Best of LinkedIn: Commercial Fleet Insights CW 28/ 29

00:00:00: provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennus, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about commercial fleets in calendar weeks twenty-eight and twenty nine.

00:00:07: Frenness is a B to B market research company that supports automotive suppliers with building feature by future competitive intelligence.

00:00:14: this shows exactly how their product stacks up against the competition.

00:00:18: you can find more info of description

00:00:20: so welcome to The Deep Dive.

00:00:22: I want you to imagine just for a second, standing in this massive commercial lot.

00:00:27: You've got the keys to a brand-year multi million dollar fleet of zero emission heavy duty trucks.

00:00:34: Okay sounds good so far Right

00:00:35: The paint is flawless Your drivers are fully trained The contracts are signed And then uh...the local utility company calls to casually mention that the transformer and grid upgrades need actually charge these vehicles.

00:00:47: Oh

00:00:47: no

00:00:48: They won't be completed until twenty-twenty eight, so you basically just bought a fleet of highly advanced paperweights.

00:00:53: That is I mean that's brutal but it's not just a hypothetical nightmare right?

00:00:58: Like if your operating in the mobility space...that scenario was happening right now and thats our mission today.

00:01:05: we want to cut through all the noise and synthesize the actual operational realities of commercial sleets were unpacking everything from these massive infrastructure bottlenecks all the way to edge computing AI.

00:01:19: Basically, we want give you a sharp actionable Edge

00:01:22: Because, you know the conversation in industry is almost entirely dominated by vehicle specs right now.

00:01:27: Everyone's just staring at range numbers and payload capacities.

00:01:30: Yeah

00:01:30: this shiny new toys?

00:01:31: Right!

00:01:31: The latest battery chemistry breakthroughs.

00:01:34: but if look closely of data from past couple weeks actual choke point transition it has very little to do with truck itself.

00:01:41: We are definitely seeing a consensus emerge from industry insiders on this.

00:01:46: Simon Riley and Jamie Sands brought some really critical perspective here.

00:01:49: they emphasize that securing deep grid connections isn't just a matter of months, like it often takes years.

00:01:54: You've got permitting, trenching the massive global backlog on high voltage transformers...it all just compounds.

00:02:02: and their point is If fleet operators wait until the financial math on the vehicle purchase makes perfect sense before they even begin planning their depot power infrastructure.

00:02:13: They're

00:02:13: already dead in water!

00:02:14: Exactly, they are guaranteeing there will be years behind their competitors.

00:02:18: I mean... The hardware is completely irrelevant.

00:02:21: without the underlying power pipeline

00:02:23: It totally shifts the timeline.

00:02:25: Juiced Commander broke down the day-to-day friction of this perfectly, I think.

00:02:30: He argues that fleet electrification is fundamentally a coordination challenge not a vehicle challenge.

00:02:36: That's a great way to put it.

00:02:37: Yeah

00:02:38: because when you operate a diesel fleet The baseline is simple right?

00:02:42: You need a driver A route map And a fuel card!

00:02:45: The truck can stop pretty much anywhere Fuel up in ten minutes and just keep moving.

00:02:49: But introducing electric heavy duty vehicles alters that entirely.

00:02:53: Suddenly you're balancing route topography, ambient weather conditions because that impacts battery thermal management highly specific charging hardware compatibilities and of course fluctuating kilowatt hour pricing.

00:03:05: I always think of it like an analogy.

00:03:07: It's like buying a state-of the art eight K smart TV, but you only have a dial up internet connection?

00:03:12: Yes

00:03:13: The hardware is incredible with the infrastructure to support it just isn't there yet.

00:03:16: Yeah But when that utility company tells you the permanent grid upgrade is delayed by three years What do you actually do?

00:03:23: well this brings up a fascinating stopgap solution.

00:03:26: Jim Allen shared a look at transportable battery storage.

00:03:30: He specifically highlighted systems from companies like Nomad

00:03:34: transportable, like on a truck.

00:03:36: Yeah these are essentially megawatt scale battery banks built directly into standard trailers so they can literally be rolled into a logistics hub and deployed in days.

00:03:46: oh wow!

00:03:46: In days yeah.

00:03:48: And the mechanism behind that is brilliant because it basically acts as an energy buffer.

00:03:52: The mobile battery just sits there slowly trickling power from the existing weak grid connection twenty four hours per day.

00:03:59: So its just sipping power constantly.

00:04:01: Exactly, it stores up this massive capacity so that when the heavy duty trucks arrive It can dump that energy into the vehicles at high speed.

00:04:09: Mm-hmm completely bypasses The immediate need to rip up the concrete and install some multi million dollar permanent substation

00:04:17: loss operators To launch their EV fleets while the permanent infrastructure slowly catches up over those few years.

00:04:23: right

00:04:24: but You know, hardware buffers are just one piece of the puzzle.

00:04:27: Right The software layer that's actually orchestrating this existing infrastructure is proving to be just as critical.

00:04:33: Oh absolutely

00:04:34: Bill Pierce highlighted a really interesting case study involving the Spokane Transit Authority.

00:04:40: They implemented a smart off-peak charging platform built by Flipturn and they integrated it with ABB Charging Hardware.

00:04:47: Okay

00:04:48: And the goal was to actively manage their depots power draw.

00:04:53: The result, they managed to shift eighty-nine percent of their vehicle charging strictly off peak hours.

00:04:58: Eighty

00:04:59: nine percent?

00:04:59: That's huge!

00:05:00: Right I mean...to understand how staggering that is you have to look at the normal mechanics of transit charging Without smart software.

00:05:08: a driver parks a bus at say five p.m.

00:05:11: plugs it in and the charger immediately pulls maximum power from the grid.

00:05:15: Right,

00:05:16: when everyone is turning on their air conditioning at home?

00:05:18: Exactly!

00:05:18: Precisely when electricity rates are at their absolute highest.

00:05:22: but what this software does?

00:05:24: it interfaces with both Utilities Pricing API And the Transit Authority's Active Scheduling System.

00:05:30: So actually knows bus schedule

00:05:31: right.

00:05:32: It know that a specific bus isn't scheduled to leave the depot again until six AM.

00:05:38: So instead of blasting it with peak priced power at five p.m.. The system intentionally delays the charge until two a.m

00:05:45: When windpower might be abundant and grid pricing is near zero, yeah And the economics of that eighty nine percent shift?

00:05:51: I mean That's what operators actually care about.

00:05:53: by entirely avoiding those peak demand charges They reduce their electric bus fuel cost to roughly twenty-five percent What a comparable diesel bus would cost on those exact same routes?

00:06:03: That is an aggressive operational advantage.

00:06:06: They turned a potential grid liability into a massive win, but

00:06:09: let me push back for a second.

00:06:11: how does traditional logistics dispatcher actually orchestrate this without needing a PhD in energy management?

00:06:19: Like you have dispatchers who've spent twenty years optimizing physical maps and delivery windows And suddenly you require them to understand spot market energy pricing.

00:06:28: It's huge shift.

00:06:29: you are injecting layers of volatility into a system that historically thrived on predictability.

00:06:35: I mean, if the utility dictates that pulling power at four p.m.

00:06:39: incurs massive peak demand charges.

00:06:41: your entire freight schedule might have to be completely rewritten.

00:06:44: it's a fair point.

00:06:45: Coordinating all that power is incredibly tough, which kind of leads to a radical question.

00:06:50: When you look at the sheer friction of navigating peak demand, trenching new copper lines and balancing software APIs it makes you wonder if there's way just cheat this system entirely.

00:07:00: Cheated how?

00:07:01: Well If plugging into grid as complex what if we bypassed the plug entirely?

00:07:06: Oh!

00:07:06: You're talking about battery swapping.

00:07:08: Physically swapping the battery packs out.

00:07:10: heavy duty free trucks

00:07:12: Yes And it is moving far beyond a theoretical whiteboard concept.

00:07:16: This has rapidly becoming a massive infrastructure reality in Europe.

00:07:20: Yeah, we saw the scale of this highlighted by Roger Atkins and Andy Way.

00:07:24: CATL which was the largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer on the planet Has formally partnered with Octopus Energy The UK's largest energy company.

00:07:33: Two absolute giants

00:07:35: Right...and they are laying the groundwork for a heavy-duty truck battery swapping network across Europe using a system CATL calls QIJI technology.

00:07:46: Yeah, and Alexander Alanik provided the operational scope of this joint venture.

00:07:50: they've dubbed Swap de pus, which is a great name.

00:07:54: Swap

00:07:54: De Pus.

00:07:55: I love that

00:07:55: and the numbers attached to it are formidable.

00:07:58: They are projecting the construction of over thirty mega hubs across Europe by the year twenty thirty five.

00:08:03: The goal is to unlock thirty billion pounds in private investment To support up to three hundred thousand trucks.

00:08:08: Three hundred thousand that's incredible scale.

00:08:11: Yeah, let's break down how QIG technology actually functions Because it's not just swapping one massive ten ton monolith out of a truck.

00:08:19: right now.

00:08:20: The system relies on standardized modular battery blocks.

00:08:23: So depending on the route for the day A truck might load one two or three of these blocks

00:08:28: Right customized to the range needed

00:08:30: exactly.

00:08:31: and when the truck pulls into a swapping station a robotic sled slides underneath the chassis, unbolts the depleted modular blocks pulls them out and inserts fully charged replacements.

00:08:42: And the time it takes?

00:08:43: The

00:08:43: entire physical process happens in less than five minutes.

00:08:46: Five

00:08:46: minutes!

00:08:46: I mean that is a critical metric.

00:08:48: In low-margin road freight uptime is the solitary god that operators worship.

00:08:53: Yeah A forty ton truck sitting at a megawatt charger for ninety minutes Is a depreciating asset hemorrhaging money.

00:09:01: By swapping the battery in time it takes a driver to grab coffee, you achieve diesel equivalent turnaround times.

00:09:07: It's like The Modern Equivalent of the Pony Express.

00:09:10: Oh that is good analogy!

00:09:11: You don't build hotel to let exhausted horse sleep right?

00:09:14: You would hitchhit, slap fresh horses on carriage and keep moving.

00:09:18: Yes exactly

00:09:19: And real quick.

00:09:20: by the way if are finding these deep dives into mobility infrastructure valuable make sure follow our feed so we do not miss future industry updates.

00:09:27: We track those shifts as they actually materialize.

00:09:31: I have to bring up a skeptical point here.

00:09:32: Go for it.

00:09:34: The underlying challenge with the Swaptipus concept has to be standardization.

00:09:38: Oh, definitely!

00:09:39: This works in China.

00:09:40: but is realistic to expect fierce European truck rivals?

00:09:45: To adopt a standardized battery shape?

00:09:47: just make these swap stations viable.

00:09:50: How do you convince legacy European truck manufacturers like Volvo, Scania or Mercedes who fight over every single millimeter of market share to agree on a standardized battery shape.

00:10:01: That is the engineering and political battleground right there because in a modern electric truck The battery pack isn't just a modular fuel tank strapped to the side.

00:10:10: it Is a fundamental structural component Of the chassis.

00:10:14: It dictates torsional rigidity crash safety dynamics weight distribution And thermal management.

00:10:20: So asking a legacy OEM to surrender that much design control To a standardized third-party CATL battery box.

00:10:28: That means asking them to entirely rewrite their engineering philosophy.

00:10:31: Yeah, it's a huge ask but you know if the fleet operator looks at there spreadsheet and sees that buying a truck compatible with a five minute swap station, drastically lowers their total cost of ownership over five years.

00:10:44: The market might just force the hands of the OEMs.

00:10:46: they will build what the major logistics fleets demand exactly.

00:10:50: money dictates.

00:10:51: But, you know regardless of whether a fleet is hot-swapping modular blocks in five minutes or using smart software to trickle charge overnight managing these advanced assets require serious intelligence.

00:11:02: Oh

00:11:02: yeah the amount of data these vehicles generate is unprecedented and operators right now are basically drowning in it.

00:11:08: The problem today isn't lack of data its data silos And

00:11:11: the sheer lack of time to process it all, we have sensors monitoring break temperatures tire pressures battery health driver eye movement GPS location.

00:11:19: But raw telematics data is totally useless if you don't have the human bandwidths.

00:11:24: analyze

00:11:25: right and Ryan Crandell and Laurie Olson highlighted a major evolution in solving this data paralysis.

00:11:31: they specifically looked at Geotab's new MCP connector.

00:11:35: What this tool does is it links live fleet data directly into enterprise large language models like chat GPT or Microsoft Copilot using a natural language API.

00:11:44: I love that efficiency.

00:11:45: Yeah, because it eliminates what Lori Olson called Excel gymnastics.

00:11:49: Yes A fleet manager doesn't need to know how write complex SQL queries or export six different CSV files from siloed software.

00:11:56: just figure out what happened on Tuesday.

00:11:58: No, they can literally type into a chat window which drivers have the highest idle times in Berlin sector this week?

00:12:04: Or who needs safety coaching?

00:12:06: based yesterday's routes and AI queries massive telematics database instantly returns plain English synthesized answer.

00:12:13: It is incredible!

00:12:14: And we are seeing same principle applied to safety systems too.

00:12:19: Aaron McCullough broke down the impact of Linux Coach Assist.

00:12:22: Oh, that's a

00:12:22: great example!

00:12:23: Right... Instead of a safety manager spending four hours scrubbing through raw dashcam footage to find moments of risky behavior The AI acts as an automated video editor.

00:12:34: It scans the footage correlates it with harsh breaking or speeding telematics and instantly generates a highlight reel.

00:12:41: So it provides a session summary highlighting top risk behaviors And pulls peer comparisons basically in second.

00:12:48: Exactly It physically cuts the manager's preparation time by fifty percent, and has been shown to reduce risky driving events by twenty-three percent.

00:13:12: But how we interpret that highlight reel is also maturing, which I think it's fascinating.

00:13:16: Samuel Elkins offered a brilliant perspective on

00:13:18: this.

00:13:19: Okay what was his take?

00:13:20: Well when the manager gets an AI alert showing a truck doing say one hundred and three kilometers per hour in an eighty zone The immediate traditional instinct is punitive.

00:13:29: You call the driver into office and discipline them for violating safety protocols.

00:13:34: Right you blame the driver

00:13:35: but Elkins points out best-in class carriers are looking upstream from the cabin.

00:13:40: Very often, a driver's speeding is merely symptom of systemic operational failure elsewhere in the company.

00:13:46: The real risk often stems from journey management like sales team or dispatcher promises client an impossible delivery window completely ignoring variables like cross-border traffic and severe weather.

00:14:00: When reality sets on highway, the drivers are forced to break speed limit just close gap and meet that unrealistic corporate promise.

00:14:08: So you are shifting the accountability from the driver's foot to the dispatcher screen.

00:14:13: If you fix throughout planning upstream and stop over promising, The speeding stops organically exactly

00:14:19: fixed the route in the speeding stops.

00:14:21: And identifying and fixing those systemic risks Translates directly into capital

00:14:26: always comes back to money.

00:14:27: Always.

00:14:28: Ethan Katak pointed a recent partnership between motive and Geico.

00:14:32: Insurers are realizing that carriers deploying AI dashcams and actually using the interpretive data to proactively coach drivers present a drastically lower payout risk.

00:14:43: That translates into hard reductions in insurance premiums for.

00:14:48: But I do have to ask, like if AI is generating the coaching prompts flagging video clips adjusting route schedules.

00:14:55: Do we risk losing human empathy required actually sit down with a stressed driver and change their behavior?

00:15:02: An algorithm can highlight this beating event.

00:15:04: But it takes a human being to sit across from an exhausted driver, look them in the eye and ask if dispatch is pushing them too hard.

00:15:10: I completely agree.

00:15:11: technology deployed without empathy is just surveillance.

00:15:14: If a company uses AI solely as a punitive tool To write people up they are going to accelerate The very crisis that Is threatening the entire freight industry right now.

00:15:22: Right

00:15:23: Technology has totally used this Without the right People Which kind of perfectly sets up the final overarching challenge facing The entire industry right now when we zoom out to look at the macroeconomics and operational realities Of the market.

00:15:38: Yeah, We have to look At the human element

00:15:40: because all our temple shared a statistic that just abruptly puts All this high-tech infrastructure into perspective.

00:15:45: Oh is it?

00:15:46: The single biggest constraint on fleets today isn't technology It's not grid capacity or API integration.

00:15:57: There are an estimated five hundred thousand unfilled commercial truck driving positions across Europe.

00:16:02: Five

00:16:03: hundred thousand?

00:16:04: The industry is facing a severe demographic cliff, older drivers are retiring and younger generations are looking at the lifestyle ,the hours, the stress, the physical toll And they're choosing other professions.

00:16:16: So therefore every single piece of technology a fleet deploys must ultimately serve retention Making these companies places where professionals actually want to work.

00:16:25: You have to use AI to optimize routes so drivers get home to their families on time, you have to be smart charging to ensure they don't get stranded and build a company that feels supported.

00:16:35: The human element dictates survival.

00:16:39: On the purely financial side of survival Arthur Halshal emphasized that fleets must stop obsessing over the sticker price for zero emission vehicles and focus relentlessly on the total cost of ownership or TCO

00:16:51: Right.

00:16:51: Yes, an electric heavy-duty truck demands a massive capital expenditure up front but the operational masser... The dramatically lower energy cost per mile when smart charging is used and the massive reduction in preventative maintenance

00:17:04: Because EV drivetrains have a fraction of moving parts on diesel engines.

00:17:08: Exactly!

00:17:09: That's where you win the margin over five year cycle.

00:17:12: And speaking of margins, it is vital to remember that optimizing the TCO isn't exclusively about multi-million dollar software platforms or megawatt batteries.

00:17:22: Sometimes It Is About Brilliant Analog Physics.

00:17:25: Yes!

00:17:26: Even tiny analog innovations impact TCO.

00:17:30: Tom Johnstone showed a perfect example with aerodynamic mudflaps.

00:17:34: Mudflaps

00:17:35: I know sounds completely mundane but engineering is fascinating.

00:17:39: A standard solid rubber mudflap on a forty-ton truck acts essentially like a parachute.

00:17:45: As the tires spin, they throw a boundary layer of turbulent air directly into that solid rubber creating behind the tires.

00:17:53: So, the truck spends a measurable amount of fuel purely fighting wind resistance generated by its own debris guards?

00:17:58: Exactly!

00:17:59: So engineers redesign the flap using tough structured plastic grid.

00:18:03: it still physically blocks water and gravel from hitting vehicles but allows air to pass right through the mesh breaking up vortex.

00:18:09: that one simple analog change reduces long-haul drag by roughly .

00:18:19: But multiply that reduction across a fleet of five hundred trucks, each running one-hundred thousand miles per year.

00:18:25: Suddenly the plastic mesh is saving millions in operational costs.

00:18:30: Right!

00:18:31: I laugh because saving one point five percent with mudflaps sounds like finding loose change on the couch but across millions it pays for the whole couch.

00:18:40: It's the ultimate marginal gain,

00:18:42: but you know while western frets are fighting from one point five percent aerodynamic savings and navigating multi-year grid delays we have to look globally because the scale of what is happening in the east

00:18:55: Oh, massively!

00:18:56: Michael Barnard provided a comprehensive analysis of China's heavy-duty deployment and the numbers are just staggering.

00:19:02: Pekeleum

00:19:03: on me.

00:19:03: China has established a target for the year twenty thirty to reach forty percent new energy heavy truck sales.

00:19:10: To put a hard number on that percentage we're looking at roughly one point six million zero emission heavy commercial vehicles hitting the road in the next few years.

00:19:18: One point six million and these aren't small delivery vans doing final mile runs around a quiet suburb.

00:19:24: No, These are class eight equivalents.

00:19:26: What is critical about Barnard's analysis?

00:19:28: Is the utilization strategy?

00:19:30: China is actively displacing high-utilization diesel freight not just running small pilot programs.

00:19:36: They are ripping The most carbon intensive vehicles out of the supply chain And replacing them with electric and fuel cell alternatives.

00:19:44: Because the scale and utilization rates are so exceptionally high, this single initiative is actually starting to break global oil demand forecasts.

00:19:52: Wait really?

00:19:54: Actively breaking global oil forecast which poses a very pointed question for anyone listening right now who operates fleet in Europe or North America based on China's massive scale If they're deploying one point six million heavy electric trucks, building swapping infrastructure at scale and visibly altering global oil consumption.

00:20:13: Are Western operators moving too slowly out of fear the upfront purchase price?

00:20:17: That is defining tension in market right now.

00:20:20: Optimizing today's quarterly spreadsheet versus building the infrastructure required to survive next decade.

00:20:27: If we connect the threads of everything we've unpacked today, The reality that plugging in requires AI to negotiate utility pricing.

00:20:34: The shift toward five-minute robotic battery swaps... ...the ability to query your entire fleet's safety record with a single natural language sentence and half million driver deficit.

00:20:45: It paints very specific picture for the future And it leaves you one last thing to mull over.

00:20:51: With AI routing, five-minute battery swaps and total operational visibility are we rapidly approaching a reality where the traditional role of a fleet manager becomes more of systems orchestrator.

00:21:02: Someone who balances human psychology with algorithmic routing in spot market energy trading?

00:21:07: And what specific new skills will you need to develop?

00:21:13: If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:21:16: Also check out our other editions on electrification and battery technology future mobility and market evolution And next-gen vehicle intelligence.

00:21:23: Thank You for joining us On This Deep Dive.

00:21:25: make sure you subscribe to the feed so you never miss an update.

00:21:29: keep questioning The baseline and we will catch you on the Next one.