Truck Fleet Decarbonisation – What a journey…

This week Chris Douglas from Polaris Consultancy, who has spent the past 25 years working in road freight across operations, policy creation and consultancy roles in the UK, Europe, Africa and Asia, shares his views on the journey facing us all to a carbon zero future.

I can’t help but marvel, day after day, at the sheer pace of innovation in our industry, in terms of new energy and infrastructure options, vehicle engineering, supporting technology and all the rest. It wasn’t that long ago that retrofit particulate traps and in-cab telematics were a newsworthy big deal. So there’s plenty that’s bright, shiny and clever to stare at and applaud, as we embark on our decarbonisation journeys.

But hang on. Are we really just starting? For those who’ve been involved in truck fleet sustainability for a while, there’s a realisation that the journey to decarbonisation is nothing new and never really has a final destination, more a circular route of continual improvement.

Terminology may have changed over the years, with decarbonisation becoming a helpful catchall, while trailblazer operators have simply focused on their obvious priority of improving ongoing performance. They’ve invested years of time and effort in monitoring truck fleet efficiency and environmental impact, including emissions, putting in place fuel management initiatives, upskilling drivers, selecting and maintaining fit for purpose vehicles, tracking drivers and vehicles and poring over KPI reports. And, regardless of innovation and technological developments, which will always continue at pace, it’s those pillars of efficient fleet management which are so crucial in facing the ever more demanding challenges that lie up ahead.

It’s not an easy task currently, so why will things become more challenging? Simple. Mixed fleets. It’s hard enough managing fuel, drivers and vehicles as the 3 critical resources in the current ICE truck fleet operation but add in variations on fuel/energy types, refuelling/recharging requirements, impacts on duty types and driver skills suitability, constraints of network locations and infrastructure, new operating cost models and, let’s not forget, meeting the demands of customers and their own evolving sustainability agendas – and our fleet managers have been handed not just a tricky exam question on paper but one in 3D, where some of the questions aren’t even visible yet.

First part of answer 1 is getting the very best out of the existing fleet, today. That calls for the techniques those best in class operators already use, as well as having really good data about how the fleet currently runs. Those data sets will be essential for any new energy or technology introduction, anyway, to see what’s working and what isn’t.

There’s also the need for good old management communication, internally and externally. That’s setting the vision and goals for the operation’s decarbonisation actions, getting Board approval for fleet investment and the predicted timescales for delivering the objectives they’ve convinced everyone are achievable.

Then there’s getting everyone on board, including senior management, operational planning staff, drivers, as well as customers, so they’re clear how all of this new stuff and the new structures are going to work, hopefully.

So let’s hear it for the operators and their fleet managers. The innovators and technologists of Tomorrow’s World are great and are to be lauded, although they did promise us jetpacks. But it’s the strong, informed and resourceful managers who will last the long haul. Let’s make sure we invest in them too.

Are we there yet? Nope and we never really will be, so enjoy the challenge of the journey.