California is leading other US states in a push to become more environmentally conscious - and its latest target is rejuvenating its fleet sector.

The state has proposed that all heavy-duty trucks be diesel efficient and that they are equipped with products approved by the Environment Protection Agency’s Smartway program. The plan is part of a wider effort by California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020.

The proposals, which, if approved would be enforced from 2010 onwards, will apply to new and existing trucks. Trucks already in use built from 2005 onwards will be required to have single wide tyres or low-rolling resistance duals placed on to lightweight wheels. Trailers meanwhile will need to have side skirt fairings, with either front- or rear-mounted trailer fairings.

Fleets with 19 trucks or more must have at least half of the EPA Smartway regulations in place by 2012. Fleets with less than 19 vehicles wouldn’t have to report Smartway retrofits but would have to be fully compliant by 2014. 

Financing to purchase these products is available - for more information visit smartwayfinancecenter.com.

What do you think of this Californian scheme? Should similar rulings be enforced in the UK? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

 Who is to blame for a fall in retail value of used small executives? Well, if you listen to the price experts at CAP its fleet managers that should shoulder their share of responsibility.

CAP is one of the leading providers of residual values data in the UK and has examined the fall in value of certain models in what is widely considered an especially tough marketplace. The BMW 3-Series in particular has seen its price slump by around four-five per cent from the CAP target price last month. By contrast, the market has fallen by 2.6 per cent.

This fall has been attributed to the large number of low-spec vehicles which are entering auctions. CAP argues that fleet managers should be doing more to prevent users from picking up the lowest rung of cars.

Robert Hester, Black Book valuations relationship manager at CAP, commented: “Fleet managers need to be very careful about specs. That’s particularly true with the 3-series: the ES is not too bad in itself, but put it out in a non-metallic you’re going to suffer at the back end.”

He continued: “Typically what happens is that on somebody’s company car list, the choice is between a reasonable-spec Mondeo or Passat, or a basic model 3-series or A4. They’re always going to go for the base model executives.

“It’s mainly the big fleets, the leasing companies. Smaller fleets can control it more, especially if the purchasing manager works closely with the disposal manager.”

 You may pick up a Coca-Cola to keep yourself refreshed, but the company’s operators have a different approach to tackling the thirst of their fleet of cars and SUVs.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola has gone green - turning to hybrid cars to solve the problem of its fleets guzzling too much ‘gas’. The company has already transitioned 325 of the 800 cars and SUVs used by its sales staff to hybrid vehicles and expects to move a further 225 over to the green side before the end of the year.

It’s not just the company itself which has seen the green light - its affiliate companies are also making an environmental push. Charlotte-based Coca-Cola Consolidated, Coke’s second largest US bottler, now has 400 hybrid cars in its fleet of around 800 vehicles. Coca-Cola Enterprises, the largest bottler has around 30 hybrid cars and 140 diesel-electric hybrid delivery trucks.

The move comes after a massive leap in petrol prices in the USA. When Coca-Cola originally proposed the hybrid car switchover, petrol was around $2.70 a gallon in the USA - now it costs around $3.70 a gallon.

The move also represents a drive towards environmental projects by the company.

Bruce Karas, director of sustainability, environment and safety for Coca-Cola in North America, said: “If you look at the price of fuel now, it’s going up. The whole picture is continually getting better in terms of the financial benefits of going to a hybrid.”

Indeed Coke estimates that it is saving around $1,100 a year per vehicle compared to the non-hybrid cars. The hybrid SUVs meanwhile save approximately $800 a year per vehicle. They also pick up their largest savings during city driving, where the stop and go electric motor assists acceleration.

 Fleet managers are being urged to look beyond their drivers when making investigations into accidents.

An increasing number of fleet operators are following up on accidents but they are failing to look at the wider issues, such as company culture and journey planning, according to Dr Will Murray a research director at Interactive Driving Systems (IDS).

He said: “An increasing number of organisations are implementing processes but are just focusing on the driver - they need to focus on the wider processes as well.”

“If drivers are completely negligent they should be held accountable but it is important to go beyond the driver when looking at corrective action.”

IDS has recently released a guidebook outlining the actions fleet managers should take following a collision. It includes tips on recording details at the scene of an accident, a self-audit tick sheet to assess where companies currently stand and a guide to the Haddon Matrix, which is highly recommended by Dr Murray.

The matrix examines all surrounding issues for fleet managers including the pressures for a driver to perform, journey planning and driver education.

“No amount of driver discipline or training will make any difference if the management systems are not right,” Dr Murray said.

“You have to make sure that your company policy addresses corrective action.”

Leasing giant Alphabet has created two guides to aid companies with the Corporate Manslaughter Act.
The first explains the requirements and enforcements of the act. While the second guide, highlights road traffic law and common offences.
The Corporate Manslaughter Act was introduced earlier this year allows an organisation to be found guilty of corporate manslaughter if a senior management failure causes a breach in duty of care. This means anyone driving on company business should be protected by the company’s duty of care.
If there has been a breach by the company then the police investigating a work-related road death would consider three elements: the vehicle, the driver and the journey. If a car isn’t roadworthy, a driver isn’t fit to drive, or if he/she was asked to undertake too long a trip, then a company can be held liable.
If found guilty a company can expect to face large fines that the Sentencing Guidelines Council aims to base on turnover rather than profit. Further more Senior officials can still be prosecuted under existing manslaughter laws and can receive custodial sentences of around two-three years.
Both of these guides from Alphabet can be obtained for free by calling Alphabet on 0870 50 50 100
Simon McBride

 Accidents are a hassle few fleet operators look forward to addressing but it’s an unavoidable part of running a profitable fleet service. Now however, some of the stress has been removed with the development of a new product that plugs the gap in the sector.

Total Accident Management has launched the Fleet 1-Call Service which offers a full claims management service to both small-medium enterprise (SME) fleets with one-20 vehicles and companies that run employment car ownership schemes (ECOS).

With the Fleet 1-Call service both ECOS and SMEs with fully comprehensive insurance or a low excess can benefit from a full and hassle free accident management service that incorporates the collection and repair of a vehicle, along with managing third party claims and providing a hire car.

“We became increasingly aware that professional accident management in the SME sector had fallen into a gaping hole,” said Penny Stoolman, sales & marketing director of Total Accident Management.

“We’ve designed Fleet 1-Call to plug that gap so SME fleet customers and ECOS can benefit from first class customer care and reduced overall accident management costs normally seen by larger fleets.”

The Fleet 1-Call Service is just one of the modules available from Total Accident Management. Others include Fleet Indemnity, which provides credit hire, credit repair and personal injury service for non-fault claims; Tpro, a way of controlling the cost of third party claims; and Fleet Complete, a full accident management service for large fleets.

For more information visit: totalaccman.co.uk.

 Worries over wasted fuel could soon be a concern of the past thanks to a new development from Merridale fuel management.

The company has developed a switching module for commercial diesel pumps that allows users to choose between a low flow rate for smaller vehicles such as estate cars, 4×4s and car-based vans; and a high flow rate for fuelling lorries.

The device could offer an ideal solution for fleet operators who own a mixture of vehicles - such as company cars and service vans.

It works by modulating the output of a standard high flow dispenser - which is typically around 90 litres per minute. It can be adapted for use with new pumps or it can be fitted to existing installations.

The development is the latest fuel management system brought to life by Merridale - a company that aims to offer solutions for any size of fleet whether they are large fleets with multiple depots or small operators. Sales and marketing director Stephen Hannan believes this device is a response to large demand in the fleet sector.

“Customers have asked us to provide this facility, to maximise their utilisation of in-house and depot fuelling facilities,” commented Mr Hannan.

“The main advantage of the switching module is to make self-serve fuelling easier, and less wasteful, for office staff and other personnel, using company cars and vans.”

For more information visit: merridale.co.uk.

Connaught Engineering launched its hybrid technology during last month’s CV Show and has since reported a surge of interest in the product.  Connaught HYBRID+ system can be applied to any vehicle as a retro-fit to existing vehicles. It can be applied to all major van makes and costs around £2,750.00 to install. Suitable for all light commercial vehicles and can reduce fuel consumption by up to 25%.

http://www.connaughtengineering.com/

Faye Sunderland

 There’s a new ‘must-have’ in the fleet sector - with one in four UK fleets now utilising tracking systems within their vehicle operations.

The research, conducted by fleet solution provider DigiCore, has revealed that three quarters of those using the technology are reaping the rewards with the value gained. Payback on their investment has been achieved in numerous ways including increased productivity (54 per cent), reduced costs (44 per cent), lower overtime claims (13 per cent) and reduced fuel costs (12 per cent).

Eighty five per cent of those that had invested in the technology claimed to be satisfied with their current provider and stated that service levels are much more important than competitive pricing.

Take-up has been particularly large among commercial vehicles (30 per cent) and fleet operators with more than 100 vehicles (31 per cent).

However, there is still some way to go to break down negativity towards tracking devices despite the generally positive response by those currently using them. Of those not using vehicle tracking currently, only 48 per cent believed tracking could benefit their business while a mere 44 per cent believed it could offer a return on the investment.

DigiCore UK Ltd Managing Director Tom O’Connor said: “There is still much work to be done by solutions providers to enhance the image industry and develop systems that best meet the needs of the fleet sector.”

For the full results of the survey visit digicore.com.

 Fleet bosses are being forced to think green as rocketing fuel prices and tighter tax rules limit their vehicle choice.

Not only has the price at the pump soared - with some areas reporting a 5p leap in the space of 48hrs last week - but regulation introduced in the Budget means that fleet owners are now punished heavily if their cars or vans pollute extensively.

Renault fleet boss Keith Hawes is among those reporting a change in direction although he does not feel the present demand for green cars is overwhelming.

“If a finance director is looking at his fleet, he would be doing the analysis of what cars are most fuel-efficient. And there will be a point at which they’re going to look at changing their fleets,” commented Hawes.

“The 160g/km limit has not had an impact yet, but will on lease and rental rates.”

Despite the likes of Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen reporting a high take-up for their eco-friendly green cars, Hawes believes that demand is yet to take off with Renault but doubtless will in the future.

Hawes said: “We have the Eco2 brand. It is not a specific model in each range it just has to meet three criteria: less than 140g/km CO2, built at an eco factory meeting an environmental ISO, and has to be a minimum of 95 per cent recyclable.

“We don’t have a Bluemotion, but we do have 37 cars in our Eco2 range. Eco2 is a label, not a badge. Going green should be everything you produce, not a specific model.”

For more information on green cars, visit thegreencarwebsite.co.uk.