Business View Oceania | Volume 4, Issue 3

39 40 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 not-for-profit organisations and NGOs. It’s a very diverse mix. “We say that fleets are horizontal in a world of vertical enterprise. Everything transport does needs vehicles, but every other business you can think of needs cars. Sometimes it’s just to move salespeople, or deliver products – think of pathology labs. Pretty much every business out there has a fleet of vehicles. And fleets can be quite diverse. Some of our members, such as the CSIRO have cars, light commercial, heavy trucks, special equipment, watercraft, helicopters… and probably one of the strangest elements in the fleet came from Brisbane City Council who have a fleet of nine canines. So that’s very cool and unusual.” BVO: Can you talk about sustainability challenges in the industry? Hartley: “For many organisations, their transport is the Holy Grail of where they’re trying to reduce emissions. In Australia, we have a number of zero emissions vehicles and now we’re focusing on tailpipe emissions. That means hydrogen or battery electric vehicles. Today we have a range of those – Tesla being the most familiar name, but all the major automotive manufacturers have a couple. They’re more passenger vehicles, however, in the last year there are some SUVs being produced and many fleets are looking for small SUVs because they are a little higher off the ground and ergonomically better for drivers. “What we haven’t seen is light commercial electric vehicles, yet. There are several under development, though, and that will be a gamechanger in this country, given that the bulk of government fleets are made up of light commercial vehicles. Last year, we doubled the number of EV sales from the year before but we’re still less than 1 percent of new vehicle sales. “There’s also a big push here in Australia around hydrogen, which is a gas and takes only a few minutes to fill up the tank. Whereas, battery electric might take 15-20 minutes at a fast charger to get an 80 percent fill. That’s really difficult when you’re trying to have your vehicles on the road all the time. So in this country, we’re going to see hydrogen used for heavy trucks and buses where they’re moving all the time. Battery electric will be mainly light passenger vehicles.” BVO: Where do you see the industry going in the next few years and how will AfMA continue to benefit your members? Hartley: “The industry is going through a transformational change. We’re seeing older people retire and younger people coming through. That’s an exciting time but we’re also seeing a lot of knowledge leaving the industry. The excitement comes from the fact that younger people are more versatile in their views about how they might go about their job and embracing technology. “Fleet Managers are middle management, not C-Level, and they’re responsible for everything but have no authority. So the future from an association point of view… we’ve got a task force looking at introducing Continuing Professional Development and developing some statuses – like an accountant becoming a CPA, for example – that would help recognize people’s commitment to the industry and the Fleet Management profession in general. “As part of our advocacy work, AfMA is on the steering committee of the National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP). That’s funded by government grants and it looks to take university research and studies and translate that into real world data that can be adopted and used by fleets to develop policies. “All in all, the future looks very positive for Fleet Management. A lot of excitement ahead!” AUSTRALAS I AN FLEET MANAGEMENT ASSOC I AT ION (AFMA)