By Marc Sibbald – Director IPWEA FLEET
Reviewing your Fleet Business Plan
Welcome to 2023! If you haven’t done it yet, it’s time to review your annual Fleet Business Plan and Fleet Asset Management Plan. Get your team together and review how your fleet performed in 2022 and what you’ll focus on in 2023.
Discussing fleet strategy might be an abstract thought for most practitioners deep in the operational detail of managing the demands of multiple stakeholders. But it’s one of the most important tasks to schedule into your diary several times a year.
If your fleet is a tool to provide services to the community, or generate revenue for the business, it will need to be dynamic and flexible as the organisation evolves. An annual Fleet Business Plan is a good way to engage the users of the fleet and make regular adjustments.
In 2023, pressure from stakeholders to reduce fleet emissions will force fleet teams to think strategically about their fleet transition to electric vehicles.
I’ve heard many stories where our Fleet Subscribers were made to purchase one EV to ‘keep up appearances’. The vehicle often arrives before the charging infrastructure is installed with no plans to educate staff on the differences and benefits of an electric vehicle.
In the IPWEA Fleet Plant and Vehicle Management Manual (PVMM), the first chapter covers Strategy and outlines how to develop a Fleet Business Plan and Fleet Assessment Management Plan for your organisation. Having these documents, and sharing them with internal and external stakeholders, should give you more control over the timing of your first EV purchase.
Another thing to include in your planning is the 2023 IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference being held in Brisbane on 27th to 29th March. The list of speakers has been announced online and the exhibition space is filling up fast.
I look forward to see you at the conference and talking throughout 2023.