IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference 2023 a Huge Success!
The IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference 2023 has concluded for another year and delivered an abundance of practical information based on its theme ‘The Shifting Tides of Fleet Management’.
The 3-day event, held in Brisbane at the state-of-the-art Royal International Convention Centre, was well-received by attending delegates that saw an impressive speaker line-up led by Master of Ceremonies, Rob Wilson, and Director IPWEA Fleet, Marc Sibbald.
There were a number of key highlights on Day 1. Opening speaker, Ben Selwyn, Director at ACA Research, gave a comprehensive talk on big picture trends and future developments related to the fleet industry. Katrina Ell, Senior Economist with Moody’s Analytics, detailed used car prices and key economic indicators for Fleet Managers. The information sessions ended with presentations by Jonathan Jones, Head of Education for IPWEA, outlining IPWEA’s asset management pathway followed by an awards presentation delivered with IPWEA Fleet Certificate Course Facilitator, Stephen Haughey, and Marc Sibbald.
IPWEA Australasia CEO, David Jenkins, opened Day 2 which covered an array of important issues for fleet practitioners to consider through interactive discussions. Delegates heard a talk on financing the transition to zero emission vehicles from Richard Lovell, Executive Director, and Head of Debt Markets for CEFC. There was an interesting segment by Sal Petrocciutto, CEO NHVR, about the road ahead for the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. Chris Dhu, Group Head Assets, Engineering, Risk and Compliance Essential Energy, presented his strategic thinking in relation to driving business value in fleet management.
The afternoon of Day 2 enabled delegates to choose between two streams of breakout sessions and a range of speakers to discuss either technology or people issues. Both streams were highly attended. Delegates then reconvened in a plenary session to conclude the day.
One of the most talked about segments on Day 2 was presented by IPWEA Fleet Consultant, Anne-Maree Coyne, who provided a high-level overview of the obligations and significant consequences for not complying with Chain of Responsibility legislation. This was followed by a Q&A panel discussion led by Ms Coyne with inciteful tips from panellists on gaining executive buy-in for CoR initiatives. The panel consisted of Brenda Kelly from Toowoomba Regional Council, Chris Dhu from Essential Energy, Kate Kennedy from Shoalhaven City Council and Dean Gutteridge, Smart Fleet Solutions (formerly from City of Gold Coast).
Day 3 was known as EV day with a range of expert speakers and numerous questions by delegates. It started with a talk about the Hume Hydrogen Highway initiative presented by Tim Stock, Director Hydrogen and Clean Energy, NSW Department of Planning and Environment. Following this, Vince White, GM QFleet, discussed the Queensland Government’s transition to an EV Fleet. Geoffrey Rutledge, Deputy Director-General, Environment, Water and Emissions Reduction Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate ACT Government, then talked about the ACT Government’s Fleet Zero Emissions Vehicles Transition. Brendan Wheeler, Co-founder, EVSE, presented a case study on installing EV infrastructure for fleets and the community. Finally, a case study was presented on how the City of Greater Geelong is optimising its fleet for EV.
The conference ended with a technical tour for delegates having the opportunity to visit Northside Kia. Delegates got to see how the Brisbane-based dealership and their workshop is adapting to electric vehicle servicing. It was a fascinating look at a very important topic. Kia representatives were incredibly generous with their time and highly informative. Delegates had an opportunity to ask critical questions to help them consider their own organisations situations in relation to transitioning to an EV servicing model.
IPWEA would like to acknowledge and thank our partners, sponsors and exhibitors who have supported this year’s fleet conference. Partners and conference sponsors are as follows:
Our 2023 Partners:
• Platinum Partner – Komatsu
• Fleet Technology Partner – LBM Fleet
• Media Partner – Fleet News Group
Our 2023 Sponsors:
• Platinum Sponsor – Hino
• Gold Sponsor – Teletrac Navman
• Premium Sponsor (Site Tour) – Kia
• Silver Sponsor – Isuzu Trucks
• Silver Sponsor – Insight Telematics
• Bronze Sponsor – AusFleet
• Bronze Sponsor – Plant Assessor
• Bronze Sponsor – Hidrive
• MC Sponsor – Repco Commercial
• Coffee Cart Sponsor – Summit Fleet Leasing and Management
• Handbook Sponsor – Mitac
• Amalgamate Sponsor - Geotab