Electric vehicles have become a major part of the conversation about reducing fleet emissions, but electrification alone does not create a sustainable fleet.
Andrew Hutson, Director at Geosecure, believes organisations need to look more broadly at how vehicles are being used, where they are travelling and whether fleet operations themselves can become more efficient.
“Just switching to an EV isn’t going to solve the problem. There’s a combination of factors that go into that,” Hutson said.
Geosecure provides telematics and fleet management safety solutions, using vehicle and operational data to help organisations better understand how their fleets are being used.
That information can play an important role in sustainability planning because reducing emissions can start well before an organisation replaces a petrol or diesel vehicle.
Route optimisation is one example.
“If you can create effective, efficient routes, you may not need as many vehicles, or ultimately we may be able to reduce the vehicles on the road and congestion and idling and all the things that come from that,” Hutson said.
It changes the sustainability conversation from simply asking which vehicles can be replaced with electric models to examining the wider operation.
Are vehicles completing unnecessary kilometres? Could routes be redesigned? Could idling be reduced? Does the organisation need the same number of vehicles? Could work be scheduled differently?
For Hutson, these questions form part of the broader challenge facing organisations attempting to reduce fleet emissions.
He pointed to work Geosecure has been undertaking with the University of the Sunshine Coast around the subject.
“It is more than just a transition to sustainable vehicles,” he said. “There is a much bigger task, which is: do we need to be doing what we’re doing, and are we doing it the best way possible and the most efficient and effective way possible?”
Telematics can help fleets establish that operational baseline.
By understanding how far vehicles travel, when they are used and the types of tasks they perform, organisations can make more informed decisions about which vehicles may be suitable for electric or hybrid alternatives.
That can also address one of the major challenges involved in fleet electrification: maintaining service delivery.
“There are so many organisations that would love to just jump to EVs, hybrids, to help reduce emissions, but can they still deliver the services that they provide?” Hutson said.
“Are the operations still going to work? There’s all of those risks that come into it, which probably hold a lot of them back and make that transition much more risky.”
For many organisations, particularly those operating complex or diverse fleets, replacing every vehicle with an electric equivalent is neither the first nor necessarily the best step.
The transition needs to reflect operational requirements.
“Understanding the baseline, understanding what can we do, which vehicles can we move out into electric or hybrid models, helps those transition plans immensely,” Hutson said.
This wider approach to sustainability is also reflected in Geosecure’s involvement as a sponsor of the Fleet News Group Awards.
The awards recognise fleet organisations across areas including safety, technology, sustainability and overall fleet management excellence.
Hutson said Geosecure was attracted to the program because it provides an opportunity to acknowledge organisations actively trying to improve.
“We wanted to get involved to support the program and really to bring some recognition to some of those fleets out there that are striving towards excellence,” he said.
That pursuit of excellence increasingly requires fleet managers to connect areas that were once considered separately.
Technology can support safety improvements. The same data can reveal operational inefficiencies. Removing those inefficiencies can reduce kilometres, fuel consumption and emissions. Understanding vehicle utilisation can then support better decisions about electrification.
For Hutson, technology and data are therefore part of the decision-making process rather than the end result.
Fleet sustainability starts with understanding what the fleet is doing today. Only then can an organisation make informed decisions about what it should look like tomorrow.
