Pressures mount on fleets
A survey of more than 1,800 fleet operators has highlighted the biggest challenges they are facing.
The study by Teletrac Navman cites rising fuel costs, disruption caused by Covid-19 and supply-chain pressure – at 39, 32 and 31 per cent among respondents respectively – as the top three.
“The past 12 months have created new complexities for fleets, but fuel-cost rises are the number-one concern for operators globally,” says Alain Samaha, chief executive officer.
“As the cost per litre of fuel spiked last year, many operators looked to overcome rising costs with driver behaviour programmes and electric vehicle [EV] transition plans.”
With rising fuel costs and the global response to reducing all forms of carbon emissions building momentum, fuel conversion at 23 per cent remains a key challenge with EV supply, alongside purchase price and charging infrastructure concerns.
Thirty-two per cent of respondents said the conversion to next-generation fuels is one of their largest areas of expense second to purchasing new vehicles.
Conversion is also high on the agenda for fleet owners due to concerns about their environmental impact. Forty-one per cent of those surveyed said environmental impact is their biggest concern about the current economic environment.
Outside of transitioning to next-gen fuels – of which 30 per cent were looking to shift to EVs in the next 12 months – maintenance of existing fleets continued to be the largest expense for 39 per cent of those surveyed.
With supply-chain issues continuing to impact EV availability and cost, some fleets are struggling to start the transition and are having to find ways to safely extend vehicle life through maintenance and more conscientious use on the road.
However, those with funding to be early movers to electric could gain a competitive advantage because they won’t be exposed to any further rising petrol or diesel costs, and will likely benefit from government grants and subsidies that will later be removed.
Over the course of 2023, fleets are looking to make investment in expanding their offering through technological integrations (48 per cent) while also using technology to aid compliance (39 per cent). Improving customer experience (39 per cent), and recruiting and retaining drivers (31 per cent), were also high on the list of planned investment for the next 12 months.
In terms of emerging technologies, fleets are focusing on implementing more digital workflows (39 per cent) and video telematics (38 per cent) as they seek to increase efficiency and manage the top-three fleet business costs of fuel, payroll and maintenance.
Telematics hit the road
With the future looking towards technology, 98 per cent of respondents said they were using either a sourced or manufacturer-provided telematics solution across their fleet.
While vehicle tracking (43 per cent) was the number-one reason for utilising telematics, managing driver performance (33 per cent) was the next priority, followed by using it for proof of job completion (32 per cent) and monitoring fuel usage (30 per cent).
Regarding driver performance, improved driver safety (37 per cent) was the biggest benefit of using telematics with 24 per cent stating it helped prevent fatigue on the road. Moreover, 89 per cent of those surveyed used telematics to benchmark behaviour, with 91 per cent also seeing a reduction in accidents and 24 per cent implementing new driver behaviour to help navigate high fuel costs.
And with 31 per cent of global fleets concerned about increasing wage demands in a cost-of-living crisis, 37 per cent are using benchmarking to provide performance-based bonuses in a bid to retain drivers.
