Best of LinkedIn: Commercial Fleet Insights CW 46/ 47

00:00:00: Brought to you by Thomas Elgair and Frennus, this edition highlights key LinkedIn posts on commercial fleets in weeks forty-six and forty-seven.

00:00:08: Frennus supports automotive enterprises and consultancies with market, customer and competitive intelligence in the commercial fleet sector, with a strong focus on digital solutions and emerging technologies.

00:00:20: Welcome to the deep dive.

00:00:21: Our mission, as always, is to give you that shortcut to being truly well-informed.

00:00:26: And today, we're definitely cutting through the chatter.

00:00:28: We've been looking at professional channels over the last two weeks, zeroing in on the top trends in commercial fleets.

00:00:34: Yeah, and the sources are really clear.

00:00:36: The conversation has shifted.

00:00:37: It's not if fleets are transforming, but how they're executing it.

00:00:41: And

00:00:41: three things really jumped out.

00:00:42: Uh-huh.

00:00:43: The acceleration of electrification, the huge infrastructure challenges that are, you know, bottlenecking the whole thing, and, well, the sudden and really rapid deployment of AI.

00:00:53: It's everywhere.

00:00:54: Absolutely.

00:00:54: We've pulled the most impactful insights all shared by C-level leaders and experts on LinkedIn.

00:00:59: So for you listening, this is about getting those actionable facts and figures.

00:01:03: Right.

00:01:04: It's about understanding what's driving investment and decisions in the mobility industry like right now.

00:01:09: So let's

00:01:10: jump in.

00:01:10: Let's do it.

00:01:11: And we have to start where all transformation really begins.

00:01:15: the economics.

00:01:16: Okay, let's unpack this.

00:01:17: Our first major theme is the electrification transition.

00:01:21: And, you know, the one concept that just keeps coming up over and over is that total cost of ownership.

00:01:26: TCO is king.

00:01:28: It is.

00:01:29: The big takeaway is that electrification, well, it's not a pilot project anymore.

00:01:33: It's moving into full-scale rollout.

00:01:35: Because the numbers finally work.

00:01:37: They're more than working.

00:01:38: The TCO case is just too favorable to ignore now.

00:01:41: In some cases, it's almost compulsory.

00:01:43: It really is.

00:01:44: Tony Nesim highlighted a just a staggering example with yard spotters.

00:01:49: He projected that switching from a diesel spotter to an electric one saves an estimated half a million dollars.

00:01:55: Wait, five hundred thousand dollars?

00:01:57: Per truck?

00:01:57: Per truck.

00:01:58: Over ten years.

00:01:59: That's

00:01:59: a figure that just flips the script completely.

00:02:01: It almost makes that high initial cost irrelevant.

00:02:05: So what's driving a number like that?

00:02:06: Well, the source is breaking down into two main buckets.

00:02:08: First, you've got a ninety percent reduction in fuel costs.

00:02:11: Ninety percent.

00:02:12: And second, a fifty percent cut and maintenance.

00:02:15: You know, fewer moving parts, less thermal stress.

00:02:17: Right.

00:02:18: And Tony Niesum noted, this means ROI parity is achievable in what, two to three years?

00:02:23: Or even day one, if you're smart about the incentives.

00:02:26: Exactly.

00:02:26: If you factor in local and national incentives, it can be immediate.

00:02:30: And that's why fleets are so motivated to move right now.

00:02:32: And it's not just the bottom line pushing this, is it?

00:02:34: Policy signals are really hardening that demand globally.

00:02:38: For

00:02:38: sure.

00:02:39: Carolyn Piper pointed to the Netherlands.

00:02:41: They're aiming to ban new combustion car registrations by twenty thirty.

00:02:45: And when a major trading partner does that, it forces everyone else to start planning for a large scale fleet transformation immediately.

00:02:52: But that policy pressure, it creates friction, right?

00:02:55: The sources note this rapid shift means massive investment needs and real concerns about electricity supply shortages.

00:03:02: You're forcing the grid to adapt at, well, at breakneck speed.

00:03:07: Speaking of speed, that global adoption comparison is pretty eye-opening.

00:03:11: Oh, yeah.

00:03:12: Jamie Scarre highlighted this huge global gap.

00:03:15: China's electrification rate hit thirty percent.

00:03:18: and they're electrifying nine times faster than the U.S.

00:03:21: and Europe combined, they're sitting at around twenty-two and twenty-one percent.

00:03:25: It's an enormous disparity.

00:03:26: So what's behind that?

00:03:27: I mean, what's the difference maker?

00:03:29: What's fascinating, and what Jamie Scar really emphasized, is that it's not about the technology.

00:03:34: It's about execution, friction, and infrastructure strategy.

00:03:39: So a different mindset.

00:03:40: Completely.

00:03:41: China treated electrification as national infrastructure.

00:03:45: They just removed deployment barriers.

00:03:47: Meanwhile, the West often just layered on more regulations without coordinating the grid transformation.

00:03:52: Which leads to a kind of competitive paralysis, especially in logistics.

00:03:56: That inefficiency just compounds so quickly.

00:03:59: Now, we know heavy duty long haul is still a challenge, but we are seeing some smart transitional solutions.

00:04:05: Like what Christopher Aiford highlighted with BMW.

00:04:08: Exactly.

00:04:09: They're pragmatic decision to fuel new diesel vehicles with HVO- one hundred renewable diesel.

00:04:16: It's not zero emission, but it's scalable right now and cuts lifecycle keros by up to ninety percent.

00:04:23: It just affirms that we need diverse pathways to decarbonization, things that are available today.

00:04:28: And that's a perfect bridge to our second theme.

00:04:31: because that favorable TCO case we just talked about, it completely crumbles if you can't get power into the vehicle.

00:04:36: Which

00:04:37: brings us to charging and energy infrastructure.

00:04:39: The bottleneck and the solutions.

00:04:41: This is the primary hurdle.

00:04:43: Charging access, power availability, especially for heavy-duty fleets that need megawatt charging.

00:04:49: And the real issue, as we're learning, isn't whether the tech exists to charge a big truck.

00:04:54: Exactly.

00:04:54: Young Coaster was so clear on this.

00:04:56: The challenge for fleets isn't the charger technology.

00:04:59: It's intelligent energy management.

00:05:01: So what happens when fifty trucks plug in at five

00:05:04: p.m.?

00:05:04: That's

00:05:04: the problem.

00:05:05: You need intelligent load management to avoid overloading the depot or, you know, triggering massive fees from peak demand spikes.

00:05:12: You're basically managing an energy island, not just a plug.

00:05:15: And the physical infrastructure is lagging way behind the vehicles.

00:05:19: Formatically.

00:05:21: Tyler Philippi noted that vehicles are often arriving long before the chargers are even energized.

00:05:26: Because of those utility interconnection delays, eighteen to twenty-four months.

00:05:30: Yeah.

00:05:31: That lag is an existential risk for a fleet.

00:05:33: that's bet big on going electric.

00:05:35: So how are fleets supposed to operate with that kind of uncertainty?

00:05:40: Well,

00:05:40: this is where we're seeing AI step in to provide some foresight.

00:05:44: David Beperno and Joshua Aviv recently highlighted SparkCharge's Spark AI platform.

00:05:50: An AI-driven tool that gives you optimized infrastructure plans in under sixty seconds.

00:05:55: That's a huge shift.

00:05:56: That speed is incredible.

00:05:57: But what is it actually doing that a traditional consultant couldn't besides just doing it faster?

00:06:02: It's optimizing for complexity.

00:06:04: It can factor in hybrid and off-grid charging systems instantly.

00:06:08: And by doing that strategic planning up front, they project it can cut infrastructure and operating costs by fifteen to thirty percent.

00:06:15: It's about using every available kilowatt hour as efficiently as possible.

00:06:19: And that leads right into operations.

00:06:21: Marcus Kroger detailed a successful playbook, integrating charge planning with electrical wear routing.

00:06:27: So the routing engine knows where the cheap

00:06:29: power is.

00:06:30: Exactly.

00:06:30: It knows where power is available and at what price, and that lets operators fully exploit their grid limits.

00:06:36: Marcus Kroger observed this can push average energy costs below twenty cents per kilowatt hour.

00:06:42: And in a razor-thin margin industry like road freight, that is an unbelievable competitive advantage that redefines who wins.

00:06:50: We also have to acknowledge the scale challenge for heavy duty.

00:06:54: Gargana Ivanova emphasized that fleet charging demands non-negotiable reliability.

00:06:58: Which is driving the need for the megawatt charging standard, or MCS.

00:07:02: Right, and it's fundamentally reshaping all the hardware partnerships.

00:07:05: The targets here are just immense.

00:07:07: Rodion Barokovic cited a study estimating that EU will need up to fifty-three hundred of these ultra-fast megawatt chargers by twenty-thirty.

00:07:15: Just for the long haul segment, that requires massive coordinated investment right now.

00:07:20: This constant push for efficiency brings us to theme three.

00:07:24: software and AI orchestrating the fleet.

00:07:27: I mean, the consensus is that digital solutions are the central nervous system now.

00:07:31: They're not a luxury anymore.

00:07:33: And AI is the tool that's automating workflows and converting all that overwhelming telematics noise into measurable improvement.

00:07:41: It's about solving process friction, not just analyzing data after the fact.

00:07:45: That's it.

00:07:46: Jiro K realized that the big efficiency issues often came from drivers and managers just drowning in repetitive manual tasks.

00:07:54: And that's where AI can lift the weight.

00:07:56: Vlad Chorni detailed how Trimble Transportation is tackling this with a new AI-powered TMS.

00:08:01: Yeah,

00:08:01: they introduced features like an order intake agent and an AI road call agent.

00:08:05: Okay, so what do these automated agents actually do?

00:08:08: Well,

00:08:08: the order intake agent uses AI to automatically process all that complex forwarder paperwork and get it into the system.

00:08:15: It cuts down on manual entry, errors, and time.

00:08:18: and the road call agent.

00:08:19: It takes those high stress, unpredictable breakdown calls and handles them automatically.

00:08:24: It triages the issue, dispatches resources, all without a human needing to step in.

00:08:31: So you reduce stress and you speed up the response time.

00:08:34: We also saw some examples of just massive quick ROI when this data is used correctly.

00:08:39: Oh yeah.

00:08:40: Daniel Dungan's team helped a global fleet operator cut their analytic cycles from fifteen days down to just six hours.

00:08:47: Fifteen days to six hours.

00:08:48: And that velocity is why speed equals money here.

00:08:51: Yeah.

00:08:51: That six-hour cycle unlocked a projected one hundred million dollars in EBITDA improvement.

00:08:56: A hundred million.

00:08:57: That's a direct line from real-time data to massive financial performance.

00:09:01: But for the data to be that powerful, everyone has to be able to use it, not just the data scientists.

00:09:06: Right.

00:09:06: And Chris Stunker and Brian Russa highlighted Motive's new AI answers feature.

00:09:12: It lets teams just ask plain language questions to the data.

00:09:14: How can we improve fuel efficiency on this route.

00:09:17: And you get an immediate insight.

00:09:18: That's a game changer.

00:09:19: It democratizes the data.

00:09:21: It's essential.

00:09:22: And in a similar way, for Hudd Baba Khan, highlighted Blue Dot Fleet OS' Blue E Dot Voice, it's designed to automate issue triaging.

00:09:30: What's the impact there?

00:09:31: They estimate that for a large fleet, you could save about fourteen hours of a manager's time every week.

00:09:36: That's just pure operational efficiency.

00:09:38: Now let's switch gears from efficiency to existential risk.

00:09:44: Theme four.

00:09:45: safety compliance and risk prevention.

00:09:48: The whole discussion has moved to AI being predictive, not just reactive.

00:09:52: The results are dramatic, and they really speak for themselves.

00:09:55: The SEMSAR safety report, which Johann Land and Tanji Biswo cited, show customers using their full AI safety solution saw a thirty-five to forty percent drop in crashes.

00:10:05: That's

00:10:05: initially.

00:10:05: Initially.

00:10:06: And crucially, that improved to nearly seventy-five percent over thirty months.

00:10:10: A seventy-five percent reduction in crashes over two and a half years.

00:10:13: I mean, that single data point completely changes the insurance liability picture for a fleet.

00:10:18: It moves the focus to proactive intervention.

00:10:21: Stephen White explained that AI, combined with telematics platforms like GeoTab, uses predictive analytics based on driver behavior.

00:10:29: things like harsh braking, speeding trends.

00:10:32: Exactly.

00:10:33: To identify the high-risk drivers for targeted coaching.

00:10:36: And targeted is the keyword there.

00:10:38: You're moving away from expensive general training to focused intervention before an accident happens.

00:10:44: And we're seeing new features that target the absolute earliest signs of risk.

00:10:49: Eliezer Body introduced an AI-powered lane-swerving detection feature.

00:10:53: Designed specifically to spot the clearest signs of fatigue and distraction.

00:10:57: Right.

00:10:58: And on the regulatory side, compliance is becoming its own dedicated product domain.

00:11:02: Brendon Hill introduced ATA's new dynamic risk capability, signaling sustained investment in this through twenty-five and twenty-six.

00:11:09: And Janice Cheng highlighted SAMSARA's smart compliance launch, which included a key partnership with VDO Fleet.

00:11:14: The largest tachograph manufacturer in the EU.

00:11:18: That partnership integrates that critical European compliance data directly into the software.

00:11:23: It makes compliance automatic, not a manual checklist.

00:11:26: Okay, so our final theme.

00:11:28: Partnerships and ecosystem consolidation really ties all of this together.

00:11:33: The complexity of it all has made the fragmented market pretty unsustainable, hasn't it?

00:11:37: It really has.

00:11:39: That fragmentation, or what Alakdubi rightly called charging chaos, is the biggest barrier to scaling.

00:11:45: Companies have realized they just can't build and manage all these systems on their

00:11:48: own.

00:11:49: The vehicles, the grid connections, the hardware, the software.

00:11:53: It's too much, so we saw key examples of charging ecosystems forming to fix this.

00:11:57: Monta partnered with Octopus Electroverse.

00:12:00: Right, to create a unified system for UK fleets.

00:12:03: spanning home, depot, and public charging.

00:12:05: Trying to bring a single user experience to that charging multiverse.

00:12:09: And in the heavy-duty sector, we saw the Flexus Joint Venture Renault, Volvo, and CMA CGM partnering with Ampico.

00:12:16: And Zurapurzuliani noted that lets them integrate charging operations directly with vehicle telematics.

00:12:21: It simplifies that whole complex process into one streamlined offering.

00:12:26: We also saw a major investment in the enablers.

00:12:29: Michael W. Ninch reported the European Investment Bank put twenty-five million euros into trailer dynamics for their e-trailer tech.

00:12:36: And this isn't a truck, it's a trailer.

00:12:38: But the impact is massive.

00:12:40: It's a game changer for viability.

00:12:42: How so?

00:12:43: That tech cuts fuel consumption by forty percent for diesel trucks and Critically, it can boost an electric truck's range up to an astounding seven hundred kilometers.

00:12:53: That confirms serious money is flowing to the tech.

00:12:55: that solves range and economic anxiety.

00:12:57: Absolutely.

00:12:58: And lastly, data integration.

00:13:01: David Fish highlighted Ford's strategy of providing that OEM rich telematics data via embedded modems.

00:13:08: They're engineering vehicles for easy upfit.

00:13:11: Which aligns perfectly with what Rob Mitten observed.

00:13:14: Automakers are successfully monetizing data by targeting business operational needs through partnerships, like with Geotab.

00:13:20: Businesses are proving they will pay a premium for that rich, integrated data that drives real value.

00:13:25: It's the mechanism that makes all these other trends viable.

00:13:28: TCO savings, crash prevention, optimized routing, it all runs on that data.

00:13:32: If you enjoyed this deep dive, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:13:36: Also check out our other editions on electrification and battery technology, future mobility and market evolution, and next-gen vehicle intelligence.

00:13:44: You know, we've seen the industry shift from pilots to full-scale, supported by clear TCO and sophisticated AI.

00:13:51: But thinking back to a point Tom Edwards made about the skills shift, the real constraint moving forward won't be technology or TCO or even capital.

00:14:01: It's competence.

00:14:01: The people.

00:14:02: The people.

00:14:03: The future mobility needs professionals who get systems data, integrations, infrastructure, the full user journey.

00:14:09: It's about moving beyond just vehicle-centric thinking to system-level fleet transformation.

00:14:14: And that's skills gap.

00:14:16: That might be the hardest bottleneck of all to solve.

00:14:18: A vital thought for anyone managing talent in this space.

00:14:21: Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into the latest commercial fleet intelligence.

00:14:25: Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our next episode.