T&FME looks at Volvo Truck’s continuing search for zeroaccidents on the road. NEWS 04 / NEWS FROM THE MONTH
Amazon reveals its towering ambition for finding talent in the Saudi market. LAUNCHES 08 / A CADDY
Cadillac announces it plans for the Escalade-V and new LYRIQ in the region. FRONT COVER 10 /
Al-Masaood’s Irfan Tansel takes a look at the very latest trends in mobility. INTERVIEW 12
CRKTL’s Paul Firth talks to T&FME about how last mile deliveries are changing the way malls are being designed.
T&FME speaks to the team running The Red Sea Project operation to find out why they are struggling to get OEM support. MANUFACTURING 26 / COMPLEX
How has modern manufacturing created a crisis in its own global supply chain? MICROMOBILITY 32 / READY TO HOP
ONE MOTO and AVIS dicuss their new collaboration.
This month saw the nominations process begin for this year’s Truck & Fleet Awards begin - and already I can see some very interesting nominations coming through.
This is great news! I really want the awards to have some outstanding nominees, so that when we open up the voting process next month, readers and the wider industry have some fantastically difficult to choices to make.
If you haven’t yet visited the site, we are inviting people and organisations to put forward their vehicles, products and companies that they feel are worthy award winners.
It is worth stressing that the products awards, including the heavy duty truck of the year award, are open to any vehicle that has been in use over the 12 months, whether it is a newly launched vehicle or not.
In an ideal world we would have awards solely dedicated to new vehicles, but we live in the real world at Truck & Fleet Middle East magazine, so the award winner just has to be a modern vehicle and ideally launched in the last 18 months.
Ultimately, I am a big believer that fleet buyers need to know their money
is being well-spent, so trucks and vans that have proven their worth and feature the best in current generation truck technology should not be excluded simply because of an arbitary date.
Especially in a market and region where these trucks are being pushed to their absolute limit.
I also want to emphasise that we are also asking fleets to put themselves forwards for nomination. Those operators with a nervous disposition will be glad to hear that we won’t be asking to put your company’s reputation on the line in a vote similar to the product awards. Instead we will be appointing a judging panel to decide the winners in categories such as logistics, waste management, retail distribution, and more.
Entering is really easy and can be done with a few clicks on the www.tfawards.com site.
I am a firm believer that all your hard work should not go to waste, so please put yourselves forward as soon as you can.
If you are still unsure about the value of entering, think of it as a great opportunity to put yourself in the shop window. In the market of 2022 and 2023 we could all do with a litle helpful push.
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Now you can increase significant savings through a dedicated tool developed and managed by TotalEnergies.
Presenting, LubAnac is a Industrial Equipment Management System, to help you perform health checks of their equipment with oil analysis that:
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LAST MILE Amazon.sa, the Saudi arm of online retail giant Amazon, has opened the doors to its imposing new office in Riyadh, with its GCC director Abdo Chlala placing it at the core of strategy to hire talent which “will help us invent and innovate on behalf of our customers.”
Amazon’s new office is in the Riyadh Front Tower. The multistorey building will house employees from various sectors of the company’s operations in Saudi Arabia, including
e-commerce, smart devices, Amazon Payments Services, Amazon Internet Services, and Amazon Advertising.
“We are pleased to inaugurate our new office in the capital of the Kingdom, confirming our commitment to serving Amazon customers, vendor partners, and employees in the Kingdom, as well as supporting its social and economic growth in line with the Saudi Vision 2030,” said Ronaldo Mouchawar, VP, Amazon Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
“We will continue to
develop our investments in the Kingdom across various sectors, including e-commerce, smart devices, and Amazon Payment Services, among others.”
Since launching its operations in 2020, Amazon say it has boosted its investment across the Kingdom and expanded its activities in various business sectors. It has also focused on a local approach with bringing the Amazon Prime programme to Kingdom to offer customer’s free same-day delivery in Riyadh and Jeddah. It is also introducing,
for the first time ever, Alexa with an Arabic language option with the Khaleeji (Gulf) dialect.
Its new home inside the Riyadh Front Tower, the tallest tower in the area, provides an ideal work environment to attract and retain talent in line with Amazon’s mission to strive to be Earth’s Best Employer. With the opening of the new office, Amazon is also working to launch an initiative to empower and train Saudi talent by meeting with employees working in various functions across the company.
M Glory Holding Group and Dubai Industrial City described the opening of the 4,200sqm Al Damani Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Factory as a major milestone in the manufacturing of electric cars to meet rising demand for green mobility and the reduction of global carbon emissions.
The new plant’s assembly line, which has a maximum production capacity of 10,000 cars per year.
The factory’s groundbreaking ceremony was presided over by Majida Al-Azazi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of M Glory Holding Group, and Saud Abu Al-Shawareb, Executive Vice President - Industrial Leasing at Tecom Group, along with other business leaders and media representatives.
Al-Shawareb said: “We are delighted to announce the inauguration of Al Damani Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Factory in Dubai Industrial City. This historic milestone will provide another low-emission energy source and contribute to creating a more sustainable future for the UAE and the region.
“By delivering cutting-edge, technologically supported solutions in line with Operation 300bn and driven by our partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, the manufacturing sector can play a crucial role in supporting the national Net Zero strategy. The opening of M Glory in our community illustrates our dedication to boosting the manufacturing sector and our belief in providing a comprehensive ecosystem.”
SupplyVan says its newly launched Mobile Hardware Store for MRO (Manufacturing, Repair, and Operation) is the first service of its type in the UAE market.
The firm said the service will initially launch in the industrial centres of Jebel Ali and Dubai Investment Park in the city, with vans delivering orders for tools and equipment such as electrical wiring and accessories, WD-40, sealants, and lighting spares.
“We are elated to announce the launch of the first-of-its-kind Mobile Hardware Stores starting with Jebel Ali and Dubai Investment Park and soon covering other areas. Instead
of going to the hardware store for emergency supplies, our vehicles will come to you for commonplace maintenance items within 15-20 minutes,” said Ali Asgar Raja, CEO, and Founder of SupplyVan.
“Our regular orders on our website are delivered within one
to two working days. Our team at SupplyVan is dedicated to ensuring that our Mobile Hardware Store will offer additional support and quick service to its customers with their time-critical operations.”
Using data analytics and customer purchase trends of its B2C and B2B customers, SupplyVan vehicles will carry fast-moving branded products that are required for urgent repair and maintenance.
Providing one-day deliveries for orders placed online or paid with Cash on Delivery or Credit Card, Supply Van’s Mobile Hardware Store is a game changer in the MRO Industry. The SupplyVan vehicles will be stationed in different parts of the city.
In a bid to boost the involvement of the private sector in achieving Net Zero, applying circular economy principles, and building an integrated waste management system, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and Emirates RDF have signed four memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Fujairah Cement Industries, JSW Cement, Lafarge Emirates, and Star Cement. The deal will see the companies partially use alternative fuel generated from municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment by the Emirates RDF
plant in Umm Al Quwain in their manufacturing operations.
The plants will start to use alternative biofuel in their production activities in confirmation of their commitment to sustainability, and supporting the development of a circular economy through an effective and long-term waste management solution, in line with the UAE Circular Economy Policy 2021-2031.
The signing ceremony at MOCCAE drew the participation of Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, representatives of
the Follow-Up Committee of the Initiatives of the UAE President, members of the Emirates RDF Project, and executive directors of the cement factories.
“The participation of the private sector is a main pillar of the UAE’s green economy transition and the adoption of circular economy methods, the foremost of which is integrated waste management. The ministry is keen to expand its cooperation with private entities to enhance their contribution to the country’s endeavours to drive sustainable economic development and build a better, greener future.”
Ultimate Motors confirmed it has been appointed as the new authorised dealer for Automobili Lamborghini in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Current and new Lamborghini customers across Dubai and Abu Dhabi can now refer to the dealership located in Sheikh Zayed Road for all sales (including new and certified pre-owned cars), after sales and customer service, said the company.
“We are excited to welcome Ultimate Motors as our new dealer in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. With a product offering more wide-ranging than ever, more technologically
advanced and able to amplify our customers’ emotions, I’m sure that we will continue to grow the brand in the UAE, building on our success and popularity from previous years,” said Speaking Paolo
Sartori, regional head, Automobili Lamborghini Middle East and Africa.
Ultimate Motors said it has been appointed by the Italian supersports car manufacturer following an extremely successful first half of 2022 for the brand in the UAE.
Martino Picotti, GM, Ultimate Motors added: “We are confident that we can create a successful future for the Italian automaker in the UAE by continuing to gear up our operations and enhancing our structure with the introduction of key functions and departments such as the Selezione Certified Pre-owned, CRM, and training and compliance.”
The Board of Directors of the Oman Rail-Etihad Rail JV Company have said that they are prioritising the fast tracking the execution of their $3 billion rail project which they expect will to boost the growth of the two countries’ national economies and cross-border trade.
Meeting in Dubai to discuss implementation plans, including technical studies and architectural design, as well as environmental studies for
routes, the business model and the commercial affairs of the joint venture, the partners said the rail network will improve the efficiency of supply chains and trade by linking commercial ports to the railway network.
The meeting was also the first formal meeting between of the newly established JV and saw it commit to “adopting the highest global standards for security, safety, and sustainability throughout the development of the network, which will
extend for 303 kilometers, to provide safe and fast passenger transport and freight services.”
His Excellency Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, said that establishing the joint venture was in line with both leaderships’ directives for achieving sustainable development by elevating the transport and infrastructure sectors to higher levels, economic and commercial growth.
The technology arm of Saudi Arabian automotive player Abdul Latif Jameel says its two newly launched online services enhance the purchase, sale and financing of vehicles for its customer base.
The e-commerce platform Motory. com arrives as one of the largest online platforms for new and used cars in Saudi Arabia. The Shop by Motory website and the associated Motory Mazad app, meanwhile, offer online car-buying services: “with the highest levels of privacy and security, providing valuable services that it anticipates will make it one of the leading platforms in Saudi Arabia for a convenient, secure and seamless experience,” explained Abdul Latif Jameel Technology.
It added that the Motory Mazad app is an online auction platform that was designed to automate car auctions between buyers, including auto dealers and auto showrooms, and car owners, such as banks, financing companies, leasing companies and others. According to the firm, the launch of these services addresses the rapid growth in the technology sector and customers’ increasing reliance on online services in the Kingdom: “It also falls in line with Abdul Latif Jameel Technology’s commitment to providing integrated and seamless services to customers and supporting digital transformation efforts through the employment of the latest innovative technologies.”
A trial programme for aerial drone delivery and other services in Abu Dhabi will start this year ahead of a full commercial launch in 2023, say the three organisations behind the initiative.
Maqta Gateway, the digital arm of AD Ports Group, Emirates Post Group, the official postal operator for the UAE, and SkyGo, an aerial logistics provider, have announced that they will deploy aerial drones to carry parcels and documents to specified Emirates Post sites across the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Beginning with short-range journeys, the programme will expand to long-range tests with an increased capacity to assess demand and understand the wider benefits, said the partners. The objective is to provide a sustainable, user-friendly service that can carry vital medical supplies, fresh foods, and urgent documents rapidly, while providing real-time tracking.
“As a leading trusted trade and logistics partner within the region and globally, Maqta Gateway is uniquely positioned to spearhead advanced innovations such as this initiative. We actively seek out projects that can positively disrupt and transform global trade, and this new collaboration
offers a vital opportunity to do just that,” said Dr Noura Al Dhaheri, CEO - Digital Cluster and CEOMaqta Gateway, AD Ports Group.
“Drone services could enable greater convenience and faster delivery times for customers across Abu Dhabi, while ensuring a positive environmental
impact. Margo Hub is a state-of-theart integrated digital marketplace for all logistics needs, from trucking and warehousing through to the last mile and express delivery, so the expansion into drone services is a seamless extension.”
Abdulla Mohammed Alashram, Group CEO, Emirates Post Group, added: “This agreement comes as part of Emirates Post Group’s vision to foster collaborations with pioneering UAE firms that embrace advanced technologies, so that we may provide customers with innovative delivery solutions. This explorative drone project represents an efficient and environmentally responsible solution for the delivery of small to medium sized packages, in line with the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) sustainable development objectives. By supporting this project, we are confident that we can alleviate road congestion and reduce fuel consumption in last-mile deliveries.”
Al Ghandi Auto, Cadillac’s exclusive dealer partner in the UAE, used the recent Auto Moto Show in Abu Dhabi to give the Escalade-V its official regional debut.
Appearing alongside the CT5-V Blackwing, Cadillac’s most powerful production car, Al Ghandi Auto said the luxury SUV exemplifies “the pinnacle of luxury performance vehicles from Cadillac”.
The all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ was also on display at the event, “giving audiences a taste of the future of luxury EVs with new standards of design, innovation, and sophistication”, said Al Ghandi Auto.
“We’ve represented GM for over three decades and we continue to be amazed with every new nameplate that is
released,” said Mark Jenkins, CEO, Al Ghandi Auto.
“The Escalade V is no exception, offering performance lovers a best-in-class SUV that perfectly combines power and style - we are honored to be dropping the curtains on it at the Auto Moto Show. We know how loved the iconic Escalade is and we’ve seen the impeccable welcome the Blackwings received, so we can confidently say our customers will not be disappointed with the Escalade-V. They are also about to be mesmerised by the electrifying LYRIQ EV, showing that performance and power will not be compromised as we move into the future of mobility. It stands out in every possible way!”
According to Al Ghandi Auto, the Escalade has been an icon in the
world of luxury SUVs for more than two decades, “setting new industry benchmarks with its quintessential style and omnipresence in pop culture. The 2023 Escalade-V elevates the model’s design, performance and technology hallmarks to create the industry’s most powerful full-size SUV, symbolised by its unmistakable sound and head-turning street presence. Proudly bearing the V-series badge of power, the Escalade-V features a 6.2-liter V-8 engine generating 682 horsepower and 885 Nm of torque, as well as an automatic transmission calibrated for one speed. It will form part of the entire Cadillac’s V-Series line-up including the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing, showcasing the uppermost echelon of performance and craftsmanship.”
Along with the full-time active all-wheel-drive system, standard Magnetic Ride Control 4.0, Air Ride Adaptive Suspension and exclusive Escalade-V suspension hardware complement the Escalade-V’s responsive driving experience. Together, they form the foundation of a heightened feeling of driver control, without sacrificing precision ride comfort.
The Air Ride Adaptive Suspension four-corner air springs feature specific, stiff rear air springs. The electronically controlled system also features unique damper hardware tuning and software calibrations, which help make the most of the Escalade-V’s four-wheel independent suspension. The electronic limited-slip differential improves handling and helps to
When it comes to planning an excursion with friends, family or both, you would require a car that allows you to experience your journey unhindered, no matter the season, terrain or condition. You would also be out on the market for a car that is as comfortable to drive as it would be customisable to cater to you and your passengers’ needs. Extra space to hold luggage is a big plus, and not many cars host these features while also promising value and a host of features.
In this regard, the Renault Duster takes center stage while also looking the part, with a unique dip in the windscreen angle accentuated through modern and powerful lines, claims Arabian Automobiles.
Viewed from the side, there are new interpretations, it says: “The dynamic design of this chassis, with high-ground clearance and chrome grille surround, is clearly robust enough to impose itself on any terrain and slickly so, led by the C-shaped front LED lighting, a signature design that distinguishes Renault from the rest.”
Precision power-steering to work is as easy as folding the 1/3 – 2/3 bench seat down to accommodate the kids for a family outing. The modular seat setup is made for storage and space on heavier excursions, with a total boot room of 1,623l.
According to its UAE distributor: “The innovative ergonomic dashboard’s central console grants you time to customize your temperature, feel the automatic air conditioning and a whole host of other system adjustments to perfect your in-seat experience.”
“In extra-urban style, the Duster consumes 5.7 liters per hundred kilometers. “After all, keeping you road happy is what it’s about and what’s great for your wallet is great for you,” says Arabian Automobiles.
With Remote Engine Start, drivers can also pre-cool your car by starting the engine and the auto AC, or activate whatever you had programmed in advance through the MediaNav 7” touchscreen.
Digging deeper into the Renault Duster’s special features, the Multiview Camera system allows you to see the area around the vehicle, identify blind spots and facilitate your everyday parking manoeuvres.
How can the latest digital and electrification mobility trends impact fleets of the future?
Can autonomous technologies and fleet telematics actually make future mobility safer? With over 4 terabytes of data generated by autonomous vehicles in an hour, what will future fleets do with this data avalanche?
All this and more was discussed by Irfan Tansel, Chief Executive Officer, Al Masaood Automobiles, in his opening keynote at the Fleet & Mobility Summit on 21st of September 2022. In his presentation, Tansel highlighted the most notable changes
disrupting the mobility sector, specifically in the digital and electrification front.
Tansel also showcased the latest mobility trends and technologies that fleet operators can leverage to help the region achieve its decarbonisation ambitions, as well as to enable them to operate at optimal costs through smarter measures for service and accident management.
During the presentation, Tansel underlined the developments and growth opportunities that are shaping the industry, including new multimodal mobility schemes, ADAS autonomous driving technology advancements. He also spoke of the influx of data that mobility software
is generating, and how fleet is leading the adoption of electrification in the region.
Tansel’s presentation shed light on the technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Omni-channel platforms, that will support the fleet of the future as well as the new approaches that will influence mobility and transportation in the coming years. This goes back to many advancements in the commercial vehicles today.
Explaining further, Tansel cited that according to the U.S. National Safety Council, driving technologies like the Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) have a potential to prevent around 62% of traffic fatalities: “Significant advancements have been made
The cost of acci dents has decreased by 22% as a result of fleet telematics data”
Irfan Tansel, CEO, Al Masaood Automobiles, underlined the opportunities that are shaping the industry during his Keynote Address at the Fleet and Mobility Summit
OF MOBILITY THE
in sensor, camera, and software technologies to enable ADAS to efficiently function in complicated environments,” he noted.
Taking Nissan as an example, Tansel highlighted that the Japanese automaker has installed advanced driver-assist technologies in many of their latest vehicles. The ProPILOT system was premiered in the region on the 2021 Nissan Altima, and more recently in the all-new Nissan Pathfinder.
ProPILOT revolutionises the driving experience by combining Nissan’s intelligent cruise control system with steering assist technologies, making driving easy and stress-free by automatically increasing or decreasing the vehicle’s speed to maintain a set distance from the car ahead. Tansel added that Nissan is aiming to expand its ProPILOT technology to over 2.5 million Nissan and Infiniti vehicles by the 2026.
Furthermore, Tansel discussed some of the rising trends in the fleet management realm, such as the increased adoption of electrification and telematics, and how these can improve the overall safety measures adopted by fleets and allow them to optimise vehicle uptime and service management.
He stated that fleet operators are driving the shift towards green mobility by investing in electric and autonomous infrastructure.
Teletrac Navman, a leading global telematics software-as-a-service provider, cited in its Telematics Benchmark Report, that the adoption of electrification in commercial fleets is bringing ample opportunities for operators as 32% consider fuel their largest expense. From the report, Tansel also cites
that 55% of fleets have seen lower fuel costs after adopting telemetry software.
“Fleet telematics have improved their data production capabilities in addition to controlling uptime and the full repair lifecycle of fleet vehicles. The cost of accidents has decreased by 22% as a result of fleet telematics data, and fleet tracking was found to have improved customer service by 54% in 2020,” he stated.
The governments and municipalities in the region have made achieving NetZero a top priority. But doing so will require the commercial vehicles industry and professional fleets to reach out and support this goal. The Fleet & Mobility Summit brought together a distinguished
panel of lecturers and business leaders to examine how cities and nations can take bigger strides in becoming greener places to live while preserving the region’s large progress over the past 50 years.
Tansel also spoke about the changing behaviours and measures that should be taken to address the continually evolving needs and requirements of customers.
Recognised as one of the ‘Top 100 CEOs in the Middle East’ by Forbes twice, Tansel has over 40 years of experience in the automotive sectors and has worked across three continents. He has achieved numerous milestones including being named within the ‘100 inspiring leaders in the Middle East’ by Arabian Business magazine and ‘CEO of the Year’ by CEO Magazine. He works with a vision to disrupt the automotive industry and leave behind a legacy of excellence. Considered a visionary in the automotive industry, he has been part of multiple achievements for Al Masaood Automobiles, like the 2019 ‘Nissan Global Award’, INFINITI’s ‘Outstanding Performance Award’ in 2020, and Renault’s Global Partners Award 2020 (P.A.R.I.S Challenge).
The Fleet & Mobility Summit 2022 summit served as a platform for stakeholders and industry leaders to share and discuss the technologies and practices that will enhance the future of the mobility sector. Key industry players shed light on the inspirational factors that helped them achieve greater heights in the mobility sector and provided insights to participants on optimum practices to enhance their business operations.
Significant advance ments have been made in sensor, camera, and soft ware tech nologies”THE MAJOR TRENDS IN MOBILITY Irfan Tansel believes the increased adoption of electrification and telematics will improve the overall safety measures adopted by fleets and allow them to optimise vehicle uptime and service management. EXPANDING SMART DRIVING TECHNOLOGIES Al Masaood Automobiles’ CEO explained that Nissan is aiming to expand its ProPILOT technology, which he says revolutionises the driving experience, to over 2.5 million Nissan and Infiniti vehicles by the 2026.
The creators of the Dubai Hills Estate Mall knew that in a city already boasting almost 70 shopping malls that they had to dare to be different when it opened earlier this year. In fact, the design team from CallisonRTKL wanted it to be a game-changer, a recreation of the street-shopping ambience of a European city. Throw in a first-of-its kind, indoor twisting roller coaster at the heart of the development and shoppers know instantly that they are in Dubai’s latest mall to bend the typical enclosed retail experience of a modern Gulf city to the limit. As one of the first retail destinations
to open in post-Covid Dubai, the mall is both the culmination of the story of the big multi-purpose shopping as entertainment developments that have dominated the market in the past two decades, but also a test of how retail can adapt in a very different climate.
Beyond their steel and marble atriums and thoroughfares, retailers are facing the serious challenge of serving the many shoppers and customers that have moved online.
A 30-year retail veteran and CRTKL associate principle, Paul Firth is one of the leading experts on retail and mixed-use environments in the region. He believes
that many retailers are now exploring ways to turn floorspace into delivery hubs and click and collect centres to keep physical stores viable. He also argues that retailers should combine this shift in priorities at the back of their stores with an emphasis on
“So basically, what’s happening andCovid kind of accelerated it - customer habits and guest habits are changing significantly. As it stands right now, people are moving online.”
According to Firth, we are now almost fully into a world where shopping is done digitally and retailers can’t rely on customers to come back to the stores –even if they are promising to elevate the actual shopping experience. Firth points
People want to be social so now projects are evolv ing and developing”
Paul Firth, CallisonRTKL, discusses how planning for transport and deliveries is changing in a new era for retail
to examples elsewhere to demonstrate how far this revolution in retail could go.
“Our shopping centre design business in the UK, for instance, is effectively gone,” he muses. “The Middle East changes much faster than anywhere else in the world and what is basically happening out here is that the market is being driven a lot by the younger generation and they are looking for experiences…however…” he pauses midflow to highlight the downside of this phenomenon. “To give you an example… people in adventure sports are generally worried because younger people want to do an adventure sport once for the experience, but then they don’t want to do it again.
“If somebody wants to take up scubadiving, they will do it once, but they won’t do it again. So, that’s what’s happening with retail right now. [We are seeing] people below the age of 40 doing everything on their phone including their major purchases. This can even include buying property. They will look at it online and then they’ll go for one visit just to pick it up.”
Firth may sound like he his ringing the death knell of venturing out into shopping malls, but he sees a role for them if they can recreate the sense of community of our traditional urban city, town and village centres. “People want to be social so now projects are evolving and developing, and becoming more like city and town centre’s where people can be together to trade, to eat, to drink and be entertained.”
Looking at Dubai Hills, he says the amount of green open space in the design helped to encourage retailers to take up units and space soon after the masterplan was first published five years ago. The consumer market may have changed considerably since then but the freeing up of potential retail space has turned out to be a major strength of the project: “It’s so successful with tenants and residents and visitors because of the green spaces and post-Covid people want to move outside,” Firth affirms.
He says that the shift of role for malls and shopping areas means that the trend towards last mile deliveries will accelerate even further. It also requires a rethink of the infrastructure required for retailers to accommodate their burgeoning delivery operations.
“For most of our projects, the average store size used to be 300 sqm ten years ago, now it’s 100 or 150 sqm. Just half the size because things can be delivered,” he notes.
CRTKL is not only working closely with retail developers but also with local authorities and government agencies to ensure that road links and vehicle traffic are prioritised in the retail hubs they are designing. The goal is to ensure goods and people are able to move fluidly.
“We always push the most in terms of the right of way on the roads. We will also try and build in as much flexibility as possible. For example, when we did Dubai Hills, we planned for mobility with path works, cycle networks….Gone are the days of… pavement, lamppost, that’s it! Now we have cycle tracks for example.
“At the same we’re designing buildings to be more flexible. It can be a hotel, a hospital, a residential building. Depending on how it is designed it can deal with all those uses. That was kind by a project we did for a major
The shift of role for malls and shopping areas means that the trend towards last mile deliveries will accelerate even further, says Paul Firth.
developer four years ago in Dubai; during the design phase it started out as a hotel, then became service apartments, then apartments and then to offices. That was all during the design phase and the construction of it. From an infrastructure, point of view, the trick is just to have the most energy you can have and the easiest way to get to things as possible.”“In the UK and the US, we are used to chopping and changing things. Whereas here the infrastructure tends to be more restrictive, but at least now we’re managing to change that. In some of our master plans we’re trying to get the infrastructure moved out of the road and into the green or paved areas. So it can be adapted,” he stops to note an example close to where we are talking: “The cool thing is when it comes to the pace of change, if you look at Silicon Oasis right here, the roads been redeveloped three times in the past two years and are now almost finished, and it’s really servicing this community and the people here have changed and evolved as a result.”
While establishing the right infrastructure can be an enabler for business and operators using them, it also needs to suit the vehicles they drive. Firth says that the steady growth of electric vehicles is presenting a fresh challenge for designers like CRTKL.
“The biggest trick isn’t that the parking spaces is a problem. If we want to encourage everyone to have an EV car more, all, of the spaces have to be charging spaces. Landlords, developers will need to put in more infrastructure until we get superfast charging. The other thing, in terms of mobility, is that we are making sure we spaces for bicycles and electric scooters at all of our projects. Now, depending on the size it can be anywhere from 100 to 200 spaces.”
For most of our projects, the average store size used to be 300 sqm ten years ago, now it’s 100 or 150 sqm”More parking spaces are needed to be created within retail destinations until fast-charging becomes more widely available in the market.
Volvo’s design team talks the new aerodynamic improvements to the Volvo FH and how it was done
Aerodynamic design has long been one of Volvo Trucks’ most important focus areas when it comes to reducing the fuel consumption of its vehicles. Its engineers are continuously working with wind tunnels and simulations to identify further improvements. One of their key aims is to delay flow separation. This is when a layer of air flow detaches from the truck’s surface. The earlier it detaches, the larger the wake behind the vehicle and therefore the higher the pressure drag. Minimising and delaying flow separation, therefore minimises pressure drag.
“The flow greatly accelerates as it goes from the stagnation point in front of the truck (high pressure) over to the sides (low pressure),” explains Anders Tenstam, aerodynamics specialist, Volvo Trucks. “If a truck is driving at 90 km/h, then the flow velocity at the corners can reach speeds as high as 200 km/h. This makes the front corners a very sensitive region, and any small object or gap can have a huge impact on the overall air flow.”
In their most recent simulations and tests, Volvo Trucks’ engineers were able to identify a number of small gaps and split lines on the Volvo FH truck’s exterior, that could further improve aerodynamics if sealed.
“We could see that split lines and gaps can be crucial depending on where they are situated,” says Mattias Hejdesten, engineering specialist aerodynamics, Volvo Trucks. “They allow air flow to seep in behind the front panels, which then gets sucked out in the low-pressure regions on the cab’s sides. From there, it can trigger flow separation when it interacts with the external air flow.”
To help stem these leakage flows, new seals have been placed between the various front panels. As a result, any triggering of flow separation at the vehicle’s front corners is eliminated, helping the external flow to stay attached to the vehicle’s sides for longer.
It’s a lot about mastering the small details, says Tenstam.
“Truck aerodynamics is a lot about mastering the small details,” he says. “The truck cab is a workplace with many legal restrictions and considerations, so there is a constant battle for every millimetre of available space, to accommodate all essential functions.”
New seals on the truck have opened up for more improvements. By adding these seals, not only does it improve overall aerodynamics, it also opens up additional opportunities for improvements further along the vehicle. These improvements include adding an extended door extension to fill the void in the footstep box.
This creates a flat surface for the external air flow to attach to, thus further reducing flow separation. Using wider wheels and mud guards create more alignment, while a new fender flare reduces the gap from the wheel. This results in reduced evacuation flow from the wheelhouse and by extension less aerodynamic drag. Finally, new curved designs for the mirror arm covers with smaller peak holes also help reduce flow separation.
“By improving the conditions at the front of the truck, we can suddenly see some opportunities to maintain an aligned flow along the sides too,” explains aerodynamics expert Hejdesten. “Otherwise, if we had not done this, we would have seen minimal benefits from these additional aerodynamic improvements.”
In fact, each of these aerodynamic improvements have been optimised to complement each other. While each individual update will make its own contribution to improve the vehicle’s energy efficiency and reduce fuel consumption, the savings generated when combined together in one package will be greater than the sum of all parts.
Earlier this year, Volvo announced improvements to its I-Save solution which it believes can cut fuel costs by as much as
10% in some markets. The Volvo FH with I-Save has been in production since 2019. Its concept is to improve fuel economy as much as possible through a combination of the vehicle’s driveline, software and aerodynamics. Since its launch, many new features have been added and refined, including six in the last year alone.
In two separate tests performed by German trucking magazines, the Volvo FH with I-Save came out on top for fuel economy, suggesting that the Swedish truck and engine maker is delivering lower fuel consumption that many of its rivals.
“This really confirms that our hard work is paying off. And with our new engine updates, the Volvo FH with I-Save will be even more fuelefficient,” says Peter Franzén, product manager engines at Volvo Trucks.
And it’s important to remember that there is also a positive side to the human factor. Truck drivers – as well as other road users – avoid many more accidents than they cause,
awareness among all road users are very important in reducing the number of accidents.
Your target is zero accidents. Are you getting closer? We are aiming for zero accidents, and even if we are proud of our work, we still have a long way to go. Traffic fatalities per capita are decreasing worldwide, but the total number is still going up in many parts of the world. Thousands of people are killed each year in traffic accidents involving heavy trucks, so we are far from satisfied.
More than 90% of all accidents are caused by the human factor.
Would you say that truck drivers are not skilled enough?
It’s true that in most accidents the human factor plays a role – which includes all road users, not only truck drivers. I would say that most truck drivers are very skilled.
What is needed to take big steps towards zero?
Traffic safety is a complex puzzle, and the biggest pieces of that puzzle are safe vehicles, safe roads and safe road users. Volvo Trucks’ main contribution is to develop safe vehicles, but we are also dependent on investment in an improved traffic environment and, not least, efforts to achieve a better safety mindset among all road users.
Vehicle safety will remain our focus and we will constantly develop new systems to address more traffic situations and accident types. We also need to ensure that our safety systems are used in the way they are intended. The seat belt is probably the clearest example that this is not always the case. It is far from used all the time – leading to fatal consequences. Sadly, the same applies to other safety systems –they are not used to their full extent and sometimes used incorrectly.
This is a problem that needs to be solved. We will also continue to increase awareness around heavy truck traffic safety and contribute to an improved safety mindset among truck drivers and other road users.
What
A system with perfect human-reading sensors that would know exactly what’s around the truck and would be able to foresee the intentions of other drivers and road users.
Since almost all accidents are already avoidable with a combination of existing vehicle technology and safe road user behavior today, it shouldn’t be impossible. But at the same time, you could argue that there will always be situations where unfortunate and unpredictable circumstances can lead to accidents. And that’s probably true – at least for the foreseeable future.
Either way, no number other than zero is acceptable. It´s our guiding star in our work and ambition to improve traffic safety around the world. Each and every life saved on the journey towards zero accidents is a win.
If a truck is driving at 90 km/h, then the flow velocity at the corners can reach speeds as high as 200 km/h”Anna Wrige Berling, traffic and product safety director at Volvo Trucks, on the company’s mission to to get to zero truck accidents.
Now you can increase significant savings through a dedicated tool developed and managed by TotalEnergies.
Presenting, LubAnac is a Fleet Management System, to reduce your vehicle maintenance costs through oil analysis that:
Reduces downtime of your fleet Optimizes the maintenance Increases the lifetime of your vehicles
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In two independent tests, the Volvo FH-with I-Save has proven that it’s possible to combine low fuel consumption with high speed.
In the tests, run by Trucker and Transport, the Volvo FH 500 with I-Save was set against other European competitors trucks – and came out with impressive results. It won both tests on fuel economy, covering the combination of diesel and AdBlue consumption.
The Volvo truck also beat its competitors when it came to maintaining a high average speed over the long-haul test routes. In addition, the Volvo FH with I-Save scored the highest points in Trucker’s overall assessment of the total vehicle.
“These tests are very accurate and really allow us to show what we are capable of. Our engineers have managed to combine high speed with very low fuel consumption, which is a fantastic achievement. In times of rising fuel prices, fuel efficiency is more important than ever,” says Peter Franzén.
The Volvo FH with I-Save has been in production since 2019. Its concept is to improve fuel economy as much as possible through a combination of the vehicle’s driveline, software and aerodynamics. Since its launch, many new features have been added and refined.
The Volvo truck used in the tests included several recent updates to its
aerodynamic design in order to improve air flow, such as tighter gaps on the front of the cab and longer door extension. To ensure maximum fuel-efficiency, the truck always starts in Eco mode.
“There are many small refinements that together create these good test results. And it’s very impressive that we won the tests even though the truck wasn’t equipped with the new engine. The latest updates will lower fuel consumption even more. It will be very interesting to see the result in coming trade press tests,” says Franzén.
The turbo compound engine is at the
heart of I-Save. Among its recent upgrades launched this year, the fuel combustion process has been refined, friction in the engine has been reduced and the oil system has been improved. In addition, the engine has a new energy-saving steering pump and an improved air compressor that save fuel by building up air pressure more efficiently.
The new smart software I-Torque increases energy efficiency by analyzing topography data from I-See and adapting the driving to the actual route.
“Our engineers have looked into all details to make the engine even more fuel-efficient. We have also updated our automated I-Shift gearbox. Quicker responses will contribute to smoother driving and improved fuel economy,” adds Franzén.
With the recently launched refinements, I-Save cumulatively can add up to a 13% improvement in fuel economy – compared to consumption levels when it was first introduced. Another benefit of the Volvo FH with I-Save is its low consumption of AdBlue which, like diesel, has become increasingly more expensive.
“Fuel economy is crucial for haulers, and we will continue to turn every stone to find further improvements. I’m very proud that we can offer a product that can help our customers increase their profitability while reducing their CO2 impact,” he concludes.
Truck aerodynamics is a lot about mastering the small details”LESS OF A DRAG Updates to the aerodynamic design of the Volvo FH are reduce flow separation and pressure drag, and by extension, help save even more fuel in long haul operations. TACKLING AIR RESISTANCE HEAD-ON Overcoming air resistance is a significant contributor to a truck’s fuel consumption when driving at speeds from around 50-60 km/h and onwards. Its effect on fuel consumption increases exponentially the faster you drive.
Winning a Truck & Fleet Middle East Award is a recognised badge of excellence amongst clients and peers.
These awards celebrate the champions whose vehicles play a key role in the operations, logistics and projects at the heart of the GCC economy. They award fleets, as well as manufacturers and dealers whose trucks lead the way – whose out-of-the-box innovations deliver critical commercial ‘edge’, day in, day out.
They honour the achievements of the key players responsible for the industry’s dramatic post-Covid re-set.
NEW for 2023, potential winners will be able to submit their NOMINATIONS as part of a pre-selection ahead of a public vote. Submitting your entry is easy, simply upload your nomination with images and other information, including technical specifications, before 20th October.
From the 1st November, we will then be staging a public vote to find out the market’s preferred winner in each of the open categories. This is expected to close on the 1st December.
For most of the technical categories, we will be holding a judging process conducted by a panel of industry experts ahead of the Awards evening on 24th January 2023 where the winners will be announced.
INDUSTRY/GOVERNMENT AWARD
Outstanding Contribution Transportation Initiative Award of the Year
DISTRIBUTOR AWARD
After Sales Uptime Initiative of the Year
FLEET AWARDS
Fleet of the Year (Up to 100 Vehicles) Fleet of the Year (More than 100 Vehicles) Hospitality Fleet of the Year Retail Fleet of the Year Heavy Fleet of the Year Waste Management Fleet of the Year Logistics Fleet of the Year Excellence in Fleet Safety
Stephen White | +44 7541 244377 stephen.white@cpitrademedia.com
Brian
Overall Truck of the Year New Vehicle of the Year Outstanding Medium and Heavy Duty Award Outstanding LCV Truck and Van Award
Outstanding Fleet Car of the Year Coach of the Year Distributor of the Year Tyre Technology of the Year Truck Body Builder of the Year Outstanding Manufacturer of the Year Innovation in Mobility Technology Award
brian.fernandes@cpitrademedia.com
Andy Pitois | +971 4 375 5473 andy.pitois@cpitrademedia.com
© 2023 CPI Trade Media. All rights reserved.
The Red Sea Project is one of the most ambitious projects currently underway in the region and quite possibly one of the most challenging in the world. It is almost as if building a resort that covers an area the size of Belgium wasn’t impressive enough: This is a tourist destination so big it requires a town with a population of 12,000 to keep it running. It is also striving to achieve its own Net Zero targets while setting world-class benchmarks for safe, smart, sustainable journeys to, within and from the resort.
Backed by the almost limitless resources of the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund, and with nothing off the table when it comes to achieving 100% renewable sources for vehicles and power – including hydrogen-powered aircraft, electric vehicles, decarbonised boats - you would think Red Sea Global’s (formally known as The Red Sea Development Company) operations team have their pick of collaborators for the mega-development.
But even as Saudi Arabia’s flagship tourist destination nears its phase one opening in 2023, Anton Bawab, Group Head of Operations and Operations Executive Director Andreas T Flourou tell T&FME that they have often been left frustrated by their dealings with the automotive sector. Early into the interview, Bawab, exhales his dismay at many OEMs failing to take the project seriously.
“I think one of the messages from our conversation has to be where are you?” He calls out.
It is not difficult to understand the Operations team’s frustration. The Gulf region has seen many pilot schemes and trials in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia itself of the many of solutions they need on the project, such as compressed natural gas buses that could be used to ferry staff or the electric luxury cars to carry guests from point A-to-B. CNG-fuelled luxury buses have even been planned in Doha for the FIFA World Cup for almost a decade. Why then have they struggled to get the vehicles they need?
For a start, it is certainly an intimidating project even for two veterans such as Flourou and Bawab.
“It hit me hard the first time I had to drive around myself,” says Bawab. “The distances between any two points or anywhere
between 20 and 45 km. It is a massive site with a massive footprint, but our approach to the environment is unwavering and our aspiration is to get to a fleet fully powered by renewable energy, even if we realise that the transportation technology is not going to help us 100% - nobody has ever put something as multi-modal and comprehensive in one go. ”
He continues: “We are looking at marine, looking at land mass transit and individual transit, we’re looking at aircommercial helicopters and seaplanes. And on the marine side we’re looking at logistics and passenger and pleasure.”
Beyond the shopping list of vehicles, there is also the traffic infrastructure, the security needs, the building of logistics hubs to keep the remote destination going.
“If you break our project down into small pieces, none of it has ever been done. You can find solar farms, you can find electric fleet but it’s the collection of the parts that makes it the challenge that it is, and it’s making it the ambition that it is… Nobody has ever built a fully integrated resort powered with renewable energy from A to Z. We are talking guest and staff mobility, staff housing, climate control in a harsh environment. And we are talking 24-hour operation, including a desalination plant.”
Flourou adds: “And don’t forget the logistics of all this as well.”
The first hotel guests are expected to arrive by the middle of 2023 (the first hotel will hand over at the end of Q1 2023), explains Bawab. This will be a major landmark for the operation with transport priorities being shared between the construction teams working on the next phases and the shuttle services for the guests and hospitality crews needed around the resort.
“I don’t want to use the term mock opening, but that’s when we will start stresstesting the system. We will have got staff transportation in place three months before, but then we will need guest transportation in place,” says Bawab. “We’ve also got to have marine and land logistics in place, we have got to have our supply chain figured out all the way from Jeddah and an interim supply chain and logistics warehousing,” he says, adding “We also need interim mobility workshops and repair shops on site because as we start gearing up to open up, we will also transition from being a construction site to being a resort with construction on-going on the site.”
Ideally, The Red Sea Project would have been prioritised by the automotive industry
and partners in The Kingdom in the lead up to the opening, but it has not been able to avoid the disruption seen in the market over the past couple of years. While Mott McDonald was appointed at the end of 2019 to scope out the transport and fleet needs for the resort, the number of vehicles joining its fleet has been held back by the supply chain issues that have impacted the global market.
“We’ve been blessed by a couple of crises and we’re not unique in suffering from supply chain issues,” says Bawab mixing ruefullness with a touch of sarcasm. “We’re not unique in suffering the car shortage issues that plague the world. So, sadly, we’re not getting our vehicles as quickly as we wanted to have them, and we are not getting the models that we wanted.”
There is, however, good news when it comes to site access now that 100kmplus of roads have been completed across the resort: “As soon as we can satisfy our guests needs and employee needs we will start transitioning our construction teams to hybrids or EVs to go to work. We don’t need the V8 gas guzzlers as we are not roughing it up anymore – although if you are on one of the desert sites you will still need your traditional car.”
In total, 16 hotels, a marina, golf course and residential complexes are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. And all of them will need to be supported by a massive – and green – logistics operation.
“We are sizing our distribution centre
and to serve our guests and the 8,000 hotel employees and the 4,000 support employees, and the landscapers, and the road sweepers, and airport staff in place, we’re building a 55,000 square metre logistics centre. That’s the size of a major retailer’s medium-sized warehouse.”
According to Flourou, most guests will arrive at the newly built airport, travelling overland and there are typically three options for them to get to their destination: “Guests will be able to use our electric vehicles, to get
to and from the hotel; this will be a shuttle service/transfer service where they can pick up a car to them to their destination and these are electric. The island destinations require a second or third mode of operation. So, we have in the first instance, a fleet of amphibious aircraft that will take off from our airports and on the water and vice versa.
“Now, interestingly, there are seaplanes running on conventional jet fuel today, however, we are working with Zeroavia in the UK and signed an MoU exploring their electric hydrogen hybrid systems for aircraft engines. The third option is getting to the island by a boat. So again, we’ve gone out to market, we mandated a yacht designer to design a stunningly beautiful 18m commuter vessel - a baby super yacht.” A baby super yacht?
“Imagine a Mercedes EQS or a Lucid Air…let’s put it this way, it’s luxury water taxi!” Flourou enthuses. “We have various solutions available to us in terms of power such as biodiesel. This is an option as that is available to us via our logistics fleet, plus that can also power all our standby generators in case anything happens to our solar power. We also have an electric hybrid system – we plug in, charge up batteries and power vessels that way. Where we will end up (eventually) will be hydrogen hybrid or hydrogen electric power system.”
Expanding on the potential for hydrogen at the development, Flourou is clearly an advocate for the technology.
If you break our project down, none of it has ever been done”PREPARING TO OPEN The first phase of the Red Sea Project will open in 2023 with guest transportation joining a complex and fully sustainable fleet operation.
“You have a couple of different options. You can have a tank filled with hydrogen, which I think most people are aware of. But, there is also hydrogen combustion, which is similar to what you see today in ICE systems and will allow an engine to burn hydrogen, combust hydrogen, to power a motor. So all of these things we are we are working on.
“But there are challenges with absolutely everything, you know. Electric car manufacturers globally are facing supply chain issues. (We touched on this earlier) but this has been ongoing for a while, and now you have the terrible ongoing war in Ukraine impacting other elements such as the supply chain. You know with semiconductors, we are coming up to two years in and we still have a shortage. Someone said to me recently there is a shortage of a particular foam that manufacturers are using for car seats. You try to mitigate all of the risk but you can only mitigate so much.”
Does the delay, also mean higher costs to worry about, even for an organisation with such a wealthy backer? T&FME asks
“We are a commercial operation, we want to keep an eye on the bottom line. Ultimately, we want to mininise cost because, unfortunately, it will have to get passed onto the end-user. We want to be competitive in the tourism industry. And despite the fact that it is ultra-high net-worth clients and guests – and the service will be genuinely something that hasn’t been seen before – you want to be competitive.
“But all of these issues from a mobility standpoint, cause challenges for us. I think, it’s also very difficult to attract many of these manufacturers and OEMs into a region that they have no interest in today? I’m not going to name names, but, you know, take a few of the German players, why would they want to look at Saudi Arabia or the Middle East today when they can sell absolutely everything in the US and Europe?
Bawab adds: “Clearly we are way behind in legislating are transfer to Green. We are
not as attractive, lucrative, or as big as a market as some of the more mature economies out there because they have got government legislation which encourages - by their use of tools like taxation - vehicle ownership. And of course, up until a couple of years ago, a litre of fuel was cheaper than a litre of drinking water.
“They are making commitments…we are in talks with Aramco for sustainable air fuel, for instance. So, there is now direction. Coupled with PiF’s massive investment in things like Lucid Air, you can see there is movement. It just won’t happen before we open.”
Looking further ahead, Flourou adds that the long term prospects are much more positive, with the Saudi Vision 2030 programme baking in diversification in the economy and the growth of sectors like tourism.
“Tourism is key but so is regeneration which Red Sea and (sister project) Amaala are working on. We’ve planted our flag into sustainability but now we need buy-in from all these OEMs and manufacturers to come into the market and be a part of it,” he comments, adding that mandating electric vehicles and other forms of mobility would be a positive step for the Kingdom to take.
“As a giga-project, we are testing these things for the whole country. It will be interesting to see how that works and how it can shift how the public think.”
It hit me hard the first time I had to drive around myself”WHERE ARE THE OEMS? During the recent Fleet and Mobility Summit, Anton Bawab repeated his call for OEMs to collaborate with RSG and use the mega-development as a staging zone to promote their technology to the Saudi market and develop mobility solutions for the region.
Jaguar Land Rover wants to train 29,000 people globally in the next three years on its connected and data capabilities, “and to support the rapid transition to electrification”.
The company’s Future Skills Programme will see more than 10,000 Jaguar Land Rover and franchised retailer employees in the UK, and nearly 19,000 across the rest of the world trained in skills vital to electrification, digital and autonomous cars.
“Our plans to electrify our product portfolio are running at pace, and we are rapidly scaling up our future skills training programme to ensure we have the right talent to deliver the world’s most desirable modern luxury electric vehicles,” said Barbara Bergmeier, industrial operations executive director, Jaguar Land Rover.
“Developing the skilled global workforces needed to design, build and maintain the vehicles of the future is foundational. I’m proud to say we are committing to help plug the electric and digital skills gap with a comprehensive, global training programme, which will power charge electrification both here in the UK and abroad.”
The Future Skills Programme will see all Jaguar and Land Rover modern luxury cars available in pure electric form by the end of the decade. Currently around 80% of nearly 1,300 franchised JLR retailers around the world offer EV servicing, so to tackle the skills gaps, it is ensuring the majority of servicing technicians will receive electrification training this year. As well as technicians, JLR plans to retrain thousands of highly skilled engineers and production employees, who previously worked on the development of ICE cars, to specialise in electrification, digital and autonomous cars.
Volta Trucks and Siemens Smart Infrastructure have agreed to partner to deliver comprehensive e-mobility charging infrastructure and software to the self-styled disruptive full-electric commercial vehicle manufacturer and services provider’s customers. The deal will simplify, de-risk, and accelerate fleet owner’s transition to commercial fleet electrification, said the company’s in a joint statement.
Volta Trucks is partly owned by Kuwaiti logistic player Agility and wants to fuse its Truck as a Service (TaaS) offer with Siemens’ global experience in electric vehicle support solutions.
Through the partnership fleets will be able to access software control systems, facility electrification, charging infrastructure, energy management, building equipment and project finance. The technical infrastructure of the
charging installations for Volta Trucks’ Truck as a Service (TaaS) customers would be overseen by Siemens to deliver a best-in-class solution, the firms explained.
This will include the hardware and software required to operate the charging and power distribution infrastructure for fleets of Volta Zeros, the world’s first purpose-built, full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle.
The Volta Zero has been designed from the groundup as a full electric vehicle. Its zero-tailpipe emission electric drivetrain is intended to make it attractive to operators within city centre environments.
According to Volta Trucks, customers could also achieve higher uptime with minimum expenditure, through Siemens’ performance management platform.
Emirates Auction and Emirates Parkings, which specialises in providing reservation yards management services were at the 42nd edition of GITEX Technology Week 2022 to showcase “their monumental projects and applications, highlighting latest technical accomplishments and the huge advancements they have achieved in their smart services and initiatives that are aimed at customer happiness.”
Emirates Auction highlighted its auctioning activities including automobiles, vehicle license plates, as well as real estate and properties, asset liquidation, VIP mobile numbers, jewellery, time-sensitive items, heavy machinery, plant and construction equipment.
Emirates Parkings meanwhile demonstrated its smart services at the World Trade Center event. The firm’s solution provides parking spaces fully
equipped with the latest smart software and systems to manage parking lots, as well as manned security operations and fully covered CCTV surveilled yards working round the clock.
Emirates Parkings exhibited alongside Dubai Police and it claims its solution provide the “utmost flexibility through creating a system that makes it easy for government agencies and clients to reserve vehicles”.
Omar Matar Al-Mannai, executive director of Emirates Auction and Emirates Parkings, stressed the two companies’ keenness to participate at GITEX Technology Week and that the participation in the Smart Dubai and Dubai Police pavilions spotlights the solid partnership between public and private sectors, which is a ‘major driver’ for upgrading services and sustaining social and economic development.
He added: “The two companies can benefit from developing their businesses with the highest standards of quality and transparency.”
AND THE COMPLICATED
Experts from OliverWyman discuss why dealing with car complexity has become its own difficult challenge
At what point does the sheer array of options and features simply overwhelm car buyers?
Consumers are of two minds on this question. First, they want the same levels of individualisation available on social media platforms and other digital venues, which rely on software-driven virtualisation to personalise offers — an avenue only partially available to automotive industry due to the lack of a standardised digital architecture. Second, many realise too much variety can make choosing difficult — and expensive.
Another concern among consumers adds a new layer of meaning to the complexity question: sustainability. Growing segments of buyers want to know the products they buy will be environmentally friendly or neutral — cutting complexity can appeal to these shoppers but doing so will require OEMs and suppliers to move toward sustainable and connected products.
Personalising cars to the requirements and taste of the individual owner has long been a driving force in the automotive industry. But that goal appears to have spiralled out of control. As a result, car complexity has reached the point where there are so many options to choose from that it’s gotten overwhelmingly cluttered — not just for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), suppliers, and dealers, but for buyers, too. Moreover, things are about to get even more cluttered: By 2025, the number of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) coexisting with legacy internal combustion engine (ICE) platforms will probably boost the number of variants per carmaker by 50-100% worldwide. This complexity affects not only end customers but also OEMs and suppliers, which must stock every possible option (or at least make them easily available).
All this costs money and resources. Currently, roughly 30-40% of all OEM employees deal with variants and associated complexity issues, and more will be needed soon. This limits capital available for company transformation, new technologies, and new business models. By pursuing strategies to crack the complexity code, automotive players could optimise the process, increase profits between €500 and €750 per car, improve their supply chain, and create a better customer experience. Nowhere is the complexity challenge more striking than in the contrast between Germany’s market and that of China. While automakers in China offer limited
choices, German consumers often order and specify their cars themselves. In return, German car buyers are willing to wait months to get exactly what they want in their vehicle. However, the individual preferences of so many car buyers severely taxes OEM supply chain and logistics systems, especially during periods of stress, such as trade wars or the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned in Germany can help OEMs in other markets find the optimum balance between beneficial complexity and the value it can generate, and too much of a good thing. To provide a comprehensive picture of the case for optimising complexity, this point-of-view examines the issue from the perspectives of the OEM, the supplier, and the consumer.
Automotive complexity is moving from the unmanageable to the unimaginable. Driven by customers’ expectations, new regulations and new technologies, the new complexity is broader and bigger than ever before as it builds on current sources of complexity while adding new ones. These include the transition away from internal combustion engine (ICE) technology to battery-electric or fuel-cell power, which is currently underway, and autonomous vehicles (AVs), which drives current advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) development to the next level. Other sources of complication include the emergence of car connectivity and over-the-air (OTA) software upgrades. Software, evolving and multiplying at exponential rates, has taken on new prominence in shaping the automotive industry, with OEMs struggling to manage an explosion of embedded code caused by the previous industry’s “add a feature, add a box” electronics strategy.
None of this complexity is taking place in a vacuum: Much of it serves a purpose, resulting in new automobile features and functions. But while it may make vehicles more attractive to consumers and compliant with regulatory requirements, OEMs need to keep it to an optimal, manageable level.
However, looking at other industries and their handling with complexity, it turns out that there are different approaches out there: Compared to the automotive industry, consumer electronics seem to need far fewer “hardware” configuration options and complexity than typical automotive OEMs, even in the premium market segments. Product individualisation, for them, is more effective via software, apps and data. Looking at one of the recent consumer electronics product launches with typical automotive products’ complexity and came to astonishing numbers – there are more than 10 billion ways to configure a premium car…. And
just 33 for a top-of-the-line smart phone.
Any attempt to optimise automaker complexity must start with the customer. Determining how much complexity an OEM can tolerate depends first on the answer to another question: How much complexity do your customers really need? Understanding how much customers are willing to pay for a feature or option determines the optimal level of complexity. This optimal point balances the benefits of complexity to the OEM and customers, against its disadvantages. For example, to an OEM, individualising products and services can lead to a competitive advantage: Customers enjoy greater choice, allowing them
to personalise and make their purchases unique.
On the downside, broader choice complicates OEM supply and logistics networks, making forecasting difficult, and niche features can trigger hidden costs and cannibalisation.
For customers, overcomplexity makes purchase decisions more difficult and results in confused and frustrated consumers. That’s why the customer buying experience should be as simple as possible: Too many OEMs rely on overly complicated online car configurators, with unnecessary rules that get in the way.
Our experience suggests the sooner in the product development process a company attacks complexity, the bigger the impact.
Things are still fluid early on in development: OEMs can still add or subtract features and functions easily. But this fluidity rapidly hardens in the later stages of the development process. Companies also need to distinguish external “visible” complexity from internal varieties.
External types are easy to spot, consisting of too many models, engines, transmissions, colors, wheels, and trim packages. Internal complexity comes in a more subtle form: across cars, series, models, markets, shared platforms, parts, and components. While the emphasis with external complexity consists of streamlining and consolidating, the internal challenge involves finding ways to do things better and cheaper.
To find the perfect balance, an OEM needs to explore customer analytics, using data to understand the sales history of customer segments and undertaking market research such as strategic choice analysis. They should seek out their dealers’ views and the opinions of experts inside the company. Companies should conduct breakeven analyses to determine which levels of product variety will deliver the most profit.
Reducing complexity yields benefits across an OEM’s entire value chain — from research and development (R&D) and procurement and production logistics, to quality and sales/aftersales.
Research & Development:
Companies can seek new synergies and reductions in nonrecurring R&D expenses by “recycling” current innovations: using shared platforms and establishing guidelines to reduce or avoid one-off development projects. While these processes are already in place at all OEMs,
the vast complexity hinders the efficient implementation.
Procurement: By streamlining and consolidating the number of suppliers and orders and taking steps to reduce inventories, tooling, and business investments, OEMs can optimise inventories, prices, and costs.
Production and logistics: Car manufacturers can introduce lean thinking to consolidate vehicle architectures, reduce variants, and cut logistics requirements. Quality: To boost quality, OEMs should focus
on reducing errors, downtime, rework, and scrap. They should also concentrate on minimising space requirements, and on cutting warranty cases, recalls, and the overall cost of quality.
Sales/aftersales: Companies should focus on delivering a clear, customer-oriented product and service offering. Such an offer should be comprehensive, balancing the need to provide for individuality and efficiency against the cannibalisation of high-demand product variants by less popular (and less profitable) offerings.
There’s a temptation on the part of company managers to attack complexity by hacking away indiscriminately to improve profitability, but doing so often does more harm than good. Without priorities and research, companies have little or no transparency regarding the extent to which such cuts affect customer purchase decisions. Instead, it’s best to model complexity costs and calculate the effects of reduction measures. A modular Streamlining Complexity model can be tailored to the OEM’s specific needs to gain a detailed, holistic, and granular view that includes the cost per variant, the value a feature adds, its savings over time, and all relevant cost elements, purchasing effects, and economies of scale.
One automaker used the model to make an early decision to discontinue a powertrain variant that saved the company roughly €14 million in complexity costs over the lifetime of the vehicle. The company’s savings would have been even larger had it discontinued the powertrain entirely rather than only on one car line — a step it is currently considering. In another case, an OEM used the model to optimise the build complexity of an entry-level vehicle and reduced costs by approximately €20 million over the product lifecycle. In this case, the savings came from across the value chain.
A proven way to reduce complexity involves evaluating relevant information on an endto-end basis and including both a customer and a cost perspective. To understand the likely customer response to removing a car option, complexity
Automotive complexity is moving from the unman ageable to the unim aginable”
reduction teams model the percentages of customers the OEM could “upsell” to a better equipped vehicle, those that would simply do without the option but stay with the same vehicle, and the ones that would abandon the brand and seek a competitor product. The team then overlays these findings with cost data from individual departments along the value chain to determine the change’s total cost impact over the lifecycle of the vehicle.
While efforts to reduce complexity outright — cutting assembly lines, products, features, or equipment — have the biggest impact, other approaches, such as harmonising standardisation, bundling options, and modifying build rules also generate results. Harmonising standards across markets, models, and country variants can play a role. Bundling options and making more features standard equipment can simplify build schedules and make customer choices less confusing. And modifying rules of option combinations can help the customer experience, as much as it can avoid internal complexity.
Automakers can rely on smart tools to aid decision-making and provide recommendations for customers. These tools range from smart, personalised recommendation systems to automated tool support for configuring stock vehicles. Other aids include forecasting techniques enhanced via artificial intelligence, big data, and advanced analytics, which can ensure that each vehicle configured and built finds an owner ready and willing to buy it.
Software can provide new functions and features “virtually” by activating them via over-the-air (OtA) upgrades. In fact, the emergence of software as the key differentiator will both aid the automotive industry in its push toward individualisation and confound it, as embedded lines of code multiply to unwieldly levels of complexity. In response, the automotive industry is on the cusp of embracing a new electronic architecture: moving from the current architecture where many features have their own digital control unit and software, to a centralised electronics architecture like those used in aviation and aerospace. This approach requires greater central computing power but can dramatically reduce software and electronic hardware proliferation.
A sign of the need for a new architecture is apparent in one of the more annoying electronics/electric challenges OEMs face: managing the wiring harness, which continues to grow dramatically as it connects the
many feature-specific control units scattered throughout the vehicle. Beyond the vehicle itself, software can also play a role in guiding shoppers, using AI to suggest enhancements in configuring cars and providing a more intuitive and valuable interaction.
Suppliers face a delicate balancing act when it comes to complexity. They can benefit financially from the OEM desire to offer more to every customer, but the operational pain of satisfying those desires can hurt both their credibility with automakers and the bottom line. Tier-1 suppliers often serve as auxiliary innovation engines for their OEMs, developing new features and concepts that
enable automakers to differentiate their products. Such innovations expand suppliers’ margins, as the advances earn price premiums and only later become commoditised.
But innovation, unless managed, carries a complexity cost. OEMs increasingly expect their supply base to bring forward attractive, customer-preferred innovations, but to do so requires that suppliers understand the end customer as well as, if not better than the automakers themselves. That costs money, and since not all innovations will be of interest to their OEM customers, these efforts can clutter a supplier’s portfolio of offerings without creating value. Given their need to understand the end customer, suppliers require transparency into the end customer’s desire for differentiated product offerings and what they are willing to pay for them. At the same time, incumbent suppliers must streamline their internal processes across their own value chains, pushing for leaner processes and cleaner organisational structures. They also need to keep an eye on all the new players circling the industry, from start-ups to tech giants, each trying to outcompete and out-innovate them to gain a place at the OEM’s table. Companies need to create a sustainable culture that seeks out and eliminates destructive levels of complexity, rather than dealing with it as a one-off effort. We expect OEMs to reduce their overall complexity by 30-50% by 2030. And if they go about it intelligently, few consumers will notice the difference — thus freeing up
the resources necessary for tackling the fundamental industry transformation that lies ahead.
Any attempt to optimise automaker complexity must start with the customer”The industry will never return to the days of one-size-fits-all utility, which means dealing with complexity will remain a fact of life. However, maintaining a consistent balance between necessary complexity and profitable growth can enable OEMs and suppliers to compete in the rapidly changing market. MARCHING IN STEP Operationally, suppliers march in lockstep with their OEM customers, gearing up to provide the features and options demanded in the quantities specified. If the OEM guesses wrong in its forecasts, the supplier either needs to throttle back production or speed it up dramatically. Today’s increasing levels of complexity can complicate this process and the supplier’s relationship with the carmaker.
For over nine decades, Fuso trucks and buses have been the go-to workhorses and passenger transporters for fleets needing leading edge vehicles that deliver on reliability and value. With the last mile and logistics sectors thriving in the Saudi market, the brand is tipped to accelerate its fleet presence under the careful stewardship of Juffali Commercial Vehicles (JCV), the sole agent and distributor of Mercedes Trucks & Buses, and, since 2018, the national distributor for FUSO Trucks and Buses across the Kingdom.
In association with Daimler Truck, JCV provides its customers with unparalleled quality Mercedes-Benz and FUSO products, with reliable service and support wherever it is needed through it’s network of 900 employees – a real asset for fleets often operating in the remotest areas of the Kingdom.
Having built its reputation in the Saudi market through its trusted quality, economic efficiency, solid and functional
design, CEO Heiko Schulze tells T&FME that marrying the FUSO brand to JCV’s market-leading services makes vehicles like the Fuso FA, Rosa bus and the all-conquering Canter compelling options for many fleet requirements.
“FUSO is the leading Japanese brand across many markets, known for its track record of technological innovations and high customer satisfaction based on the lowest total cost of ownership,” he adds. FUSO products offer ultimate reliability and durability, translating into payload and uptime for our customers.”
Since the acquisition of Mitsubishi Fuso by Daimler Truck in 2011, the brand has impressively bolstered its position globally, particularly in the light-duty truck segment, where it maintains a reputation for best-in-class lifetime cost advantages, benchmarkable fuel efficiency and sustainability: The Canter, for example, is the world’s most fuel-efficient vehicle in its class, as proven by independent
fuel efficiency tests and product ratings.
Behind the scenes, vehicle designers and technical teams are encouraged to follow a duty of care that considers not only the initial purchase price but also cost and profit to drivers; such as the ease of repair and maintenance, residual values, tax and insurance advantages, maintenance cycles, and fuel efficiency.
To ensure vehicles keep delivering profits, FUSO applies the Commercial Vehicle Development System (CVDS) and its clearly defined quality gates from project launch to production, maintain high standards for the vehicles rolling off the product line. In addition, expertise from around the world is exchanged and implemented to ensure customers benefit from the most advanced designs and materials.
Fuso has also embraced Daimler’s Truck Operating System (TOS) which adopts manufacturing methods from the best plants in the world and serves as a benchmark
Heiko Schulze, CEO of Juffali Commercial Vehicles (JCV), talks about the success of the Fuso brand in the Saudi market
Fuso is passionate about working vehicles and designing them with customers’ daily comfort, utility value, and ease of use”
to ensure the highest performance and continuous improvement in meeting our objectives in terms of safety, quality, cost, delivery, environment, and employee morale.
FUSO plants consistently rank as one of the leanest in global benchmarks, notes Schulze, adding that FUSO vehicles can provide the highest satisfaction of ownership and usability for fleets in the Saudi market: “Fuso is passionate about working vehicles and designing them with customers’ daily comfort, utility value, and ease of use.”
It has also proven to be a pioneer through world firsts, such as the first pneumatic shift transmission, shockreducing DUONIC dual-clutch transmission, and onboard multiinformation display. According to Schulze, FUSO has always provided its customers with the latest technology to improve their usability with customer voices often reflected in the vehicle designs, such as the lowered fuel cap for its city buses to enable staff of any height to refuel the vehicle safely and efficiently.
The FUSO Canter also pioneered an in-panel shifter because some applications needed to exit the cab from both sides and medium-duty trucks are available with two headlight configurations to meet the varying needs of construction and city applications. Furthermore, there are countless ways to customise vehicles using genuine accessories and colour schemes to ensure trucks match corporate branding.
UItimately, it is on the road and uptime where the value of Fuso will count for owners, and Schulze explains that all genuine parts are tested to manufacturer specifications and are provided by the original supplier to ensure they work exactly as they should.
“Our service concept ensures a consistently high-quality experience. In addition, we continually train and test our service staff in the FUSO and mechanics to provide our customers with
the best service,” Schulze comments. “In addition, our comprehensive warranty programmes and maintenance lease offerings further prove that we believe in our vehicles’ long and reliable application.
In Juffali Commercial Vehicles (JCV), customer care is a FUSO hallmark in Saudi Arabia. With a global network of excellent distributors and service partners, FUSO customers can rest assured that their vehicles can always be maintained in perfect working, profit-generating condition.”
FUSO is the leading Japanese brand across many markets”
Collaboration is key and vision is essential,” explained AVIS UAE in a statement last month while announcing its deal to partner with UAE micromobility and electric vehicle firm ONE MOTO.
AVIS UAE is a leader in fleet leasing solutions and is committing to meeting the demand of any customer wanting a fleet of electric delivery vehicles, which is expected to exceed 25,000 vehicles within the next 12 months. Choosing to partner with ONE MOTO Technologies as their strategic e-bike vehicle provider will allow the country to benefit from leasing an all-electric delivery fleet.
“We recognised the need from our customers and we acted on it. We see e-mobilisation an important path in our immediate and future strategy and we are happy to be able to finally begin the journey”.
Getting to this milestone of an agreement has taken a year of discussions and validation, however, one thing has remained consistent throughout “the want to make it happen”, the vision from the management at AVIS was critical, and having the electric vehicle fleet meeting the global excellence expected has
been a great journey of relationship building.
Fleet Managers, 3PL, F&B Operators, and Aggregators are able to lease an electric delivery fleet – a first-of-its-kind initiative, and a game changer. A sustainable delivery eco-system in the UAE is a significant step toward a greener future, and AVIS has pioneered the way.
Dominic Hagerty continues… “we are actively promoting the e-bike philosophy to our customers and demonstrating the cost of ownership / corporate sustainability benefits it brings. The reception is only positive and we expect this segment of our service offering to go from strength to strength.”
“We work very closely with our customers and endeavor to bring change to the economy, yet changes need to be implemented from the private sector aggregators to stop looking at cost-saving but turn their attention to increasing rider welfare, customer values, ESG initiatives all having a positive impact on bottom line profits.
“The RTA are championing change by committing policy changes early this year to the riders welfare and limitations on a delivery radius which is welcomed by many, yet the increased
delivery volume pressure from riders causes a devastating reality of accidents and chronic fatigue, and other health issues. The trigger will be the delivery/fleet operators committing to a green agenda, it’s a want but not yet a need.”
Over the past 12 months, many delivery aggregators and logistics operators have had a CapEx vs. OpEx consideration when realising their new fleet and their own green agendas, many want to switch, yet didn’t have the need and cost was always the over-arching sentiment, so we’ve partnered with AVIS UAE to offer a solution to satisfy any previous objections and offering an affordable, data-driven electric fleet,” Stephen Wood, COO, ONE MOTO commented.
“AVIS is doubling down on its EV and green agenda and is looking to increase its sustainable vehicle offering and support the government’s COP28 campaign, by helping demonstrate the UAE acts whilst others talk. A similar narrative can be said for the way the country was built; upon opportunity and vision. Combining the two with technology and a need to bring change will ensure positives for the environment, the industry, and the welfare of the delivery riders and drivers.
ONE MOTO and AVIS unite to drive “positive reformation of the combustible engine industry within our society”C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
