Fleet News Group

In this episode of the Fleet News Group Podcast, we speak with Mark Gjerek, Founder and Director of MOV3MENT, about how Australia can accelerate the decarbonisation of transport—without relying solely on electric vehicles.Mark shares practical, low-cost strategies fleets can implement today, from driver training to tyre choices, and explains why collaboration between government, industry and operators is essential.“Electrification isn’t the only path,” says Gjerek. “In fact, it’s often the most expensive way to decarbonise.”Tune in to hear why fuel efficiency, data insights and renewable diesel all play a critical role—and why fleet managers need to start planning now to hit 2030 targets.

Founded in 2015 by Sam Korkees and Brendan Wheeler, EVSE has been at the forefront of providing electric vehicle (EV) charging solutions across Australia and New Zealand. In this episode, Sam shares the journey of EVSE, from its humble beginnings to becoming a leading player in the electric vehicle charging infrastructure space with a new product offering - Charging as a Service.

Lex Forsyth, CEO and co-founder of Janus Electric, an Australian startup that converts diesel engine prime movers to battery electric, talks about xxxx and xxxx in this edition of the Fleet News Group podcast. Janus Electric was founded in 2020 when co-founders Lex Forsyth and Bevan Dooley tested an idea to convert a diesel prime mover to a battery electric vehicle. “We thought, well, let's give this a go and take an old prime mover, which was 10 years old at the time and get a rolling prototype,” said NSW central coast based Forsyth. A few busy years later, trucks number 17 and 18 are being built at the Janus Electric facility and they have orders for another 100 or so. Some 44 people work there.

Fleet News Group talks with leaders at mapping technology specialists HERE Technologies and Hema Maps in this podcast about their location services that help keep drivers on remote roads safe. Robert Gallagher, HEMA Maps MD: “We're collecting enough data out there to get people into the regions and back home safely.” Dan Antonello, GM ANZ, HERE Techonologies: “A lot of the products that come out of the content that we collect go into the navigation systems, turn-by-turn instructions for vehicles, but you also see, for your audience in particular, a lot of information going into the fleet telematics.”

Max Wang, an architect of the RACV’s multi-model journey planning app Arevo, talks to Fleet News Group’s Caroline Falls for this podcast linked here about MaaS, or mobility as a service, and how it can help fleets meet sustainability goals. For a lesson 101 on MaaS, Wang, now Senior Product Manager at Intelematics, a pioneer Australian telematics group and a unit of RACV, the royal automobile club of Victoria, said the term MaaS really refers to this idea of making transport as easy, accessible, and sustainable as possible.

Route planning can cut emissions as much as 20 percent is the takeaway from this podcast conversation with HERE Technologies’ Jason Jameson. Caroline Falls talks with the technology group’s general manager Asia Pacific about how technology can help organisations meet their sustainability goals. “Sustainability is the big challenge of our time,” said Jameson, adding, “And from a business standpoint, it’s interesting because if you can reduce emissions, reduce the carbon footprint, as opposed to just offsetting it, you're really making a meaningful difference to the environment.” Jameson said a 20 percent cut in emissions from route planning and optimisation is typical. He said idle times can be cut 20 percent, and estimated time of arrival on pickups and deliveries can be cut as much as 40 percent.

Each year in Australia about 23 million car and motorbike tires are discarded. Another 19 million or so much larger truck tyres also finish up life on the road each year. In all, it’s some 330,000 tonnes of tyres that reach end of life each year in Australia. The good news is that most of those are disposed of properly, recovered and processed ready for recycling and other uses thanks to Tyre Stewardship Australia, which is funded by accredited tyre brands and suppliers, and which focuses on ensuring as many as possible used tyres are collected and recycled. Fleet Auto News spoke recently to TSA’s CEO Lina Goodman for our podcast about the problems and possibilities for new uses of spent tyres. TSA was formed in 2013 with its two key objectives to arrest the flow of used tyres going to landfill, and to find new uses for old and recycled tyres. While the earlier focus was on getting tyre suppliers to do the right thing, Goodman is presently focussed on getting fleet management organisations, and fleets, to become TSA accredited. Today, some 90 percent of used tyres in Australia are saved from landfill.

Everty is a technology (software) company in the e-mobility sector and provides EV charging solutions and a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform to companies installing Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The software allows EV charging station operators to monitor, manage and monetise their charging infrastructure assets and provides an interface to EV drivers for the use of chargers. Everty’s software enables efficient management and operation of physical assets (EV charging stations) as well as the integration of cars and charging infrastructure with the electricity grid. Geoff has over 17 years of Business Development experience within fleet management and automotive industry. He has worked in new business acquisition and account management roles within the UK for Pitney Bowes and in Australia for Interleasing, Ford Motor Company of Australia, and held regional and national sales leadership roles at Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited and Permagard Australia.

Recorded in 2020, Caroline Falls talks with Dan Hilson about the evolution of Charge Togther Fleets and why it was created.

Keeping employees safe on in the workplace and on the road is an important task for organisations and Fleet Managers. This podcast was originally published in July 2021. Visit our website to find interesting news articles on fleet management and leasing. 

Bill Gillespie joined SEA Electric in 2021 as President - Asia Pacific. It's an exciting step in his automotive career as transport companies around the world starting looking seriously at electric trucks as an alternative to diesel powered ICE.