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Understanding Fleet Management  

If you’re a business with a fleet, fleet management unlocks efficiencies and cost savings. But what is fleet management and how does it work? Find out now!

Effective fleet management is crucial for any business that uses commercial vehicles whether that be vans, cars, or a mixture of both. But what does good fleet management entail and is it possible to run a fleet of electric vehicles?  

Here’s what you need to know about fleet management, from what fleet management means to how to improve it. Plus, we’ll also dive into electric vehicle fleet management with DriveElectric.  

Ford e-transite electric van line up - commerical electric vehicles

What is fleet management? 

If your business needs commercial vehicles for your day-to-day functions, you’ll engage in some form of fleet management. The purpose of fleet management is to oversee the performance of your fleet and the maintenance of your vehicles. The aim is to help your business run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.   

When done well, fleet management can help with the cost and efficiency of keeping business vehicles, by tracking the mechanical information and monitoring driver behavior.  

What’s involved in fleet management?

Good fleet management involves the following:

  • Driver safety – fleet managers need to ensure their drivers are safe on the roads in vehicles that are fit for purpose  

  • Fleet tracking – fleet managers will need to know where their vehicles are at all times when in use and not in use 

  • Cost reductions – it’s up to fleet managers to ensure operational, fuel, and maintenance costs are lowered where possible saving the business money  

  • Vehicle acquisition – forecasting what vehicles are required and when to ensure the fleet runs effectively  

How to improve fleet management 

Having the right vehicles in your fleet is just the start of good fleet management. You also need to look after them and keep tabs on their locations.  

If you’ve got drivers on tight deadlines and schedules, it’s super important to know exactly what’s going on with your fleet of vehicles and their availability. Uncertainty around the location of a vehicle can be extremely time-consuming for a fleet manager to sort out.  

Location is one thing, but you’ll also need to ensure your fleet cars or vans are in good working order whenever they’re needed. Telematics solutions can help with this. Through telematics, you can monitor vehicle fault codes which helps you to proactively check the condition of your vehicles without waiting for a fault to occur before you act.  

Telematics can also track the location of your vehicles too. This can save on driver journey times and fuel consumption as you can give up-to-the-second updates to your drivers on traffic situations and other road issues. It can also help with driver safety and monitor driver behavior.  

That’s why around 75% of fleet managers use telematics software to help manage their fleet; a number that’s only continuing to grow.  

Transitioning to an electric fleet

So is it possible to run a fleet of electric vehicles? It is possible and it actually presents a more efficient solution for your business.  

Not only does switching to an electric fleet help ensure a cleaner and greener future, but it also brings with it a number of business benefits.  

First and foremost, the day-to-day running costs of your business will be reduced, simply by opting for an all-electric fleet of cars or vans. You can save on fuel costs and even save as much as 30% on service and maintenance due to the ease of servicing an electric engine compared to a combustion engine.  

You can also save on National Insurance, as well as ULEZ and congestion charges for vehicles being driven in London.   

There are also plenty of reputational benefits from going green with your fleet of cars too.

Fleet management from DriveElectric 

At DriveElectric, we can help you with fleet management. In fact, we’ve helped hundreds of organizations operate their fleets and continue to do so today.  

Our areas of expertise include charging strategy (taking in public, workplace, and home charging), energy management, process and policy adoption, and telematics analysis. 

We have an innovative 5-step fleet management solution

We will work collaboratively with you to find a best-fit solution to manage your EV fleet. It encompass: 

We work with you on analyzing telematics data, and we also ask your drivers to complete an EV attitude survey. This forms the backbone of your EV strategy.

We use a variety of tools to accurately map out the positive impact of replacing conventionally powered vehicles. We look at it from both a financial and an environmental impact. 

Keeping your vehicles moving is a key component of fleet management. Our expert EV consultants work alongside you to create a comprehensive charging strategy that encompasses home, workplace, and public network charging. 

We have a range of ready-made policy documents that can help fast track electric vehicles into your business. 

At DriveElectric we’ve helped to get thousands of EVs on the road, helping 100s of UK businesses do their bit to ensure a greener future and create a more efficient and cost-effective fleet. We can help your business source a wide range of light commercial vehicles and cars on preferential business lease contracts so you’ll always have the cars you need for your fleet. 

Why choose DriveElectric fleet management?

Our history stretches back to 1994 and we started to get seriously interested in electric vehicles in 2008. 

We could see that the future was electric and dedicated ourselves to pure electric vehicles from 2016 onwards. We've helped take thousands of petrol and diesel vehicles off UK roads and replaced them with cleaner, greener 100% electric vehicles. 

Get in touch with one of our experts today to discuss our fleet management solutions and what switching to a fleet of EVs could do for your business.  

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