{"id":13157,"date":"2022-02-06T12:54:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T11:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=13157"},"modified":"2022-02-06T12:54:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T11:54:51","slug":"electrification-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2022\/02\/06\/electrification-28\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Pinnacle Group Manages Fleet Electrification"},"content":{"rendered":"

It all started in January 2021 when stakeholders across Pinnacle Group set up what was to be known as “Project Electrify.” It was the start point for the electrification process of the company’s 500-van fleet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although headquartered in central London, Pinnacle Group\u2014a UK facilities and multi-tenure housing management company working in both the public and private sectors\u2014operates nationally at more than 100 locations, providing a range of integrated services across a variety of community-facing assets, including multi-tenure housing, schools, open spaces, public buildings, and utilities.\u00a0<\/span>
\nSarah Russell is the company\u2019s group procurement manager and ultimate responsibility for Project Electrify lies at her desk.<\/span><\/p>\n

She is supported by the company\u2019s CEO\u2014a huge advocate of decarbonization, according to Russell\u2014and its own ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and carbon agendas. She says getting high-level buy-in is critical to fleet electrification.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere will always be resistance to change. So having high-level sponsorship is critical to making it happen,\u201d explains Russell. Among the stakeholders were the chief financial officer, a crucial supporter of Project Electrify and the data analytics manager.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur data analytics manager was vital\u00a0because he was able to map out which vehicles were best suited for replacement. For example, these would be vans out of lease, those operating in restricted Clean Air Zones (CAZ), and where the mileage was appropriate for electrification. We also looked at the telematics to see which driver routes regularly called into our depots or traveled close by. In that way we could make informed decisions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter the Nissan eNV200\u00a0Electric Vans<\/span><\/h2>\n

The vans selected for electrification\u2014replaced with Nissan eNV200s\u2014were mostly mobile teams operating contracts within specified areas. They also make use of public chargepoints for charging the battery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently relying on public infrastructure to charge vehicles while we install charging infrastructure across the estate,\u201d explains Russell. \u201cWe have now identified 10 of our sites to get charging points into.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Russell says the company did not get charge points installed at drivers\u2019 homes, it\u2019s not ruled this out for the future once longer-term data has been analyzed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been challenging,\u201d she admits. \u201cWe have 20 electric vans out and a further 20 coming. You can do all this on paper, but until you get vans out you just don’t know exactly what operational issues you will face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, public charging has been challenging because chargepoints are in use, they are \u2018ICEd\u2019 or simply out of use. Then there\u2019s the range. The vans chosen for this initial tranche cover about 100 miles a week, but by the time you have a team of two in the van and all of their kit, it\u2019s difficult to determine exactly what the range will be.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also noticed that, with the vehicles operating in London, if they are sitting in traffic for any length of time, the effect on range is detrimental. Now, that could be because of the cold snap we\u2019re currently experiencing, so once we\u2019ve been running them for six months we\u2019ll have a better idea of real operational range, along with all the telematics data we are gathering.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is such an unknown\u2014even, for example, which charging point to use and how to pay for it since there are so many providers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why we have started with a small batch of electric vans so we could learn from experience and then re-invest that into the electrification program rollout.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell says that the drivers have readily accepted the change to electric vans although feedback runs along the lines of \u201cit does feel different.\u201d\u00a0While there has been no specific driver training, Russell says the business runs an extensive driver engagement program around safe driving, which has factored in the use of electric vans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Electrifying with Fleet Management Help<\/span><\/h2>\n

Russell says one of the other key contributors to Project Electrify has been the company\u2019s fleet management provider, Fleet Alliance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a close working relationship with Fleet Alliance, providing us with information on what vehicles were available during the supply chain issues and accessing the initial tranche of 33 electric Nissan vans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey also advised us to change our operational profile from three to four years to really capture the carbon savings, because while we would like to save costs, the real focus for us is the carbon reduction. Having said that, over the four-year cycle with the savings on fuel and the lower maintenance of eLCVs, there will be parity with diesel vans in terms of costs, if not a marginal saving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Russell’s Tip for Fleet Electrification<\/span><\/h2>\n

Apart from the advice to ensure top-level buy-in to fleet electrification, what guidance would Sarah give to fleet managers undertaking decarbonization programs?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s to start with small steps. So the key thing for us is to remain operational while electrifying. Using the telematics and data analysis over the initial period, we\u2019ll loop back into the program and see what changes we need to make, including continuous efficiency reviews based on what we are experiencing in the field. That means telematics has to be part of any fleet electrification policy to fully understand the process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Originally posted on Global Fleet Management<\/a><\/p>\n

by Ralph Morton, London<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.automotive-fleet.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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KNOW WHO WE ARE<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

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It all started in January 2021 when stakeholders across Pinnacle Group set up what was to be known as “Project Electrify.” It was the start point for the electrification process of the company’s 500-van fleet. Although headquartered in central London, Pinnacle Group\u2014a UK facilities and multi-tenure housing management company working in both the public and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[217],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13159,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13157\/revisions\/13159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}