3 Takeaways from the Fleet Forward Conference
Beginning in 2017, the brightest minds and top companies have gathered every year for the Fleet Forward Conference. The event showcases the latest developments in electrification, infrastructure, autonomous technology, telematics, and other topics pivotal to advancing fleet professionals’ knowledge and capabilities.
David Fuchs, Business Development Manager at Sawatch Labs, recently traveled to Santa Clara, California for the 2023 Fleet Forward Conference. His time at the event delivered insights into the indispensable importance of telematics, electrification planning, and protecting your fleet with granular data. Here are his top three takeaways.
1) Fleet Telematics is Necessary
Long gone are the days of telematics being a nice-to-have. As fleet electrification becomes commonplace in organizations, telematics is now a is a must-have. Fleet personnel will struggle to gain any actionable insight into their operations without telematics data to guide their decisions. Installing telematics devices on fleet vehicles provides fleet professionals with information beyond total mileage and route tracking. It encompasses every aspect of a vehicle’s daily driving patterns, and analyzing this data reveals where there is potential for improvement.
Beyond optimizing your current fleet, telematics provides crucial guidance for the future of your fleet. With accurate data from telematics devices, organizations can identify driver behavior patterns, maintenance needs, seasonal driving changes, and more. This allows fleet managers to make informed decisions on which vehicles are ready for electrification and how to optimize fleet operations for maximum efficiency
2) Fleets Must Start Planning for Electrification Now
Another key takeaway from the conference was the importance of planning ahead. With an increasing number of organizations looking to electrify their fleets, it is vital to have a well-defined plan in place. Understanding charging schedules for your fleet, and including strategies in your plan for a growing electric fleet, is perhaps the most important aspect of a fleet electrification plan.
The time to plan your electrification journey is now. Even with potentially long lead times of certain vehicles and infrastructure upgrades, having a plan in place is critical. Fleet managers who proactively anticipate fleet electrification will be aware of possible roadblocks and have an agile strategy to avoid them. Failing to adapt a plan for the future will mean that your fleet is left behind.
3) Vehicle Health Data
Accurate and granular vehicle health data is essential to both the pre-procurement stages of EVs and your fleet's ongoing operational performance monitoring. With this data, fleet professionals can better understand their vehicles' usage patterns, charging needs, and potential maintenance requirements. The use case extends beyond EVs, enabling fleet managers to minimize downtime by performing predictive maintenance on vehicles with internal combustion engines.
This proactive approach to vehicle health can result in cost savings for organizations and ensure that their fleets are operating at peak performance. Additionally, vehicle health data can provide insights into the performance of electric infrastructure, helping organizations make informed decisions on future investments. Gathering and analyzing this data is crucial for ongoing fleet optimization and success in the transition to electrification.
Fleet Telemetry Made Easy
The Fleet Forward Conference highlighted the importance of telematics, early planning for electrification, and gathering vehicle health data for successful fleet management. By utilizing granular data from your fleet’s actual driving habits, it becomes easy to determine EV suitability, mitigate range anxiety, optimize charging infrastructure, and much more. With seamless integration and customizable dashboards, telematics based EV analytics from Sawatch Labs provide a clear strategy backed by numbers. Our experience spans organizations of all sizes and maturity. Now is the time to start planning for electrification.
