Meet the new Guinness World Record Holders of longest distance ever driven in an e-van on a single charge.

A plucky Webfleet team overcame range challenges and tricky driving conditions to smash the old record using some trusty Webfleet Telematics data.

Presenter Ginny Buckley is joined by Sam Clarke, Chief Vehicle Officer at GridServe, Alain Castle, Webfleet Marketing Manager - UK and Ireland and James Odell, Webfleet Key Account Manager. 

Take a look under the bonnet of hardest solar car challenge on the planet with those taking part in this spectacular race.

Bridgestone Corporation is the title sponsor of the World Solar Challenge 2023, a competition for teams to design, build, and compete with solar-powered vehicles in the world’s foremost solar technology and advanced engineering challenge.

The event taking place at the end of October takes contestants over 3,000 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide – experiencing differing terrains and conditions across Australia. 

Teams competing in the World Solar Challenge showcase their cutting-edge designs and engineering solutions. The competition serves as a platform to inspire future generations of engineers and promote sustainability and environmental awareness.

Bridgestone has supported World Solar Challenge since 2013, demonstrating dedication to creating a more sustainable future, and commitment to supporting the development of new technologies that will help reduce carbon footprint. 

For the competition, Bridgestone will equip the Durham University team in the UK with Bridgestone tyres that make use of pioneering ENLITEN technologies capable of enhancing the performance of their solar powered vehicle.

In this episode, presenter Ginny Buckley speaks to Anith Sathananthan, Team Principal from the Durham University World Solar Challenge team and Tom Worsley from Bridgestone to find out more about the world’s toughest solar car challenge. 

Sales of electric vehicles have been increasing steadily, with one in ten new cars sold now powered by electricity. 

However, the price of electric vehicles means the market currently is not currently accessible to all.  

With the EU proposing a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, then new car buyers will have no choice but to switch to electric. But with limited options in the ‘affordable car range’ – under €30k – will consumers be able to meet these demands? 

In this episode, our host, Ginny Buckley of Electryfying.com asks Andy Palmer, Automotive Expert and Former CEO of Aston Martin, and Bora Celikyay, Head of Product Category Management Bridgestone EMIA, why EVs are so expensive and what can be done to make them more affordable? 

In-vehicle data contains multitudes of information: advising on when the vehicle needs servicing, brakes checking, and tyres need changing. This data has an enormous impact on road safety – reducing the need for manual checks and keeping drivers safe, along with providing critical information to city and transport planners to use when developing infrastructure solutions. 

Data will play even more of a leading role in the future. Connected vehicles will be able to inform other drivers of accidents or issues along the route, so they can make a considered choice when planning how best to get to their destination, along with optimising routes to create a lower environmental impact, and much more. 

But how is that data kept secure and what confidence does the industry need to provide to vehicle owners? 

In this episode, our host Ginny Buckley of Electrifying.com is joined by Raghunath Banerjee, Vice President Data Solutions for Bridgestone Mobility Solutions to discuss in-vehicle data, it’s value, and how it can drive innovation.

More about our guest Raghunath Banerjee (Vice President Data Solutions at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions )

Raghunath leads a line of business dedicated to data driven solutions and fundamental new data innovations within the scope of new upcoming global mobility solutions.

Data Solutions is forming the core of new digital driven business assets to support Bridgestone on its way of the digital transformation from the world leading tyre and rubber company to a Mobility Solution Provider. Prior to joining Bridgestone, he was the Global Data Strategy & Business Line Leader at ZF and responsible for defining data driven digital transformation strategy for cost & sustainability areas for Fleet management. 

Raghunath is a business leader with more than 20+ years of diversified experience at various levels in reputed global organisations. Data enthusiast, with profound knowledge on Logistics, Telematics / IoT, Mobility, Automotive domains and having hands-on experience on building connected vehicle data platforms for future Smart Cities. He holds an Executive MBA from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering. 

 An energy crisis has been building in Europe and beyond over the past year; as increased demand post Covid, the impact of the war in Ukraine have sent costs spiralling. 

Simultaneously, there are government moves in Europe to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars with only electric vehicles to be available for domestic customers to buy from 2035 respectively – and the UK even earlier by 2030. 

Concerns about affordability and the right infrastructure have meant, until now, electric cars have not been as competitive against other options. Yet, once petrol and diesel vehicles are no longer available for sale, then consumers will have to embrace EVs. 

In times, where many of us are concerned about blackouts, and how long this crisis will go on for, then is the move to EVs realistic? And is there enough energy to really sustain a full roll out? 

In this episode, our host Ginny Buckley, motoring journalist and CEO of Electrifying.com talks to Graeme Cooper, then Head of Future Markets at the UK National Grid to discuss if the energy grids around the world would be able to cope if we only had electric vehicles.  

Appearing in this episode 

Ginny is in conversation with Graeme Cooper, then Head of Future Markets at the UK National Grid and now  VP/Director Global Solutions - Energy & Power at Jacobs.

With parts of Europe predicted to be in recession in 2023, this episode of the Pioneers podcast will explore what happened the last time recession hit to the automotive industry and what we can learn to help navigate this one.  

How will this impact on emerging forms of mobility and newcomers to the industry? Will some markets do better, and others fare worse? And will how a financial crisis impact the shift to electric cars?  

Joining our host, Ginny Buckley (Founder and CEO of Electrifying.com) is: 

• Simone Bocchi (Bridgestone EMIA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships)
• Franck Leveque (Bridgestone Mobility Solutions’ Vice President Strategic Partnerships and Incubation)

Expect plenty of information about the impact of a recession on the mobility industry and learn what we can expect over the months ahead.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Franck Leveque, VP Strategic Planning & Incubation Bridgestone Mobility Solutions 

Franck Leveque is the VP of Strategic Planning & Incubation at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions (BMS), a Business Unit of Bridgestone which is focused on developing and providing data-driven solutions for a safe and sustainable future of mobility, including Europe’s trusted telematics solutions provider Webfleet. 

Franck has a broad background in Strategy Consulting with a passion for innovation & transformation (Technologies, Services, Business Models) in automotive & transportation. 

Before joining Bridgestone Mobility Solutions in 2021, Franck spent 20 years at Frost & Sullivan where he has been a founding member of the mobility practice (Automotive & Transportation). Franck holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours, Business & Management from Oxford. 

Simone Bocchi, Bridgestone EMIA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships  

Simone Bocchi is Bridgestone EMIA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships where he leads a line of business focused on identifying and partnering with key players and newcomers in the mobility industry to work together developing cutting-edge solutions.  

He’s spent six years at Bridgestone so far, working in roles in R&D, Operations, Strategic Planning before moving into his current position in Strategic Partnerships.  

Previously, Simone spent a decade working in large corporates and management consultancies leading strategic, operational and organisational changes, managing international teams in Europe, North America and Asia. 

Sales of electric cars doubled globally in 2021 to a new record of 6.6 million, with Europe and China driving most of that growth.

But the situation is very different from region to region.

Different terrains, market challenges, and approaches to legislation and charging infrastructure mean that uptake varies greatly depending on where you are in the world.

In this episode, our host Ginny Buckley discusses global rates of EV adoption with Mariska Matadin, Global Business Development Manager EV, Strategy & Incubation at Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, and Thuthuka Hadebe, Project Manager at Bridgestone South Africa.

The race for EV adoption is on...

Just under a quarter of employees in Europe's automotive sector are women. Yet, as our experience within Bridgestone shows, when female talent is empowered, it makes a real difference to our business.

In this episode, our host, Ginny Buckley, Founder of Electrifying.com, spoke to:
Melinda Topolcsik, Plant Manager, President & Managing Director at Bridgestone’s factory in Hungary, An Vergauwen, HR Business Partner Sales and Marketing for Bridgestone in Europe, and Kim Dorr, Centre Manager for In Town Automotive, one of Bridgestone’s First Stop retail network partners in the UK.

They talk about how to attract the absolute best female talent to the automotive industry, and ways in which to support and grow women into the leaders of tomorrow.

Incredible advancements in technology, changing customer needs, huge data availability and evolving regulations are all driving change across the spectrum from personal cars to shared mobility and micro-mobility. A wave of new automotive start-ups are entering the market working at rapid pace to bring new products and solutions to the market - and challenging traditional business models as they go!
Our host, Ginny Buckley, CEO of Electrifying, spoke to Adrien Thormann, Head of Total Solution Package, James McMurray, Key Account Manager OE Sales and Niels Vos, Senior Product Manager BMS, from the Bridgestone EMIA team about working with these industry newcomers and how Bridgestone is offering its expertise and market leadership. 

Mobility is undergoing a rapid shift towards electric vehicles on a global scale. In the first episode of PIONEERS, our host Ginny Buckley is joined by Christophe de Valroger (Vice President Retail), Simone Rando (Head of Consumer Tyre Development) and Taco van der Leij (Vice President, Webfleet Solutions Europe) at Bridgestone EMIA. Learn how Bridgestone is supporting the adoption of electric vehicles by through tyre technology, fleet solutions and an EV-ready retail and service network.