Graham Holder, Head of Compliance and Certification at FORS, joins our host for this week’s episode on compliance in the fleet operations industry. A membership scheme designed to support best practice within the industry, giving fleet operators accreditation which demonstrates their quality assurance to clients and customers, FORS gives peace of mind to every operator and creates a centralised criteria for operations.  In this episode Graham discusses the benefit of joining FORS for vehicle operators and managers across the industry, and how fleet operators can get involved to support road safety, industry efficiency, and optimised operations. 

Where is the world with Electric Mobility? Here Andrew Scott, Head of Electromobility at Renault Trucks UK gives his take on the progress with vehicles in the commercial vehicle sector. Andrew thinks that the tipping point for take up on zero emission vans is coming and the demand for trucks won’t be far behind. The current supply and demand issues across the sector means that there is a great choice already on offer to fleet operators. With a full range of vehicles from 3.1 tonnes to 26 tonnes for 100% electric, the Renault Trucks UK team have plenty for operators to consider…

In this episode of CV Focus, our host talks all things EV with Chris Chandler, who is Principal Consultant at Lex Autolease.  A key focus for Chris is sustainability and he has been a major influence in gaining greater market acceptance and take-up of EVs across the UK. In fact, he’s been in GreenFleet’s '100 Most Influential People in Fleet’ for the last four years running. Throughout the episode, the discussion revolves around the journey from traditional fuel to EV both for private and commercial users.  Chris introduces business owners to the top tips for embracing EVs, before talking about operational considerations and how to ensure that every business can transition sustainably and efficiently.

Are people at the centre of your business? Have you ever thought about the drivers behind the wheels of your business vehicles?  In this episode, Simon Turner joins Matt behind the mic - bringing to the table his experience with the organisation ‘Driving for Better Business’, an initiative created by National Highways which offers a free service to help businesses nurture the talent and value they hold in their drivers and vehicles.  Simon talks about the ‘Driving for Better Business’ government-backed awareness program, which engages with businesspeople using business language to communicate the benefits of managing their drivers and vehicles more safely and effectively. Understanding the value of better drivers, driving better vehicles, leading to better business, is at the heart of this episode. 

Getting to the bottom of the driver shortage If you only select one podcast episode this year, then this is the one you must to listen to. In a powerful analysis, Kieran Smith, CEO of Driver Require, explains why the current HGV driver shortage has happened, why no-one saw it coming and what should be done to solve it. He describes the current situation like “trying to grab onto a train passing through the platform – it’s just ripped our arms off.” Kieran heads an influential think-tank comprising key people from the e-commerce, grocery, pallet, training, fleet, trade body and statistical analysis sectors, that has produced a comprehensive, thoughtful, detailed report setting out everything you ever needed to know about HGV drivers.. Host Matt Eisenegger asks Kieran: “Have we been carried away on the news hype?” In the most comprehensive, accurate, compelling and fully-validated study of the UK HGV driver market ever produced, the think-tank uses original research and hard facts. It also debunks the distorted views and numbers bandied around over the past weeks and months – such as the impact of Brexit and EU drivers – to uncover the real truth. The results are truly surprising. Kieran then sets out the root of the current problem and why no-one saw it coming. And, the think-tank sets out the short, medium and long-term measures that the industry and government need to take to address the situation - which also draws on best-practice from the EU. https://driverrequire.co.uk/resources/the-answer-to-the-uks-hgv-driver-shortage-updated

Breaking down barriers There's a growing range of electric vans now available, but one of the hurdles is what you do when you want to charge your van, particularly as so many employees take their vans home, but around 80% don’t have a driveway in which to charge it. That's all about to change, as JustPark is introducing a new charging solution, enable businesses to accelerate their transition to electric vehicles. JustPark will identify a suitable location to install a private charger within five minutes’ walk of a fleet driver’s home, allowing them to charge overnight without a home charger. In this week’s CV Focus, JustPark Director of EV, Mike Strahlman, explains all.

Intelligence is the difference…  From the outside a trailer looks like a box on wheels; but now technology will tell you everything about it from where it’s going, where it is in real-time, what the temperature is (if it’s refrigerated) and so much more – even when the door was last opened. Alan Hunt, MD at Schmitz Cargobull UK and Ireland explains why the intelligent trailer – such as reporting the brake pad and tyre pressures – is so important, by benefitting operators with reduced downtown and improved productivity. Chatting with Matt Eisenegger, he talks about why – curiously - Schmitz Cargobull wants to see fewer trailers on the road, and how intelligence from local markets is incorporated into its trailer designs. Its technology ranges from fuel efficiency, to telemetry and the running gear. Alan talks about why an integrated trailer makes more sense as it brings everything together in one portal to increase operating efficiency. The system can also recognise ‘smart pallets’ as they are loaded and unloaded from a trailer, removing the burden of keeping track of your loads. Alan also explains how its trailers’ telematics work with the tractor unit – and how it is integrated with all major manufacturers – so that operators can decide what reporting they want, to get the best utilisation from their trailers. Looking to the future, they chat about removing diesel-powered generators for refrigerated trailers with Schmitz Cargobull’s new move to electric-only refrigeration, and how the changes to the market are influencing trailer design.

It’s the star of the silver screen, from James Bond movies to Top Gear and soaps, yet the Bedfordshire-based test facility is also a top-secret site. John Proctor, Technical and Special Projects Director – UTAC CERAM Millbrook, lifts the lid on what happens at the comprehensive testing facility, comprising laboratories and real-world testing environments. He explains how they test electric vehicle’s batteries to destruction – literally - by setting fire to them, and simulating high-impact collisions. The work to test vehicle emissions – 19,000 large vehicle tests completed and counting – is explored as is the new VTEC2 chamber, designed to deal with the next generation of vehicles, such as electric. They also chat about the developments in autonomous controls, such as emergency braking, and how ‘connected vehicles’ will ‘talk’ to each other and other equipment, such as traffic lights. They conclude by considering the different driving styles needed for electric vans and trucks, and how the facility trains drivers to break their ‘bad habits’. More info about UTAC CERAM Millbrook UTAC CERAM Millbrook is a market-leading group in vehicle testing, type approval and emerging technologies for autonomous, connected and electric vehicles. It provides services and systems to customers in the automotive, transport, tyre, petrochemical and defence industries. The group delivers regulation and homologation support, specialist vehicle conversions and test systems as well as training, consulting, audit and certification, technical inspection, standardisation and events. UTAC CERAM Millbrook operates eight test centres - in France (including the official Euro NCAP facility), the UK (including the 5G-enabled Millbrook Proving Ground), the USA and Finland; it has subsidiaries in Germany, Russia, China and Japan. The group will be opening a proving ground in Morocco in 2021. UTAC CERAM Millbrook employs around ,1280 people across its various locations. In 2019, the group recorded turnover of €173m.

Where are we going to get all the power from to charge electric vehicles? Russell Fowler, Senior Project Manager Transport Decarbonisation, National Grid, answers the key questions as the nation’s electricity distributor gears up for the 2030 deadline. Over the next nine years National Grid is preparing for all new cars and light vans to be electric, ready for the 2030 deadline.  Russell says that current forecasts are for around 10-11 million EVs on the road by 2030. What does this mean for commercial vehicles? Russell discusses speculation around the end-date for diesel-only new trucks. Will it be 2040? Could it be staggered by truck size, with lighter ones first? A consultation is expected soon, as part of the UK’s route to being net zero by 2050. This will mean building more electricity distribution infrastructure and Russell explains how through National Grid’s ‘do it once, do it right’ approach, to upgrades this will be achieved. EV growth will be steady, he points out, not all at once and National Grid has been planning network upgrades for EVs for more than over a decade. He also explains how much electricity car/van EVs will consume. By 2030, it’s estimated to be around 100 terawatt-hours (TWh). Currently UK consumption is around 300 TWh, but this is falling due to improved energy efficiency in homes and commercial premises. In a detailed conversation about matching supply and demand, Russell explains why we don’t need to find an extra 100 TWh, but also how PM Boris Johnson’s announcement of providing an extra 40 gigawatt (GW) of new offshore wind generation, roughly equals around 100 TWh, and the smart technology that glues together supply and demand. They also discuss trucks looking at whether battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell electric will be the way forward, and how the government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan – due in next six months – will give a bit of a steer on trucks.

The view from Ireland: Jarlath Sweeney, Editor-in-Chief of the Irish trade magazine ‘Fleet Transport’ (https://fleet.ie) chats with Matt Eisenegger about everything from the state of the economy to secondhand vehicles in this must-listen specially-extended podcast. He starts by explaining the impact that the withdrawal, over the next 3-5 years, of Ulster Bank from the Republic of Ireland will have on small businesses. “Ulster Bank has been a strong supporter of small and medium business,” he says” “and its withdrawal will reduce competition in commercial lending landscape.” He then moves on to business in Ireland, with an overview of the economy and the effects of Brexit on transport and the supply chain.  We discover why the ‘land bridge’ to Europe via Britain is important, especially for perishable goods, and why the shift of trade to other routes might not be plain sailing. The conversation turns to the effect on the used vehicle market in Ireland, which has previously seen large numbers imported from the UK. Previously, around 600 used trucks and 6,000 used vans were imported a year, but now big import tariffs have affected business.  “Previously it kept the trade buyout with good prices for buyers,” says Jarlath “while the specification of secondhand vehicles coming from the UK was generally higher than those sold new in Ireland, while the wear and tear was less due to the UK’s better-quality roads.” The challenges of running EVs in a relatively sparsely-populated large country are mulled over, along with the options for running CNG. Having considered this, they chat about the EV Maxus van and the unusual business model deployed by importer, Dublin-based Harris Group, which gives it a head-start in market They conclude their conversation by examining the pick-up truck market and ponder for how long diesel will survive. Finally, Jarlath bravely has a stab at predicting where he thinks the commercial vehicle industry will be, in 10 years’ time.