Fleet News Group

Fleet News Group podcast host Caroline Falls talks with Richard Lovell, executive director and head of debt markets at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, about the Federal Government-backed green bank’s investments to accelerate decarbonisation of the transport sector, including electrifying fleets.

“There's a few recent developments, that have been very conducive to the transport sector, on its pathway for decarbonisation. The first and most obvious is that at the passenger and light commercial end of that spectrum, we are seeing increased vehicle availability through a number of manufacturers bringing greater numbers of electric vehicles to Australia, the number of types of models as well as the number of actual cars has been increasing. And that's really important because for fleets in particular, it's critical that vehicles are suitable,” said Lovell.

He said he expects this diversity of available EV models in Australia to accelerate as manufacturers start to step up their ambitions to transition their own manufacturing in line with set targets.

Similarly, an expansion of vehicle charging options and networks is stimulating fleet electrification, said Lovell, adding it was a more complex part of the puzzle. 

“Charging infrastructure is quite a challenge, because it is difficult to undertake classic investment that sees charging infrastructure as a typical infrastructure asset which replace steady cash flows over the life of its use in order to repay the capital costs and generate a profit. That's really hard with charging infrastructure for a whole bunch of reasons.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Violette Snow talks with Fleet News Group’s podcast host Caroline Falls about the pro environmental group’s inaugural fleet rankings, and a new report outlining the case for corporate fleets to transition to renewable energy powered electric vehicles.

IKEA was named top green fleet in Australia by Greenpeace in mid March for its progress and commitment to electric cars, vans and trucks. Bank Australia was ranked second and Westpac third in a field of 30 big brand fleets analysed.

Snow said the organisation devised the rankings to highlight commitments to cutting greenhouse gases. It also fits in with its campaigns to bolster use of renewable energy in Australia.

Fleet News Group’s podcast host Caroline Falls chats via Skype to truck industry stalwart and advocate Jacquelene Brotherton as she drives to an appointment (We mention that because the sound quality is a bit bumpy). They talk about the ups and downs in the industry, covering staff shortages, Scott’s transport group’s collapse, concern about sustainability, shifts to improve regulation, appreciation of drivers, and acknowledgement of professionalism in the industry.

Brotherton grew up out the back of Burke where she met her future friends and bosses in the transport industry. Today she wears several hats, including chair of the Transport Women Australia Ltd, which brings together women from every facet of the industry — drivers, administrators, etcetera — for mentoring, networking, training and awards.

In this Fleet News Group podcast linked here Samantha Johnson, managing director of Polestar Australia, talks about the Volvo sister company’s electric vehicle design and its pole position among automakers in the sustainability race.

“Polestar really are ahead of everyone else in the auto industry, and they are influencing others to come along on their journey,” said Johnson. “We are doing everything that we can to bring the emissions down to zero within our cars that we are manufacturing and also as an organisation.”

Johnson is formerly of Volvo, which is owned by Sweden-based Geely, the same group that owns Polestar. Polestar started selling its electric vehicle the Polestar 2 in Australia in 2021 and to date has about 2000 vehicles on the road. The Polestar 2 is based on the automaker's Precept concept.

Fleet management group EROAD’s business development manager Chris Emerson talks on this Fleet News Group podcast about increasing pressure on fleets to meet sustainability targets, the future of road funding and what is top of mind for fleet managers in 2023.

“We know that a lot of very large organisations and government organisations are definitely feeling the pressure of the 2030 targets to get their fleets as sustainable as possible, to reduce emissions as much as possible,” said Emerson.

Emerson was referring to United Nations’ so-called Paris agreement to cut greenhouse emissions by 45 percent by 2030, compared with 2010 levels, in a quest to limit global warming, and climate change.

He talks about EROAD’s technology which helps fleets measure and manage their emissions, and identify vehicles that can be cut, or swapped to electric vehicles.

Stafford talks about connected vehicle technology trends, advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning and their impacts on fleets and the fleet manager.

As a manufacturer of telematics and connected vehicle technology Stafford said Directed Technologies’ role is to ease the workload on fleet managers; to give them information which is actionable.

Directed Technologies is a leading automotive and electronics solutions manufacturer, and full stack connected vehicle solution provider to automotive and fleet brands around the world.

To kick off 2023, Fleet News Group talk with Michael Hasten of LBM Fleet Solutions about one of our favourite topics — how the circular economy affects fleets.

"The circular economy has a multitude of impacts on fleet,” said Hasten, LBM’s chief commercial officer. “It's really adding a constraint to the traditional take and make approach. It's all about how do we actually reduce,reuse, recycle, to optimise and reduce waste. And the results obviously will be a more sustainable business environment.”

The circular economy is a guiding theme for the Fleet News Group podcasts. In 2022, we talked to Dickson Leow, general manager at Innovative Mechatronics, or the IM Group, about pioneering EV battery reuse and recycling in Australia, to Lina Goodman, CEO of Tyre Stewardship Australia, which is funding research and development of programs to find uses for end-of-life tyres, and to ANC’s CEO, Joe Sofra, who is building the largest electric van and truck fleet among Australia’s last-mile delivery specialists.

Fleet News Group podcast host Caroline Falls talks with Lee Sauerwald, president of the Australian Fleet Management Association (AfMA), for the last recording of 2022, about his own award winning fleet sustainability practices.

“Right back in probably 2010 is when we first started on our journey. And we've been on a carbon reduction path ever since,” said Sauerwald, adding that Uniting Communities where he was responsible for fleet at the time was ruled carbon neutral as early as 2015. He said the Adelaide based non profit, of which Sauerwald is now executive manager corporate services, is working towards a goal to be net zero by 2035.

Carola Jonas, CEO and founder of Everty, a company that offers a software platform to help companies operate and manage their EV charging infrastructure, talked to Fleet News Group.

She talked about the positive impact the removal of the fringe benefit tax on certain-priced electric vehicles will have. She also forecast the disparity will widen between low-cost charging of an EV compared with filling a car with petrol or diesel fuel.

Jonas founded Everty five years ago when, she said, the cost of charging an electric vehicle was about one-third of the cost of refuelling a traditional car or light commercial vehicle with petrol or diesel. Today she estimates it’s around one-quarter or one-fifth because fossil-fuel-based fuel has become more expensive.

Fleet News Group podcast host Caroline Falls talks with EnergyAustralia’s Jack Kotlyar about his NextGen unit’s dedication to helping fleets get set for electrifying their vehicles.

“From an EA perspective, and from a NextGen perspective, we are focusing on that electrification and decarbonization journey for those customers looking to buy electric vehicles,” said Kotlyar, Head of NextGen business unit.