The Future of Commercial Fleets
One of the most important trends moving forward especially in 2024 is sustainability. The logistics industry has a serious carbon footprint, which means it has both the possibility and the responsibility to lower carbon emissions. There are several trends that can support a fleet manager’s effort to optimise the sustainability of their fleet.
Trend 1 – Sustainability Through Technology
Technological advancements in new and cleaner fuels, battery technology and autonomous vehicles will give transport companies the tools they need to make their carbon footprint much smaller.
Fossil fuels are becoming cleaner, but fuel-powered trucks will be replaced by alternative energy sources, like battery-electric or hydrogen-powered trucks. Looking further ahead, trucks will become self-driving. However effective and well-trained a driver is to operate a vehicle in the most fuel-efficient way, they will never be able to compete with algorithms trained to do the same thing.
In 2023, TRAVIS launched its truck charging proposition enabling the planning and booking of slots at charging stations. We expect that soon self-driving vehicles are autonomously planning and booking cleaning, charging and repair. Integrating the planning of charging into the operational planning of electrical trucks is essential to the efficient operation of electric fleets.
Trend 2 – Sustainability Through Optimized Planning
Planning algorithms are getting more powerful. This opens up many opportunities for fleet managers to optimise the efficiency of their fleets. Transportation management software can optimise routes and minimise the total number of kilometres driven.
Another option is Load-sharing. Load-sharing could increase the fill rate of trucks. Currently, 20% of all trucks in Europe drive around empty, and half of the trucks are only filled 50% on average. This requires transport companies to work closely together and pool their supply and demand, but with the current shortage of drivers, this should be a benefit instead of a risk.
There are also a lot of hidden miles that truck drivers drive that are not part of routes planned by a transportation management system. These are the kilometres driven to a secure parking location, trips to get the truck and trailer (or tank) cleaned, or kilometers driven to get something repaired. Many of these trips can be planned in advance and integrated into a truck’s regular schedule.
We already enable transport companies to optimise their planning and minimise the number of kilometres driven by integrating the booking and planning of road services like truck wash, tank cleaning and repair into their operational planning.
Trend 3 – Sustainability through Better Insights
Transportation Management Systems, Fleet Management Systems, Telematics, and many other transport-related systems are generating increasing amounts of data, which, if properly analysed, can give fleet managers a treasure chest of actionable data to optimise how trucks in their fleets are used. Pro-active maintenance based on utilisation and telematics data can increase the lifetime of trucks and keep engines, wheels and other parts working smoothly. Any system not working as it should have a negative impact on the speed and performance of trucks. The more fuel a truck needs to burn to reach its destination, the larger its carbon footprint.
The better the insights into how a fleet performs, the easier it is to optimise it and increase efficiency. Our road services platform is built for data-driven optimisation. The insights gained can be used to improve routing, increase planning efficiency, and lower your fleet’s carbon footprint.
