Fleet Europe Summit Day 1: “Pandemic isn’t a game-changer, it’s an accelerator”
The first day of the 2020 Fleet Europe Summit gave much food for thought, thanks to the dozens of top-level industry insiders who shared their views on the future of fleet and mobility. Read on for some highlights of the first Summit day and be sure to join us for the second day on Wednesday.
Organising an online Fleet Europe Summit was a first but the organisers did their utmost to ensure the online experience could equal the experience of a real-life event. The Fleet & Mobility Industry appeared to be convinced, as there were close to 1,000 attendees.
After a word of welcome to all attendees, Fleet Europe Editor-in-Chief Steven Schoefs introduced Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, responsible for Marketing & Sales to kick off the Summit. “We are on a path to recovery, hence we can be cautiously optimistic but as an industry we need to be agile,” she said.
Ms Seeger believes the share of electric vehicles will automatically grow as more OEMs offer more electric options to their lineup, including more affordable ones. “There’s no way back,” she said.
PHEVs are the top pick
“It is mainly company car drivers in larger companies that push for alternative powertrains, as a German study shows,” said Marc Odinius, CEO of Dataforce. “PHEVs are the top pick, followed by BEVs, but we expect battery-electric cars to take the lead over the next years as the model offer will explode and outpace that of PHEVs.”
Jarno Pajunen, European Fleet & Mobility Manager of the Year 2019 and Global Travel & Mobility Category Lead, Nokia said: “Mobility is usually understood to be about transportation, but if you dig a bit deeper, it’s really about ways of work. For example, as the pandemic has shown, it is possible to do a significant amount of work from home.”
Yves Helven, co-founder, CMaaS, said: “Don’t think of mobility as a magic solution that replaces the company car. Mobility is a perfect alternative for certain trips, and is most suitable as an additional option for employees. What the enterprise client needs, is a platform solution where they can manage their cars, as well as their mobility solutions. This is true flexibility.”
Marchel Koops, CCO of Athlon International, the multi-marque leasing company under the Daimler umbrella, opined the pandemic isn’t a game-changer: “The industry was transitioning anyway, but the pandemic is an accelerator. The biggest challenge for Athlon’s customers is finding the right balance between cost, sustainability and being the employer of choice.”
Accurate data
The conversion from internal combustion engines to electric powertrains will most likely be followed by a move from owned to shared vehicles. This transition depends heavily on the meaningful analysis of accurate data.
“We cannot have smart cities and shared vehicles without connectivity,” said Nicola Veratelli, CEO, Octo Group. “Data is the biggest driver of everything, it’s absolutely key. But we need to transform this data from just being a huge amount of information into something that is actionable and that provides value. We call it Vision Zero – less pollution, less congestion and fewer accidents.”
Matt Stevens, VP Electric Vehicles, Geotab warned participants not to make a mistake: “Based on my 15 years of experience with EVs, I can only tell you this: don’t make the mistake of switching to electric unprepared. Rely on telematics to show you exactly which vehicles in your current fleet can be replaced by electric ones, based on their use, and determine where and how long they need to charge. Let data do the work and make electrification a success – starting today.”
Image: Britta Seeger (Mercedes-Benz) in the studio with Steven Schoefs (Fleet Europe)
Authors: Frank Jacobs, Jonathan Manning, Dieter Quartier, Benjamin Uyttebroeck
