Wholistic Fleet Strategy Key to Successful EV Transition
WORDS BY PAUL OLIVER
Over the last few years, there has been significant demand for Consultants to develop Fleet Transition Plans for organisations considering the‘ decarbonisation’ of their fleet.
In particular, State and Local Governments have been at the forefront of planning their transition to Battery Electric Vehicles( BEVs), as a core component of their Sustainability commitments to tax and rate payers respectively.
Yet, at Fleet Advisory we have encountered numerous clients who have not implemented the detailed Fleet Transition Plans they have specifically sourced. Why would that be the case?
The Obstacles To Implementation
While every organisation is at different stages of their journey towards net zero, it seems that there are some common reasons for the sort of‘ transition stagnation’ sometimes witnessed:
A Lack of Organisation-Wide Buy In – the procurement of a Fleet Transition Plan is often arranged by the Sustainability Manager / Officer on behalf of their organisation, in line with the responsibilities of their role.
However, we note that this is sometimes done without suitably engaging fleet staff and / or other key organisation stakeholders upon whom a successful transition will ultimately rely.
As a result, we see examples of this lack of organisation-wide buy in leading to plans being‘ shelved’, as not all stakeholders are suitably aligned with the vision.
Managing Complex Change( Capability, Bandwidth & Continuity) – there are many highly skilled and professional Fleet Managers, consistently delivering results for their organisations. However, it’ s not realistic to expect that all are sufficiently skilled in infrastructure / facilities management, energy consumption and the relevant technologies associated with vehicle charging that are involved in the transition to BEVs.
The fact that it’ s‘ fleet related’ doesn’ t mean that the Fleet Team alone can manage the complex aspects of change that arise. Change Management will often require different skillsets, and once again it requires an effective organisation-wide approach to suitably resourcing the transition, both from a capacity and skillset perspective.
The journey is long and complex, often requiring not only a substantial time investment, but also a significant amount of expertise in multiple fields. Finding the right people, who have the right skills to execute these projects is difficult, further compounded by the rate of internal movement that we often see within levels of Government. Having a dedicated champion, who is in the driver’ s seat and able to coordinate other relevant stakeholders is easier said than done.
Cost – while there is an initial level of acceptance that BEVs are going to cost more to purchase than an ICE vehicle, many organisations do not place sufficient emphasis on the vastly improving Whole Of Life Cost( WOLC) comparison on Passenger Vehicles. We see some unprepared for the relevant conversations and subsequent commitment to infrastructure upgrade costs, charging station installations etc.
Further, while the impacts of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standards( NVES) is not yet evident to most, it will gradually play a significant role.
Clearly, a Sustainability Plan describing the organisation’ s vision on a website is not enough to deliver transition outcomes- financial commitments need to be planned and budgeted for well in advance.
Sole Focus on BEVs to Decarbonise – not surprisingly, transitioning a poorly managed or under-performing fleet to BEVs will not solve any issues, it’ s just going to create additional ones.
A lack of focus on first developing a Fleet Strategy, and driving Fleet Optimisation outcomes is prevalent.
18 ISSUE 53 JUNE 2025 / WWW. AFMA. ORG. AU