The future is green

The ‘green’ agenda has dominated discussion and policy-making by
government, car manufacturers and fleet managers alike throughout
2007. GE Capital Solutions, Fleet Services’ seminar on ‘The Future
of Fleet’ in October put a new spin on the somewhat over-exposed
and highly topical issue; it highlighted the economic efficiency of
alternative fuels and hybrid cars, innovative in-car technology
and, in particular, it gave analysis of the potentially lucrative
re-sale value of more environmentally friendly cars.

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According to GE Fleet research quoted by Rich Green, UK managing
director at GE Fleet, 97 per cent of respondents rated reducing the
carbon footprint of vehicles as their concern for the second
quarter of 2007, up from 70 per cent for the same period in 2006.
Now, 95 per cent of UK fleet managers prioritise environmental
features when choosing cars, followed by accident prevention and
risk management, the latter of which dropped from 96 per cent in Q2
2006 to 86 per cent in Q2 2007.

There are several reasons for this: the increase in fuel prices
across Europe, demand for oil and fuel taxes, as well as the
proliferation of low emission zones and savvy technological
changes, such as blended bio-fuels, has made ‘green’ vehicles –
which include hybrids, electric and hydrogen vehicles and cars that
run on bio-fuels, gaseous fuels, and fuel cell technologies –
appear more attractive and efficient.

 But more importantly, following the simple economic law of
supply and demand, it is public opinion that drives changes in the
automotive and fleet sector.

“It lies with the general public, who put pressure on governments,
who then put pressure on manufacturers,” said Bob Gibbs, indirect
sourcing and site services manager at GE Infrastructure.

 “In that case, fleet managers may limit cars based on CO2
level or engine size and they would advise on particular models and
their effectiveness in terms of green policies.”

Gibbs said that while hybrid models are currently more expensive,
public pressure on carbon emissions will see them become more
economically viable for both the general public and the regular
fleet market.

Flexi-fuelled future

Several presentations at the conference also highlighted the
dominance of bio-fuels in the future. While insufficient technology
and re-fuelling infrastructure currently holds this sector back,
plug-in hybrids and flexi-fuels should soon be standard across the
middle to upper-middle management fleet segment, some analysts
said.

 It is only inevitable that since the fleet market is
changing, then the role of the fleet manager will also evolve.
Nigel Trotman, business relationship manager at the Whitbread group
said at the conference that the fleet manager now has a more
generalist role, with greater expectations and hence larger
potential challenges.

Gibbs also added that as lease companies offer the total package in
terms of procurement in asset management and maintenance, it has
taken away the traditional jobs that were previously handled by the
fleet manager. Instead, there is now increasing demand for fleet
managers to be aware of safety, traffic violations, risk management
and, of course, carbon concerns.