problems to which EVs are arguably not well suited.”

Peter added that there were two barriers to hydrogen adoption for panel van operators – cost and the current absence of hydrogen fuelling stations across most areas of the country.

“Something like the Vivaro will have to be manufactured in quite large numbers to make its purchase price and running costs viable. That could happen but will only occur if there is a usefully large refuelling infrastructure in place and there just isn’t at present.

“Of course, we will need widespread growth of hydrogen stations within a number of years because hydrogen will almost certainly be the motive power for bus and truck decarbonisation by 2040, but shorter-term provision is much more uncertain. Even the hydrogen buses now in operation are being depot-fuelled, I understand.

“In a very real sense, whether fleets ultimately end up using hydrogen or battery electric power for medium panels vans will very much be dictated by the speed of growth of the hydrogen infrastructure. There is little question that hydrogen itself is a better operational solution but only if you can actually get hold of fuel with relative ease.”

A further question, Peter added, would be whether van manufacturers would be able to call on sufficient resources to develop electric and hydrogen drive trains side-by-side.

“The switch to electrification is already creating a demand for massive investment in new technology for manufacturers. Whether they have an appetite to do the same for hydrogen in parallel must be very much open to question, despite its potential advantages.”

A new pay-as-you-go (PAYG) affinity partnership has been announced between the AA and fleet software specialist FleetCheck.

The new initiative is designed to offer FleetCheck’s more than 1,300 customers the opportunity to access the AA’s breakdown recovery services at preferential rates based on a range of menu pricing options.

Andy Kirby, customer success director at FleetCheck, explained: “We have been aware for a while that many of our customers wanted to put a recovery arrangement in place but price has been an issue.

“The PAYG deal that we have created with the AA largely resolves this issue, we believe, putting a comprehensive solution in place at a very attractive price. It can be applied to all kinds of fleet vehicles from cars to trucks.”

Dean Hedger, new business development manager at the AA, added: “We’ve had a longstanding relationship with FleetCheck and the new deal is one that we believe will work very well for their fleet customers.”

Launched in 2020, the FleetCheck Affinity Services programme has agreements in place with five service providers so far, ranging from auction services to driver training and maintenance to vehicle recovery.

Andy added: “We’re in the process of finalising further affinity deals which we’ll announce in the near future. Our aim is to use our position to negotiate arrangements that benefit our customers, especially as many look to contain costs in the post-pandemic economy.”

New Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance covering gig economy and contractor drivers marks a “potential major expansion” for fleet responsibilities, says FleetCheck.

The fleet software specialist points out that a wide range of businesses could potentially be affected by the newly-revised Driving at Work document, which describes core legal standards that all fleets should be meeting.

Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “We have been arguing for some time that everyone from courier to fast food delivery drivers should be covered under normal fleet management responsibilities. The new guidance makes it clear that the HSE agrees.

“Businesses that have operated on the basis that they have no or limited liability to third parties of this kind have had their legal position made clear. They need to ensure that any fleet activity that is carried out on the behalf of their business meets usual standards.

“Just ensuring that a driver holds a valid licence and a vehicle is insured and has an MOT is almost certainly no longer sufficient. This marks a potential major expansion of fleet management responsibilities for businesses ranging from home delivery giants to your local take away.”

However, Peter said that there would be a question mark over how quickly these responsibilities would be met, given the track record of many businesses.

“These new responsibilities appear to be similar, or effectively the same, as those covering grey fleets, and that is an area where quite large numbers of employers fail to enforce the same standards as for their own company cars and vans.

“We don’t expect to see any sudden rush to meet the guidance, therefore. This is something that will probably take a number of years to percolate through the fleet sector.”