Effective and efficient fleet management does not occur in isolation. There needs to be an understanding of the organisation’s higher order objectives and the needs of various stakeholders in the fleet. Further, there must be robust and comprehensive planning to guide the management of the fleet over the medium and long term.
In the IPWEA Plant and Vehicle Management Manual (PVMM), it recommends that Fleet Managers prepare two documents to define, guide and monitor the management of the fleet.
The documents are:
- Fleet Asset Management Plan (FAMP) – A long term plan (typically a minimum of 10 years) describing an organisation’s management activities and resourcing to ensure the fleet delivers the necessary level of service in the most cost-effective way.
- Fleet Business Plan – A working document that guides the fleet team’s activities over a 12 month period to ensure they are aligned to the organisation’s objectives.
In 2023, a plan to transition the fleet to zero emissions is now the third critical document for all organisations.
At the recent Fleet Management Training Days, Marc Sibbald, Director IPWEA Fleet, has been guiding attendees through the process of creating a plan to transition fleets to low and zero emission vehicles.
Gathering the information and completing the analysis of the existing fleet is easy according to Sibbald, but he does see the apprehension on the faces of Fleet Managers when he suggests they prepare a transition plan themselves.
“Whenever you attempt something new for the first time, it does seem daunting,” says Sibbald.
“In the training days we’re providing the students with a template to develop their transition plans. The information they need is readily available from a number of reliable sources on the internet. And they already have the data on their own fleet to complete a fleet review.”
“At IPWEA we teach people how to manage a fleet and provide the PVMM as a best practice resource. Everything they need to prepare an EV transition plan is in the PVMM because the fundamentals of good fleet management and asset management are the same regardless of the fuel type.”
The transition to electric vehicle (EV) is inevitable for all Fleet Managers, but the transition is not as simple as choosing vehicles. When considering the shift to low or zero emission vehicles, there are some important first steps to take before ordering vehicles and a transition plan is the best way to navigate the process and avoid hidden costs and delays.
A challenge for Fleet Managers in developing an EV transition plan is the large number of stakeholders that will be involved. Also, there are a range of different skills required to coordinate activities and manage the biggest change in the automotive industry in the last 100 years.
Four keys areas of the transition to consider are:
- Strategy
- People
- Vehicle Charging
- Assets
The transition to low and zero emission vehicles won’t be linear. Here’s what the stages of the plan could look like:
- Set the organisation’s strategy on EVs
- Assess your fleet
- Engage the staff on the change
- Work out how the assets will be charged
- Review the market to find suitable assets
Traditionally the fleet team only looks after the assets, so the next 10 years will be an exciting period for Fleet Managers. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!
