Driving towards a sustainable future

What this means for the future of sustainable transport is the nation needs to work much harder to reach our targets and do our bit to clean up the world’s transport sector which the IEA says can contribute 16 per cent to cumulative emissions reductions globally.

Transport makes up 19 per cent of total emissions in Australia and road transport with passenger and commercial vehicles comprising 60 per cent of that total. So, business fleets now face the challenge of reducing emissions while ensuring their business operations continue uninterrupted.

Leonard Tham, director of mobility and strategic partnerships at Custom Fleet says while the EV market is growing in leaps and bounds, the fleet industry is expected to lag the consumer market in the adoption of EVs for several reasons.

He says that most of the manufacturers who launched EVs a few years ago started at the luxury end of the market, which are not the vehicles that fleets deploy. Australia also currently lacks choice in fit for purpose EVs in some important fleet segments like medium SUVs and utes.

“The next two years will be important as we see more makes and models enter the market as well as more affordable models,” Tham says.

“It’s also encouraging to see the states investing more in public charging infrastructure thus ensuring drivers have easy access to charging.”

Tham says Custom Fleet is assisting customers to reduce their emissions and decarbonise their fleets through a turnkey fleet electrification program called Arc.

“What we do is work with our customers to decarbonise their business and assist them on their whole journey,” he says.

“They want to electrify but they don’t know where to begin and how to transition without impacting their business operations. Our primary goal is to make sure the vehicles in the fleet can perform the job that they have been tasked to do.”

According to Tham the Arc program is delivered through several different functions within the business.

“Our strategic consulting team will analyse a fleet and identify vehicles that can be replaced with an EV. It must also meet other business requirements,” he says.

“For example, if there is any particular cargo or payload they need to carry.

“Using Telematics data, we can get granular about how and when the vehicle is used and ensure that an electric equivalent will be able to perform all the same tasks.”

This ensures customers have the data and are able to build their transition plan as well as to develop policy or a change management plan.

“The next step is to provide a charging solution whether at the customer’s office or depot or at their home,” he says.

“Through our national network of electrical contractors, we can supply and install a smart charging solution to suit their business needs.

“We also have partnerships with public charge point operators”, and this enables a company to have full visibility of the energy their vehicles consume, at the office, at home or on the road.

Tham says there are many advantages in EVs for fleet managers, particularly in terms of the cost to run as there are fewer moving parts so maintenance costs could be lower and there will be significant fuel-saving costs.

“While a large portion of fleets will be electrified there may be some use cases where EVs might not be the right solution. But there are other low emissions technologies like hybrids and plug in hybrids as well as vehicles that use renewable biofuels and hydrogen fuel cells although it’s still early days,” Tham says.

On the data side, Custom Fleet use telematics to analyse driver behaviours as well as measure things like tyre wear and tear to ensure vehicles are being used in the most sustainable manner.

Custom Fleet chief executive, Christopher Tulloch says telematics data highlights where there’s potential improvement.

He says it could mean training drivers differently to reduce the emissions associated with a vehicle or it might be something to do with a vehicle’s tyres.

“Tyres are a big one and we do a lot of work with a supplier such as Bridgestone to ensure they have the processes in place to not only ensure their tyres run more efficiently so the vehicle uses less fuel but also to minimise the emissions associated with their manufacturing processes,” Tulloch says.

Moreover, creating sustainable fleets is more than just lowering emissions Tham says, it’s part of a bigger story where Australia can secure its energy future.

“We have everything we need in Australia to make abundant and cheap electricity so the less reliant we are on imported fuel, the more energy independent and sustainable we become.”

To learn more, visit www.customfleet.com.au/arc.