Fleet Europe °104

104 02/2019

FOR INTERNATIONAL FLEET & MOBILITY LEADERS

MOBILITY

SAFETY

The emergence of e-scooter sharing

SIMON DRANSFIELD

The benefits of Virtual Assistants

INNOVATION Breakthrough technologies for your fleet

Nexus communication - Fleet Europe #104 - Periodic magazine - FEBRUARY 2019 - Deposit Office X

Enters International Fleet Hall of Fame

Choosing the right

NEW ENERGY ELECTRIFICATION VERSUS COMBUSTION: PROS AND CONS IDENTIFYING THE COST OF FLEET ELECTRIFICATION HOW TO RIGHT-CHARGE YOUR FLEET

CONNECTED FLEETS CONFERENCE

BRUSSELS 15 & 16 MAY 2019 www.conference-fleeteurope.com/connectedfleets

WE PROVIDE YOU SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS WE HELP YOU HANDLE THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF YOUR FLEET THROUGH OU R ALTERNATIVE POWERTR AIN OFFER. ALDAUTOMOTIVE.COM

CONNECTED FLEETS CON FE RE N CE 2019

Understanding, buying and implementing technology for your fleet Learn through expert speakers, get inspired via best practices, innovate via new tech solutions, and share through networking.

What you will learn : • How telematics and connectivity bring added value for your fleet • Insights in the building blocks of a Connected Fleets programme • Understanding the ROI and determining the TCO of a Connected Fleet • How telematics can be used as an enabler for electrification and shared mobility • Best practices from your peers and workshops: - Enabling Mobility Management - Improving Safety Management - Growing your Bottom Line

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FLEET EUROPE #104

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CHOOSING THE RIGHT NEW ENERGY

12

6-39 6

The end of the road is electric

8

The early stages of an uneven powertrain revolution

How to drive green when driving electric

10 EV: further, but not faster

18

14 Charge wisely, beat range anxiety

Telematics, an EV’s best friend

16 “Buying an EV is a gamble” 19 You are not on your own to go green 20 Electric becomes a viable option 20 Elli, the new e-daughter of Volkswagen 22 Diesel euphoria: NOx under control

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24 WLTP, the saviour of diesel

Why Coca-Cola embraces EVs, Marc Devos, Coca-Cola

26 Legislation: banning ‘dirty’ Diesel and ICE vehicles 28 Hybrid: different degrees of buzz 30 Hybrid, a long-term transitional compromise 34 Picking the right gas for your fleet

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36 Hydrogen: in search of an economy

“Find your passion and follow it” Simon Dransfield, Jaguar Land Rover

COLOPHON SALES: David Baudeweyns, Saskia Lannau, Elke Leën, Daniel Savigny, Aline Verpoorten

FLEET EUROPE #104

CHIEF EDITOR: Steven Schoefs PROJECT COORDINATOR: Céline Gilson EDITORS: Benjamin Uyttebroeck, Dieter Quartier, Fien Van den Steen, Yves Helven, Frank Jacobs

EXPERT: Erwin Boumans, BDO

CONTRIBUTORS: Stijn Blanckaert, Tim Harrup, Jonathan Manning, Mark Sutcliffe

PUBLISHERS: Caroline Thonnon, Thierry Degives

MARKETING: Vincent Degives, Virginie Emonts, Benoit Delisse PICTURES: ©Shutterstock

TO CONTACT OUR TEAM: FirstletterfirstnameLastname@nexuscommunication.be 4

LAYOUT: Cible - www.cible.be

THE ECOSYSTEM FINANCIAL MODEL LCV Leasing finally allowed in Turkey

MAAS

43 Looking for the Smartest Fleet

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SoMo, adding the social side to MaaS

SAFETY 46

Meet your new Virtual Assistant

AUTONOMOUS Unlocking the obstacles for Autonomous Mobility

We also focus on these channels on our website.

Read all these selected articles here:

44 The emergence of scooter-sharing

48 How car audio can impact RVs

50 Mobility meets logistics: the last mile problem

FLEET EUROPE www.fleeteurope.com • Fleet Europe Magazine • @Fleet_Europe • FleetEurope • contact@nexuscommunication.be Fleet Europe is published by Nexus Communication SA - Parc Artisanal 11-13, B-4671 Barchon (Belgium) - T +32 4 387 87 71 - Fax +32 4 387 90 63 Fleet Europe is registered and copyrighted trademark. Reproduction rights (texts, advertisements, pictures) reserved for all countries. Received documents will not be returned. By submitting them, the author implicitly authorizes their publication.

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FLEET EUROPE #104

ADVERTISERS

NEW ENERGIES

THE END OF THE ROAD IS ELECTRIC @DieterQuartier

2019 sees a multitude of new electrified models popping out of the pipeline. Some OEMs still believe in diesel, others promote CNG. Which energy should you choose?

FLEET EUROPE #104

Fleet managers, leasing companies and OEMs have a tough time deciding which direction to take regarding fuel type. Diesel is cleaning up its act, as demonstrated by recent ADAC realworld test results. The latest BMW 520d touring, for instance, performed superbly in terms of nitrogen oxide emissions, with a reading of less than 16mg/km in urban driving and under 10mg/km in rural driving and on the motorway – far below the current 80mg/km threshold.

Diesel still has a future, it seems – bot not in the long run. The 2030 EU climate targets mean we need to reduce our CO2 emissions drastically, i.e. by 40%. That leaves the automotive industry with little choice. “I believe EVs will take over in the next decade, even though car manufacturers and their suppliers will try and hold on to their combustion engines as long as possible,” highlights Joeri Van Mierlo, Professor at VUB University in Brussels and Director of Mobi research centre.

CNG or H2, anyone?

OEMs could extend the life of the ICE by turning to natural gas, which improves the local air quality in terms of particulate matter and NOx while creating less CO2 than petrol and diesel. “Still, during transport, methane – the main component of CNG and an important greenhouse gas - escapes into the air.

All things considered, CNG brings little relief,” Professor Van Mierlo reckons.

But surely the hydrogen-based fuel cell is a viable alternative? “A few years ago, hydrogen seemed to offer a solution for problems associated with EVs. Battery technology has evolved, though: the latest EVs can travel 400km on a single charge. Moreover, prices of batteries have come down by 80% since 2010. According to Bloomberg, by 2024, EVs should become cheaper to buy than ICE cars.”

Will all roads eventually lead to ‘e’?

Not everyone is convinced, but ‘e’ will definitely play an ever-greater role in

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our mobility. 2019 is a perfect year to start embracing the e-volution, if you haven’t already done so.

EVs will be cheaper than ICE cars by 2024.

ENERGY OF THE FUTURE • EU target: -40% of CO2 by 2030 compared to the 1990 levels • CNG is better than diesel or petrol in terms of local emissions • Hydrogen has an uncertain future – at least in cars • EVs are expected to become cheaper than ICE vehicles in 2024

NEW ENERGIES

THE EARLY STAGES OF AN UNEVEN POWERTRAIN REVOLUTION Benjamin Uyttebroeck

@uytteb

Europe is at the early stages of a powertrain revolution. But how widespread are battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids already? Even in the top 5 countries, EV penetration remains in the single digits.

Numbers can be deceptive. When looking at the total number of electric vehicles sold, for instance, you could be forgiven for thinking that a large share of new cars sold in China are EVs, as 50% of global EV sales are done in China. Nevertheless, only 2.2% of new cars sold in China are EVs, a sign of the enormous scale of the country’s car market as a whole and consequently of the number of EVs on that market.

Across the globe

FLEET EUROPE #104

In its report E-Mobility Sales Review, PricewaterhouseCoopers states the number of new registrations in China, the USA and the five most important European markets totalled more than 1.7 million from September 2017 to September 2018, representing a growth rate of 48.2%. Fully electric vehicles in particular were in demand, as new registrations rose by 77%. As important vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 have improved their availability, the USA appears ready to take on China in terms of EV popularity.

Demand in Germany is still lagging behind, said Christoph Stürmer, Global Lead Analyst at PwC Autofacts: “Manufacturers in Germany are not yet able to meet the high demand for electric vehicles quickly enough. The growth in registrations is therefore clearly lagging behind the possibilities – however, available government purchase premiums are still not being exhausted.”

Growing gap In Europe, penetration of alternative powertrains is growing, but the pace is slow and uneven. According to

The more an EV market matures, the less frequently public charging stations are used. numbers provided by data intelligence specialist Dataforce, the top 5 countries have a 5.5% share of alternative fuel types in their True Fleet, a number that is growing at a faster pace than in the middle 9 and especially the bottom 5. Benjamin Kibies, Senior Automotive Analyst, Dataforce said: “We now have a gap between markets where alternative fuel types in the model range are pivotal for success in the True Fleet market while in other markets, they have very little importance for daily business.”

How many chargers The European Commission set a norm of 1 public charging point for every 10 EVs on the road. The situation today is markedly better, with 1 charging point for every 5 EVs, a number that is more telling of the low market penetration of EVs than of the high number of public charging stations.

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Nevertheless, LeasePlan’s EV Readiness Index concludes that the more an EV market matures, as is the case in Norway, the less frequently public charging stations are used (read our full article on the EV Readiness Index on page 20). Fast chargers along motorways, on the other hand, do play an important role. So there does not appear to be a sustainable correlation between the number of charging points and the number of EVs beyond the very early stages of electrification.

Revolution The market share of electric cars may be growing across Europe, it is yet to reach a meaningful number on most markets except for Norway. This requires efforts on many fronts, from carmakers and public authorities to fleet owners.

FINLAND

NORWAY SWEDEN

GROWING GAP IN TRUE FLEET: ALTERNATIVE FUEL TYPE SHARE BY COUNTRY GROUPS

2017 Top 5 Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, The Netherlands Middle 9 Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania, UK, Denmark, Austria, Latvia, France

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

DANEMARK

2018

7.1% 5.5% (+1.6%)

UK

POLAND

THE NETHERLANDS GERMANY

BELGIUM

CEZCH REPUBLIC LUXEMBURG

3.3% 2.3% (+0.9%)

SLOVAKIA

AUSTRIA FRANCE

SWITZERLAND

ITALY

Bottom 5 Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland

1.7% 1.5% (+0.2%)

SPAIN

Source: Dataforce

2018

EV SHARE OF NEW CAR SALES IN 2017 (BEV + PHEV) Even though 50% of global EV sales are in China, only 2.2% of new cars sold in China are EVs.

Norway

14.1%

Netherlands

8.2%

Austria

2.9%

Norway

39.2%

Sweden

2.7% 2.3%

Iceland

11.7%

Switzerland

Sweden

6.3%

Netherlands

2.7%

Finland

2.6%

2018

China

2.2%

Norway

24.3%

France

1.7%

Sweden

11.5%

1.7%

Finland

7.7%

UK

Spain

6.2%

UK

5.7%

2017

Source: Dataforce

TOP 5 HYBRID TRUE FLEET MARKETS 2018

Source: PwC, Global EV Outlook 2018

Source: Dataforce

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EU Commission:

10 EVs = 1 Reality:

5 EVs = 1

TEX GUNNING: IT’S ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE! Tex Gunning, CEO, LeasePlan, gives his view on electric vehicles in a short video interview. The time to move to electric is now, and it’s about climate change!

FLEET EUROPE #104

TOP 5 BATTERY ELECTRIC TRUE FLEET MARKETS 2018

NEW ENERGIES

FURTHER, BUT NOT FASTER @DieterQuartier

The latest electric cars offer 400km of real-life range.

The number of kWh has evolved considerably, but the EV’s AC charging systems have a hard time to keep up, resulting in ever longer e-mmobility at the socket.

Car manufacturers Electric vehicles face an impossible paradox. The more range they offer, the heavier and bulkier their batteries are, which compromises their efficiency and hence range. Moreover, more kWh equals more euros and less potential buyers. Finally, the bigger the battery pack, the longer you have to plug it in for a refill.

That is why Hyundai, when it launched the Ioniq Electric in 2016, limited the battery size to a modest 28kWh while focusing on an ultra-efficient electric motor to maximize the range. Not a bad idea, but research shows that 200km in real life just doesn’t cut it to convince the masses that going electric is not a synonym for stressing out about finding a charging station in time.

Further, not faster

FLEET EUROPE #104

As electrified vehicles proliferate, the battery price is coming down considerably. That has enabled OEMs to add quite some kWh without inflating the sales price. BMW, for instance, has already upgraded the i3’s battery twice, from 22kWh at launch (in 2011) to 33kWh in 2016 and to 42kWh this year.

Between one generation and the other, the Nissan Leaf increased its battery pack by 67% (from 24 to 40kWh). At CES 2019, the Japanese manufacturer announced the arrival of a 62-kWh Leaf e+ model offering 385 km of WLTP kilometres.

The advent of the Hyundai Kona EV and the Kia e-Niro will certainly have accelerated the battery upgrade of the

aforementioned models. With 64kWh in their belly, these compact Korean crossovers can travel nearly 450km on a single charge if you believe in WLTP. Unfortunately, as battery capacity has increased considerably since 2015, so has the charging time – at least as far as AC charging is concerned. Indeed, the vehicle’s charging technology has yet to catch up with the capacity evolution of their batteries.

Depending on the voltage and the amperes available, as well as the type of AC – single phase or three-phase – you can top up the battery at speeds between 3.7 and 22kW. Theoretically, you could fully charge a nearly empty Hyundai Kona EV at a 22-kW AC charging point in about 4 hours. However, the on-board charger, that converts AC from the grid to DC for the battery, causes a bottleneck – it is limited to 7,2kW. Result: more than 10 hours of e-mmobility.

Same story at Mercedes and Jaguar: the EQC and the I-Pace can only manage 7.4kW of AC, meaning that topping them up from empty easily takes 12 hours. By way of comparison: the latest Audi e-tron and all Tesla models can do it at 11 kW, which is nearly 50% faster.

DC: from hours to minutes If there is one conclusion to be made, it is that EV drivers best not suffer from procrastination behaviour.

Plugging the car in at every single occasion is a must. Unless you have access to a DC charger.

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Indeed, DC fast charging means you can bypass the on-board charger and pump electricity directly into the battery, so to speak. Most DC fast chargers today work at 50kW. The next generation already offers 150kW, reducing the charging time for a 60kWh battery to about half an hour.

Two issues remain: there are not that many DC fast chargers around, and the DC charging capacity of today’s EVs is generally limited to 80 or 100kW. But that is about to change. The number of DC fast chargers will expand rapidly with initiatives like Ionity. Also, under the FastCharge research project, BMW, Siemens, Allego, Phoenix-Contact and Porsche are working together on the development of ultra-high-speed DC chargers with a capacity of up to 450kW. Last December, electrically powered research vehicles created as part of the project were able to demonstrate charging times of less than three minutes for the first 100 kilometres of range and 15 minutes to go from 10-80% State of Charge.

As batter capacity has increased, so has the charging time.

NEW EVS IN THE SHOWROOM THIS YEAR

AUDI E-TRON

DS 3 E-TENSE

MERCEDES EQC

• Battery capacity: 95kWh

• Battery capacity: 50kWh

• Battery capacity: 80kWh

• WLTP energy consumption: 22.5kWh/100 km

• WLTP energy consumption: unknown

• WLTP energy consumption: 22.2kWh/100km

• WLTP range: >400km

• WLTP range: 325km

• WLTP range: <400km (tbc)

• On-board charger: 11kW AC (0-100% in 9 hours)

• On-board charger: 11kW AC (0-100% in 5.5 hours)

• On-board charger: 7.4kW AC (0-100% in 12.5 hours)

• DC fast charging capacity: 150kW (10-80% in 30 minutes)

• DC fast charging capacity: 100kW (10-80% in 30 minutes)

• DC fast charging capacity: 110kW (10-80% in 40 minutes)

Looking at the e-tron’s battery specs, Audi has clearly taken Tesla as a benchmark. Its heavy weight (2.5t) translates into a high energy consumption and not exceptional range, though.

DS has the honour of leading the way in PSA’s comprehensive electrification story. For its DS 3 E-Tense, it strikes a good balance between capacity, range and price.

This GLC-based first ever fullyelectric Mercedes is set to become a fleet success. Like the Audi e-tron, it is not a featherweight and therefore quite hungry for electrons.

• Battery capacity: 62kWh • WLTP energy consumption: unknown • WLTP range: 385km (tbc) • On-board charger: 6.6kW AC (0-100% in 10.75 hours) • DC fast charging capacity: 100kW (10-80% in approx. 30 minutes) Europe’s best-selling EV will be available as a 62kWh model offering over 100km of extra range and the capability to charge at 100kW when linked to a DC fast charger.

TESLA MODEL 3 LONG RANGE DUAL MOTOR • Battery capacity: 80kWh • WLTP energy consumption: unknown • WLTP range: 544km • On-board charger: 11kW AC (0-100% in 5.5 hours) • DC fast charging capacity: 120kW (10-80% in 40 minutes) The Model 3 is finally available in Europe, but not in entry-level trim.

The ‘Long Range Dual Motor’s WLTP range of 544km is impressive.

The 55kWh model should manage 350km.

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150kW,

reducing the charging time for a

60kWh

battery to about

half an hour

FLEET EUROPE #104

NISSAN LEAF E+

The next fast chargers already offer

NEW ENERGIES

HOW TO DRIVE GREEN WHEN DRIVING ELECTRIC Fien Van den Steen

To meet emission targets, many cities and countries are promoting EVs over ICEs. As a company you can join the ‘green’ mile, but only if you take a few tips & tricks into account.

1 How far do you want to go?

Range anxiety prevents many people from making the shift from an ICE to an EV and the battery is the element to blame (cf. boxout), but extending range has a huge downside. Lithium-ion is still the dominant battery technology. These batteries contain critical raw materials which are often mined with a negative impact on people and planet, as is the case in the human right violations in copper mines in the DR Congo.

Considering an EV with a lower range, and hence with lower raw materials, can decrease the negative impact considerably. Or you can opt for a brand that signed up with sustainable supply chain initiatives such as the Global Battery Alliance who claim to reduce the social and environmental impact of the entire battery supply chain.

FLEET EUROPE #104

RANGE ANXIETY Range anxiety is an often-heard counter argument for the wide deployment of EVs, however it should actually be the anxiety of range anxiety. Whereas drivers tend to be afraid of a car with a ‘limited’ range of 160km or 100 miles, the average driver actually drives no more than 50 miles (80km) a day, according to various studies.

2 Green smoke

Once you decide to replace your fleet of ICEs by EVs, you have to make sure you do not simply move the problem. Although EVs use energy more efficiently than ICEs and the impact of electricity production outside of the city centre is less harmful than burning fossil fuels in the immediate breathing area, the energy source still matters.

The energy matrix varies from country to country, but in most countries you can choose your electricity provider and go for a greener one. This might even turn out to be cheaper as they are not subject to international oil price fluctuation.

If you want to save both the planet and your budget, you can also opt for your own renewable energy system or sign up to a local renewable energy cooperative.

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Responsible charging

So now your fleet consists of EVs and the energy source is green, you are ready to charge the cars and get behind the wheel! In order to go the extra (green) mile, there are some tips and tricks regarding responsible charging as well. If performed well, they do not only have environmental but also financial benefits.

First of all, choose the charging times wisely. If you are charging from the

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grid, be aware of the peak hours, which are often mentioned on the electricity bill. If the majority of your fleet stays at the office during the day, you could even opt for not charging them all at the same time. No worries, you don’t have to stand aside the car to monitor, smart charging infrastructure will do the job for you.

Renewable energy is often blamed for its intermittency, but if the EVs are charged during peak production hours, the charged battery can serve as an energy storage unit and used when the renewable energy production goes down.

4 Responsible driving

Now the EV is charged with green energy, it is time to hit the road. Here as well, there are some tricks to take green to the next level. Drive when you have to, not when you can, is the first,

Getting EVs is one thing, making sure they are charged with green energy is another.

Additionally, a real sustainable EV is a shared one. There are various ways to share the corporate EVs, from carpooling, commuting together to work, to car sharing. Dedicated companies such as Ridecell elaborate tailor-made corporate solutions.

Sharing will not only decrease traffic congestion and the need for raw materials since fewer cars mean fewer batteries, but it will also decrease the total cost of the fleet and even the need for parking spaces.

5 After life

You took a wise decision, you went electric, even charged up with green energy and maybe with additional measures to increase the sustainability even more (and decrease the operational costs), but after a while it is time to let go.

Let the last mile of the EV not be its last purpose, especially considering the severe impact of its battery on the environment and humans in the mined areas of cobalt, nickel and lithium.

Some OEMs, such as BMW, design EV batteries with the specific purpose to serve a second life as home energy storage units. Taking that into account when selecting the EVs in the first place might be a wise and sustainable consideration in the long-term.

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SIZE DOES MATTER A bigger battery and a longer range seem great, but they increase the environmental impact, by increasing the weight and hence consumed energy and by demanding more raw materials for the battery. If not picked wisely, an EV with a large battery can produce even more carbon emissions than an ICE.

FLEET EUROPE #104

as emissions are not the only problem of driving a car, but traffic congestion is one as well. Further on, watching your driving behaviour can have a significant impact on used energy and therefore, decrease energy consumption and increase the range.

NEW ENERGIES

CHARGE WISELY, BEAT RANGE ANXIETY Fien Van den Steen

EV adoption and EV charging infrastructure are often seen as a chicken and egg dilemma, but that might no longer be the case.

Insufficient charging points are often seen as the main barrier for wide EV deployment. Last year, Transport & Environment (T&E) concluded that the European charging point infrastructure is sufficient to support the early EV market. At the moment there is about 1 charging point for every 5 EVs on the European roads. Additional investment is expected, bringing the total number of charging points to 220,000 by 2020, at a ratio of one charging point for every ten cars. According to EVBox, by the end of 2017, there were about 120,000 charging points located in Europe, compared to 44,000 in the USA.

FLEET EUROPE #104

Regardless of regional differences, T&E has faith in the future development. Northern and Western European countries have a wider charging point network and higher EV sales, whereas in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, the deployment of chargers has been much more limited, as were EV sales.

However, a study of ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association) claims that the number of charging points in the European Union should increase at least 20 times to 2 million by 2025. In particular because they analysed that 76% of all charging points are installed in just four countries, led by the Netherlands, followed

by Germany, France and the UK.

Chargers without borders The cross-European deployment of charging points will not solve the problem entirely, what is really needed is

Qualcomm’s Dynamic Electric Vehicle Charging can recharge a car that drives over a dedicated track.

a pan-European network where EV drivers can charge their EV at any available charger.

At the moment there is a European pilot project running in Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands to create such a network. The pilot should identify local obstacles concerning EV roaming, remove them and allow EV drivers to charge their vehicle in other countries, including correct invoicing and access to related services. The project evRoaming4EU was launched in 2018 by various EV-minded companies in the four countries, but eventually it wants to “allow any EV driver to charge at any charging station in the EU.” In the meantime, other market players already created cross-border EV charge point networks, such as

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NewMotion, which is the largest in Europe. EV drivers can gain access to more than 80,000 public charge points in various European countries by signing up in NewMotion’s application and/ or by using its charge card.

Charging stations end 2017:

44,000 in USA,

120,000 in Europe

Charging without plugging: BMW wireless charging system.

charging stations in Europe Chargepoint and EVBox have even launched a partnership to offer roaming services between their networks in Europe and North America, as from the beginning of 2019. Together they will have over 100,000 charge points.

Charging without plugging Still, some companies are taking the entire charging point discussion to another level. Ionity, for instance, aims to build a pan-European high-power-charging network. The joint venture, founded by the BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company, and the Volkswagen Group, opened its first fast-charging station in April 2018 in Germany and aims to have a pan-European network of 400 fast charging stations.

Qualcomm has been working on its Halo system since 2012, and various OEMs are working on their wireless charging system as well. Both BMW and Mercedes announced last year the start of commercial production for charging pads for certain models and Hyundai Motor Company and Kia announced a wireless charging system at the beginning of January 2019.

Lifting this technology to the next level would be the possibility to drive over an induction-charged road without having to park and wait. Qualcomm has already demonstrated Dynamic Electric Vehicle Charging (DEVC) on a pilot test track of 100 meters. Cars would be able to drive over the road without having to use the energy of their own battery, which they could save for the roads without inductive charging technology.

Eventually, the future of EV charging might become wireless and fully automated, providing the perfect ground for autonomous vehicles.

Leaving the entire idea of charging points behind is the idea of wireless EV charging, where a car can be charged by being parked near a charging pad instead of being plugged-in.

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76%

of charging stations in Europe are in

CHARGING PADS Charging pads seem to become the charging solution of tomorrow and several concrete examples are already on the market, waiting for the eventual disruption. Thanks to the system of induction, cars no longer have to be plugged in, but can be parked in a certain position close to the charging pad.

The US company Plugless made the wireless car charging system already commercially available for the Tesla Model S, BMW i3, Nissan Leaf and first-generation Chevrolet Volt, for $1,260 to $3,000.

The Halo system of Qualcomm is in use by the Formula E electric race series to charge the BMWi3 medical cars and i8 safety car. No plugging in means no time wasted, which is perfect when it comes to racing.

FLEET EUROPE #104

2020 220,000 By

The wireless car charging system is already commercially available for certain models (cf. box-out).

NEW ENERGIES

“BUYING AN EV IS A GAMBLE” @Frank_J_Jacobs

When it comes to financing, just how different are electric vehicles (EVs) from those with internal combustion engines (ICEs)? As fleet electrification accelerates, that practical question is increasingly relevant. Five experts offer their insight.

Like petrol or diesel, electricity is a variable cost that needs to be managed carefully.

FLEET EUROPE #104

There’s more to an EV than just a different powertrain. Your typical EV has a higher sticker price but a lower running cost. Its residual value (RV) can be a bit of a question mark.

Plus, there’s the important distinction between conventional hybrids, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). That makes it difficult – or at least different – to calculate total cost of ownership (TCO). How does all that affect the financing angle of EV acquisition?

What are the differences between financing an EV and a traditional ICE car?

BEV versus an ICE will lead to longer contract durations for BEVs.”

“Leasing rates paint only part of the picture,” says Dr Christof Engelskirchen, Managing Director Consulting & TCO Solutions at Autovista Group. “To assess whether BEVs are economic alternatives to ICEs, fleet managers must incorporate utilisation cost differences and costs to set up infrastructure. At higher mileages, utilisation cost advantages become bigger. Considering the typically steeper depreciation curve for a

“The key difference lies in which risks customers are willing to take on board when owning an EV,” says Dean Bowkett, Managing Director at Bowkett Auto Consulting. “For hybrids and PHEVs, the average car buyer feels as secure as with an ICE. For BEVs, there still is the perception of limited range and battery degradation. For that reason, we will see a rise in BEVs being leased or on some form of balloon finance, so the consumer

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can hand the car back after a defined period without worrying about the state of the battery.”

What are the considerations for buying versus leasing EVs? “Our full operational leasing products support our customers – also those driving EVs – in all mobility-related issues, including maintenance, taxes, insurance, roadside assistance, and so on. On top of that, we also handle the RV risk,” says Giuseppe Sacchi, Product Manager eMobility at Alphabet. “As a result, customers have a predefined, fixed cost for their entire contract period.”

“Leasing is a reassuring proposal,” agrees Mr Renie. “And especially so in the case of BEVs: leasing mitigates the obsolescence of this fast-evolving technology. With that in mind, leasing can become an engine for electrification, not just via the corporate market but also via the private one. For example, we notice that OEMs communicate the cost of their BEVs in monthly lease instalments rather than as the full ticket price.”

EVs can be charged at home, at work or at third-party charging stations. How can this be efficiently integrated in invoicing and TCO calculation?

“Like fuel, electricity is a variable cost when moving a vehicle from A to B and can be estimated in exactly the same way, although there can be more inputs and calculations. We recommend accurately recording business mileage,” says Paul Hollick, Managing Director at The Miles Consultancy.

The typical EV has a higher sticker price than a car with an ICE. “The risks and advantages of leasing over buying are the same for hybrids and PHEVs as for ICEs,” says Mr Bowkett. “One extra consideration in favour of hybrids and PHEVs is the increase of Clean Air Zones across major European cities. That includes their appeal as used vehicles, compared to traditional ICEs. Buying a BEV actually carries more risks than advantages, but demand for used BEVs could increase if you’re near one of the as yet to be introduced zero-emission zones. Even so, buying a BEV is a gamble.”

“Yes, the remarketing risk for BEVs is higher at present. But current-generation BEVs have excellent warranties and battery warranties are reaching 8 years at guaranteed capacity levels of 70 to 80%. That helps lower the remarketing risk. In some markets, due to a shortage of BEVs, we see RVs are rising. Sizeable fleets with their own professional remarketing processes will not shy away from buying BEVs – if they get a good deal,” says Dr Engelskirchen.

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“However, while it’s easy for BEVs, the calculation is far harder for PHEVs because the figure will depend on the actual mix of fuel and electricity used.

Also, a charge card can be used to pay for electricity from public charge points, but we find 98% of drivers charge at home or at the office and the majority are happy to pay and reclaim.”

“One of the challenges yet to be resolved is that the domestic electricity network in many European countries cannot meet the demand if we all started charging our BEVs at home,” Mr Bowkett points out.

“Leasing can be an engine for electrification.”

Stéphane Renie (ALD)

FLEET EUROPE #104

“The most obvious, striking difference with ICEs so far is the much higher price of BEVs,” says Stéphane Renie, Head of CSR at ALD. “That’s why traditional hybrids still make up more than 50% of our green fleet: they’re a more reassuring proposal, and at a more democratic price.

But that will change from 2020, when more BEV models will become available on the market, and manufacturers will be motivated by stricter CO2 targets. By that time, the ecosystem – infrastructure, services, pricing – offered by lease companies will also be more mature.”

NEW ENERGIES

TELEMATICS, AN EV’S BEST FRIEND @DieterQuartier

Changing conventional cars for EVs without intelligence about vehicle usage is very difficult. Fortunately, there are things like the connected car and telematics to make your job easier.

FLEET EUROPE #104

The transformation towards an electrified fleet will be accelerated through the adoption of telematics.

The transition to electric is on almost every major company’s agenda. Those that have already taken the first steps will tell you that it all starts with knowing your fleet.

how much time do they stay at one place, do they have regular or irregular trip patterns? Only by analysing this can you pinpoint those drivers who are ideal candidates for EVs.”

“Leasing companies in particular are eager to electrify their fleets. Today, they have no real view on which drivers would qualify. Telematics makes things a lot easier and allows them to target specific customers and focus their electrification effort,” explains George de Boer, Leader of Connected Car Initiatives at TomTom.

A similar story can be heard at Geotab.

“There are three moments where telematics can help in the successful adoption of EVs. First of all, there is the question whether the EV will do the job. Our EV Suitability Assessment answers this question and provides cost and carbon reduction projections,” says Matt Stevens, VP of Electric Vehicles at Geotab.

With its Connected Car proposition, TomTom offers telematics services to fleet customers through the leasing company. “Cars that have not left the factory ‘connected’ can still be connected through our aftermarket solution, allowing both leasing companies and their customers to gain insight in the way their vehicles are used. Who drives when, how long are the trips,

“Secondly, there is the need to manage electric vehicles just like any other vehicle and monitor data such as state of charge (SOC). Lastly, once there are more than a few EVs in a fleet, making charging easier and more integrated into your existing systems is what I see as key,” he adds.

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TomTom’s system equally monitors the SOC and range of the cars. “This data is useful for charging infrastructure suppliers. We can provide information on patterns: where (PH)EVs are used, where they park, for how long, in which quantities, … This allows you to create heat maps enabling to determine exactly where and which type of charging stations are needed,” George de Boer concludes.

“You need data to pinpoint those drivers who are ideal candidates for EVs.” George de Boer (TomTom Telematics)

NEW ENERGIES

YOU ARE NOT ON YOUR OWN TO GO GREEN Fien Van den Steen

If you and your company plan to electrify your fleet, know that you are not on your own. Many international associations can and will help you out.

By being part of EV100, companies can showcase their EV leadership and share best practices in order to help other members reduce EV investment costs.

EV100 informs its members, and drives engagement and dialogue between governments and other stakeholders to address the remaining barriers to EV uptake and infrastructure roll-out.

Among the current EV100 members, like Unilever, IKEA and Vattenfall, the membership of Deutsche Post DHL Group and LeasePlan is noteworthy.

The first set the bold target of providing zero emissions logistics by 2050, while LeasePlan will electrify all of its leasing vehicles - more than 1.5 million globally - by 2030.

Launched during the Bonn Climate Conference (2017) by various countries and companies all around the world, the Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA) aims to accelerate the worldwide transformation of the transport sector towards a net zero-emission mobility system before 2050.

Therefore, the TDA designed a common vision for front runners to decarbonise transport, and a variety of tools for its members, who have to sign the TDA charter. Additionally, any organisation with relevant experience can join the TDA as a supporting organisation. By making optimal use of all knowledge and experience TDA aims to decarbonise transport worldwide.

The Zero Vehicle Emission Alliance (ZEV alliance), created by the International council on Clean Transportation (ICTT), is a collaboration of national and subnational governments aiming to accelerate the adoption of ZEVs. The 14 founding members, North American and European governments, pledged to make all new passenger vehicles in their jurisdictions ZEVs by no later than 2050. Throughout 2017 the 14 governments of the ZEV Alliance already expanded various ZEV support policies. The member governments meet on a monthly basis and organise public webinars.

EV100: TECHNOLOGY IS READY In a short video interview, the EV100â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sandra Roling says technology is ready to adopt electric vehicles in corporate fleets but carmakers need to make sure enough electric cars are available on the market.

Watch the video.

FLEET EUROPE #104

Organised by the Climate Group, EV100 brings together companies committed to accelerate the transition to EVs by 2030.

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NEW ENERGIES

ELECTRIC BECOMES A VIABLE OPTION Yves Helven

In its “Electric Vehicle Readiness Index 2019” LeasePlan analyses EV preparedness in 22 European countries. The report shows progress in comparison with 2018: all countries in the index have improved their scores, but not at the same pace.

LeasePlan had a closer look at the number of charging points per country.

In absolute numbers, the Netherlands lead the ranking with almost 40,000 locations, far ahead of number 2, France (16,456 charging locations) and number 3, Germany (13,043).

On average, there is one charger available for every 5 EVs across the EU. This is better than the EU-imposed standard of 1 charging point per 10 EVs. However, this is attributable to low EV sales rather than the size of the charger network.

truly adopted EVs as an alternative to ICE (52.78%). Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden follow with scores around 5%; the rest of the countries perform poorly at less than 5% penetration.

Clearly, incentives are needed to be successful. Most governments have put in place systems to promote EV sales, but LeasePlan’s Index demonstrates there’s little harmonisation between these incentives. The best scores go to (alphabetically) Austria, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.

Looking at market maturity the report demonstrates that only Norway has

ELLI, THE NEW E-DAUGHTER OF VOLKSWAGEN @Frank_J_Jacobs

Volkswagen Group has set up Elli – short for ‘electric life’ – a company focused on providing green power and EV charging solutions for both private and corporate customers.

FLEET EUROPE #104

“(Elli) will start offering energy from renewable sources as well as smart charging solutions,” says Thomas Ulbrich, Volkswagen brand Board Member for E-Mobility. The company will initially focus on Europe.

Elli’s first product will be CO2-neutral green power from VW, generated by hydro-electric plants in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. This gives VW customers the opportunity to improve

the carbon footprint of their EVs. The power can be ordered via elli.eco.

Elli will also launch ‘Volks-wallboxes’ to charge EVs at home. VW’s EVs can be charged on the normal grid (230V grid with 3.7kW), but the wallbox will have charging power of up to 11kW, allowing the battery to fully charge overnight.

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And there’s more. For customers looking to charge their EV on the go, Elli will provide electric charging cards that will give access to around 80,000 charging stations across Europe.

An app will show drivers the nearest charging station. Reserving a spot will become possible at a later time.

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ALL-ELECTRIC KIA E-NIRO: THE SMART CHOICE The Kia Niro Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid have a new companion: the Kia e-Niro, an all-electric variant that completes the eco-friendly Niro crossover range. It combines efficient electric power with the space and practicality of a crossover. The e-Niro is now available to order.

The new Kia e-Niro combines an all-electric, zero-emissions powertrain with crossover practicality, intelligent packaging and an eye-catching design.

It has a long-distance driving range of up to 455 kilometres, making it one of the most capable electric vehicles on sale anywhere in the world.

The e-Niro occupies a unique position in the global market as an all-electric crossover alongside the existing Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid Niro variants of which more than 200,000 have already been sold since the Niro’s introduction in 2016 (including more than 65,000 in Europe).

455 kilometre range from next-generation powertrain Matching its sporty crossover design, the e-Niro offers buyers long-distance, zero-emissions driving and enjoyable performance with a next-generation electric vehicle powertrain.

A high-capacity 64kWh lithium-polymer battery pack affords a driving range of up to 455 kilometres on a single charge with zero emissions.

Plugged into a 100kW fast charger, it takes 54 minutes to recharge the e-Niro’s battery to 80%. Buyers will also be able to specify an optional 39.2kWh lithium-polymer battery pack, with a range of up to 300 kilometres from a single charge.

Power is provided to the front wheels through a 150kW (204ps) motor, producing 395Nm torque from a standstill,

The Kia e-Niro features a futuristic and aerodynamic tiger-nose grille with an integrated charging port.

for acceleration from 0 to 100kph in just 7.8 seconds. The battery pack is located low down in the body, beneath the boot floor, creating a centre of gravity more akin to that of a sedan or a hatchback, ensuring maximum stability and driving enjoyment on winding roads.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems to support convenience and safety

tracks vehicles in front of the car in traffic and detects road markings to keep the e-Niro in its lane on the motorway.

The system controls acceleration, braking and steering according to the behaviour of the vehicles in front, using external sensors to maintain a safe distance. Lane Following Assist operates between 0 and 130kph.

Matching the forward-looking nature of its powertrain, the e-Niro offers drivers a range of Kia’s ‘Advanced Driver Assistance Systems’, supporting the driver in various environments and scenarios to mitigate the risk of a collision.

Available active safety systems include Forward Collision Warning with Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, Smart Cruise Control with Intelligent Stop & Go, and Lane Following Assist.

Lane Following Assist is a ‘Level Two’ autonomous driving technology which

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More info www.kia.com/eu/business

FLEET EUROPE #104

The e-Niro is Kia’s second globally-sold electric vehicle after the Soul EV. The new model made its European debut at the 2018 Paris Motor Show and is now available to order in Europe.

NEW ENERGIES

DIESEL EUPHORIA: NOx UNDER CONTROL @DieterQuartier

Those who predicted the end of diesel may have to reconsider. German mobility organisation ADAC conducted both bench and road tests with several new diesel models and the results turn out to be very positive.

Dieselgate has led to the development of diesels that are not only clean on paper, but also in practice. Since the introduction of the Euro 6d-temp emission standard, newly launched models must keep their NOx emissions below 80mg/km in lab conditions (WLTP) and under 168mg/km during the RDE (Real Driving Emissions) test.

FLEET EUROPE #104

ADAC has now found that some OEMs, like BMW, have done their homework well. The Bavarian carmaker is proud to announce that real-world tests resulted in maximum points in the emissions section of the ADAC EcoTest for a series of its models: the BMW 520d touring, the 218d Active Tourer Steptronic and the X1 sDrive 18d Steptronic.

ADAC tested the 218d Active Tourer Steptronic and found that even the sensitive measuring equipment barely managed to detect any emissions.

The BMW 520d Touring performed superbly in the nitrogen oxide tests, with a reading of less than 16mg/km in urban driving and under 10mg/km in rural driving and on the motorway.

About the 218d, ADAC had the following to say: “BMW is dealing extremely well with the issue of emissions. There are no abnormal figures for any type of pollutant, and the nitrogen oxide emissions are so low they could even be a record. Even the sensitive measuring equipment used for the test barely managed to detect any emissions in some cases.”

diesel by up to 99%. The implication is double: Euro 5 diesels were really bad – ADAC’s EcoTest measured an average of 528mg/km, i.e. nearly three times the allowed maximum of 180mg/km – and Euro 6d-temp diesels are apt pupils.

Up to 99% NOx reduction

Hope for diesel future

In general, ADAC lab tests performed between 2012 and now show a decline of 85% in terms of NOx emissions between Euro 5 and Euro 6d-temp diesels, and still 76% between Euro 6b and Euro 6d-temp models.

ADAC says it is happy to see the positive evolution between Euro 6b and Euro 6c/Euro 6d-temp. The 25 tested models posted an average NOx emission level of 81mg/km in lab conditions according to ADAC’s protocol – which is just 1mg/km above the limit applied by the Euro 6d-temp standard.

The best Euro 6d-temp diesels even outperform the average Euro 5

Euro 6b models, which were believed to be a lot cleaner than their Euro 5 predecessors, averaged a still worrying 341mg/km on the ADAC’s stringent lab test, which is more than 4 times the maximum value allowed by the emissions standard, i.e. 80mg/km.

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52% of all models tested kept their average below the prescribed 80mg/km.

Nine of the 25 tested models stayed below this limit in all test phases, including the one involving motorway driving. The best car, the BMW X1 sDrive 1.8d, posted an laudable 8mg/km on ADAC’s test bench.

If anything, these findings confirm that OEMs have been doing their homework. Fleet owners, consumers and leasing companies could find themselves reassured by these independent findings.

85%

average Nox emissions decline between Euro 5 and Euro 6d-temp diesels

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INTERNATIONAL FLEET PROCUREMENT CHALLENGES Companies with a European or even global presence need a partner who can optimise their global fleet management requirements at local and international level. A partner with the reach and resources to support your goals and one with the experience to deliver results.

Demand for international fleet management solutions is growing due to the global activities of large companies and the parallel centralisation of corporate functions requiring individual cross-border approaches.

International fleet solutions are no longer just a trend, but are a necessity for strategic alignment, control and overall cost reduction. Cost management and reduction is particularly effective when aligned with a dynamic multi-bidding model which, in TraXall’s case, delivers a unique ‘best price, every time’ guarantee on every vehicle in every market.

In the pursuit of the right fleet management partner, it is particularly important to ask questions about whether the service provider has the right skills and tools to manage and optimise the fleet economically. With the deployment of international fleet management solutions, it is an absolute requirement to provide local market expertise and locally based teams to support drivers and stakeholders professionally. And then there is the basic requirement

for a comprehensive realisation of the savings potential, aligned with sufficient geographical presence of the fleet management service provider in order to meet the customer requirements for an overall solution.

to highlight and achieve efficiencies, delivers sustainable price guarantees across a managed supply chain leading to dedicated people and controlled or reduced costs, and focuses on the various TCO levers.

The right fleet management service provider supports your strategy and your people, works with your business

TRAXALL’S COMPETENCE IN FIGURES • 170,000 managed vehicles • ¤4 billion managed assets This expertise and continued growth across more than 20 countries enables us to efficiently fulfill complex service requirements for large international customers.

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More info FLEET EUROPE #104

A key driver in the search for international fleet solutions is the achievement of synergies that can be realised by bundling purchasing volumes and standardising and streamlining processes (process cost reduction).

The increasing number of regulatory requirements, their standardisation or harmonisation as well as the advancing development of alternative mobility strategies at European level are increasing the demand for professional consulting and functional solutions across borders.

NEW ENERGIES

WLTP, THE SAVIOUR OF DIESEL @DieterQuartier

The new European type approval method has caused an increase in CO2 emissions – even when converted back to their NEDC equivalent. Arguably, OEMs and fleets need diesel more than ever.

To drastically lower their vehicle line-up’s CO2 emissions and meet the 95g/km target imposed by the EU, car makers still can’t do without diesel today. The same goes for fleets with strict CO2 reduction targets. If anything, the introduction of WLTP has played in the hand of diesel. Indeed, self-combusting engines remain 20 to 25% more fuel efficient than their petrol peers and are often the only powertrain that fits in CO2-capped vehicle categories.

Also, most of the automotive industry’s R&D budget has gone into developing diesels in the past decades. Rather than immediately turning to electrification, it makes more economic sense to stick to diesel and make them compliant with the Euro 6d-temp emission standard.

The search for fuel-efficiency goes on, and diesel still has a major role to play.

Swinging towards petrol

FLEET EUROPE #104

Unfortunately, the market is turning its back on diesel. Because Europe’s fuel preference has changed dramatically, OEMs are faced with overcapacity on the diesel side and undercapacity – or simply the lack of competitive engines – on the petrol side. The recent restructuring announced by Jaguar Land Rover is the direct consequence of this.

Especially brands who offer low-CO2 petrol engines have been thriving in 2018. PSA, for instance, is selling 1.2-petrol powered models like hot cakes. The Peugeot 3008 and Opel Grandland X owe much of their success to the availability of this frugal 3-cylinder unit, which emits just 120g/km of CO2 (NEDC correlated).

They certainly contributed to PSA’s

33% sales increase in Europe in 2018.

The main reason, however, was the overall WLTP-readiness of PSA, including the BlueHDi engines.

Volkswagen managed to hold on to its sales crown, selling 0.9% more vehicles than the year before, despite being incomprehensibly late with getting their WLTP act together. Some reckon that much has to do with the massive registering and sales push of pre-Euro 6d-temp diesels in the third quarter of 2018. Another element at play is unquestionably the diesel incentive programme in Germany. Customers receive up to ¤9,000 to trade in their older diesel towards a cleaner car – an initiative that is likely to be extended into 2019.

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E is the new d A popular way to lower your lineup’s weighted CO2 average is to massively promote plug-in hybrid cars, like BMW has been doing. The Bavarian OEM promises to have up to 25 electrified models in its line-up by 2025. In 2018, BMW Group delivered 75,000 vehicles with an electric motor in Europe – most of which mated to a combustion engine. The Old Continent is BMW’s biggest sales region for battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles, accounting for over 50% of its global e-sales in 2018.

However, Munich still believes in diesel, too. For decades, the letter d has been the synonym for class-leading fuel efficiency, low emissions, smooth

Rationally, there is no reason to run away from diesel.

Together with its all-new 3, Mazda introduces a revolutionary engine concept called SkyActiv-X. It is basically a petrol engine that can operate on a lean mixture and self-ignite thanks to a high compression ratio, just like a diesel. It also uses a small 48-volt battery to further improve its efficiency.

performance and high residual values.

BMW has no intention of letting this technological heritage and competitive advantage go to waste, as demonstrated by recent ADAC emission tests.

BMW has succeeded in reducing NOx emissions of its latest diesels to levels way below the Euro 6d-temp limit, making them ultra-clean.

Will diesels survive, then? With production costs increasing and taxes privileging petrol in many countries, it stands to reason that the oily fuel will be confined to the C-segment and above.

Heavy and/or bulky cars (i.e. SUVs) in particular are better off with diesel, not least from a fuel consumption point of view: weight and air resistance have less impact on a torquey diesel than on a sparky petrol engine.

The best of both worlds If diesel engines still (and always will) produce less carbon dioxide emissions, why not combine d with e to maximise efficiency? The concept is not new: Volvo launched the V60 D5 Twin Engine back in 2012, offering an electric range of 50km and limiting its CO2 output to just 49g/km. The recipe was copied by Audi in 2015, when the Q7 E-tron was introduced.

The idea was to combine the characteristics of a long-distance cruiser with those of an emission-free urban vehicle.

You burn diesel on the motorway and save the battery for city driving. Most OEMs have opted for petrol for their (P) HEV models â&#x20AC;&#x201C; long before dieselgate, incidentally â&#x20AC;&#x201C; because they found it hard to reconcile diesel noise and vibrations with utter electric silence.

Mercedes persists in the belief that it makes sense to electrify diesels.

They have never been cleaner, more refined or more efficient. Moreover, they can cope better with the extra weight that comes with the battery pack. The brand-new C300de, for instance, combines the 220dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engine with a 13.5kWh-battery allowing it to travel 57km on electricity alone and emit 42g/km of CO2 (NEDC correlated).

Have they made the right choice, and will the fleet market overcome its dieselphobia? Rationally, there is no reason to run away from diesel. Alas, fear is seldom rational.

WHY DIESELS EMIT LESS CO2

Rather than immediately turning to electrification, for a lot of company car drivers and their companies it makes more economic sense to stick to diesel.

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Contrary to what is commonly assumed, a litre of diesel produces more CO2 than a litre of petrol.

Still, diesel engines use less fuel and therefore emit less CO2 because of the higher efficiency of the combustion process (a consequence of the higher compression) and the fact that diesel fuel contains more energy than petrol.

FLEET EUROPE #104

MAZDA SKYACTIV-X: A DIESEL-LIKE PETROL ENGINE

NEW ENERGIES

BANNING ‘DIRTY’ DIESEL AND ICE VEHICLES IN EUROPE Erwin Boumans

Diesel was once the leader and a promising fuel for cars. However, in the last couple of years the tide has turned. People and companies are getting more and more aware of the impact of diesel on the environment and they are aware that change is needed. Therefore past (tax) incentives for diesel cars are quickly being abolished and new (tax) incentives are being introduced for alternative powertrains.

(Ultra) Low emission zone Introducing low emission zones is one of the many actions taken by the government which has maybe the highest visibility and impact on the personal usage of diesel cars, especially in the city. As of 31 December 2018, a phased LEZ has now also been introduced in Glasgow. In the first phase, only local buses will be affected by the LEZ, as of 31 December 2020 phase two will be implemented and the LEZ will apply to all vehicles.

FLEET EUROPE #104

In Germany the Administrative Court ruled that Frankfurt must put restrictions on the diesel vehicles

by February 2019. As of 1 February 2019, only diesel Euro 5 and better and petrol Euro 3 and better would still be allowed. As from 1 September 2019 it is even likely that a diesel Euro 6 norm would be applied. This ruling was a landmark within Germany for all ongoing “clean air” cases. This has already had influence on Düsseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart and Aachen. Stuttgart for example implemented a Diesel ban as of 1 January 2019, only diesel Euro 5 and better and petrol Euro 1 and better would still be allowed, with a transition period until 31 March 2019.

Furthermore, courts in the UK have also ruled that new plans need to be implemented to reduce vehicle pollution. Although studies have shown that banning the most polluting vehicles from the road is the most effective, the UK government hopes that they would not need to do it as it would only move the problem. However, at this moment

Only 1% of new cars sold in the UK are electric. This new electric black cab is one of them. the plan allows local authorities to ban certain vehicles on sections of the road.

With this in mind, London will introduce its Ultra Low Emission Zone as of 8 April 2019, banning petrol and diesel cars which do not meet respectively Euro 4 and Euro 6 standards.

Some major cities in the Netherlands have also implemented low emission zones, such as Arnhem and Maastricht.

Hence, Maastricht postponed the implementation of their Low Emission Zone until 2020. In Italy, Milan introduced a new LEZ called Area B. This LEZ will be active as of 25 February 2019 and exclude all diesel Euro 4 and petrol Euro 1 cars, whereby the standards will evolve rather quickly (diesel

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Euro 5 will already become the norm in October of this year and Euro 6 in October of 2020).

Finally, 15 French cities (e.g. Greater Paris, Greater Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Greater Reims, …) also agreed to introduce ZFEs by 2020 (zone à faibles émissions) which is a sticker-based LEZ system. Greater Paris will gradually implement the LEZ as of

40%

of new vehicles in Norway are electric

EV INCENTIVES Austria

No taxes on fuel pollution and ownership for EVs and a VAT deduction for zero-CO2 emission cars.

Belgium

Lowest rate of circulation taxes for EVs and deductibility rate for company cars is 120% for EVs for corporate income taxes.

France

Exemption from registration tax for EVs also not subject to tax on company cars if < 60g CO2 and a premium of ¤6,000 if < 20g CO2.

Germany

EVs exempt from the annual circulation tax for 10 years and a bonus of ¤4,000 for full EVs and ¤3,000 for plug-in hybrids.

Italy

EVs exempt from the annual circulation tax for 5 years, afterwards a reduction of 75% in comparison with the tax rate of the petrol equivalent.

Luxembourg

Minimum rate of the annual circulation tax and a tax allowance of ¤5,000 on the registration fees for EVs combined with the lowest tax on the benefit in kind for private use of company cars.

Zero emission cars pay no registration and motor vehicle tax and benefit from the lowest tax Netherlands rate (4%) on the private use of company cars.

Spain

Reduction of the annual circulation tax for EVs by 75% and lower company car taxation.

Sweden

Climate bonus that ranges from SEK60,000 for EVs (0g CO2 and PHEV (60g CO2) together with an exemption from circulation tax for 5 years and 40% reduction on company car taxation.

UK

EV and ultra-low emission vehicles benefit from a reduced company car tax and cars emitting less than 50g CO2 can benefit from 100% first year writing down allowances.

Tax Incentives

This incentive can also be found under a German scheme which provides ¤10,000 if owners of old diesels change to cleaner electric cars. Sweden is also providing a ‘Climate Bonus’ to people or entities who are investing in an EV. The only side effect this incentive may have and that the neighbouring countries are wary of, is that when the old ‘dirty’ diesel cars are sold they will be exported to their country.

Another way to replace the ‘dirty’ vehicles is by giving (tax) incentives to persons or entities to entice them to buy ‘cleaner’ ones. If we take a look at some of the Scandinavian countries, we see that these (tax) incentives have had a significant impact on EV sales. With an exemption of acquisition tax and VAT on the purchase of an EV, Norway has become the leading country with over 40% of newly sold vehicles being electric (i.e. full or plug-in hybrids), followed by Iceland which is still a long way behind with 12% of new vehicles being electric.

Overall view

However, in Europe the sales figures of new electric vehicles are still rather gloomy, as only 1% of new cars sold in the UK, for instance, are electric.

Therefore, the UK government would like to give £8,000 to drivers who make the switch to fully electric cars.

Although governments are undoubtedly taking actions to reduce CO2 emissions and ban polluting vehicles, you may argue that this is still far from enough. Only in countries where drastic measures have been taken do you also see an important impact and clear behavioral change (e.g. Norway).

Other incentives to ban diesel cars and promote electric vehicles is by reducing the taxation of such cars. A lot of countries apply an exemption of circulation taxes for electric vehicles and sometimes combined with a lower tax rate on the private use of company cars.

This method is applied in e.g. Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

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However, increasing/reducing taxation and or providing incentives alone will not do the trick. These measures should be supported by an overall view on alternative mobility, by investing in e.g. clean(er) public transport, allowing/ promoting alternative ‘first’ or ‘last-mile’ solutions (e.g. e-scooters), but certainly also by introducing clear and easily applicable taxation and social security rules towards the granting of a mobility budget (instead of a company car).

Whether all of these measures will be applauded by voters around Europe remains to be seen though… after all the gilets jaunes movement did start following a, at first sight, noble plan to increase taxes on (polluting) fuel.

Analysis by Erwin Boumans, Partner Indirect Tax BDO and Chairman of the Automotive & Mobility sector group in BDO Belgium

FLEET EUROPE #104

July 2019. In Belgium, the LEZ in Brussels will be tightened as the minimum standard has become Euro 3 as from 2019 and Gent will also implement an LEZ as from 1 January 2020, but this is still a rather modest approach in comparison with other major European cities.

NEW ENERGIES

DIFFERENT DEGREES OF BUZZ Stijn Blanckaert

Never judge a book by its cover. A hybrid car combines a petrol or diesel engine with an electric motor. Within that definition, there are different degrees of electrification.

The Hyundai Ioniq is available as full hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fully electric. With the Tucson, the brand also has a mild hybrid in its range.

Micro hybrids Micro hybridisation is nothing more than the common start-stop-technology that shuts down the engine whenever its use is not required. Although this technology works fine, its effects are limited to a reduction of 3% in fuel consumption if you drive in congested traffic. On motorways, the benefits are zero.

FLEET EUROPE #104

Mild hybrids (MHEV) The next step is to add a 48-Volt electric network and an integrated starter-alternator, combined with a 48V-battery and a converter. This compact and cost-efficient hybrid system allows you to (partly) recover energy when braking and deliver additional power to the combustion engine when accelerating. Mild hybrids do not offer a real EV mode, since they can only assist the ICE. This technology used to be the privilege of expensive

premium cars (Audi, BMW, Mercedes), but it is now trickling down to the lower segments. The 48-Volt system allows a fuel economy of 10%.

Full hybrids (HEV) Full hybrids, also called “self-charging” hybrids, reduce consumption by 30 to 40%. They use the combustion engine as a means of actuating the wheels, but also as a power generator for the car’s battery. Contrary to mild hybrids, full hybrids can be powered solely by the electric motor and battery power, without the need to activate the combustion engine.

In real life, the electric range seldom exceeds 2 to 5 kilometres, because of the limited battery capacity. No driver intervention is needed to charge the drive battery, since the electronics manage the process automatically.

Most Toyota and Lexus cars are full hybrids.

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Plug-in hybrids (PHEV) Rechargeable plug-in hybrids can charge their batteries either by recovering brake energy – just like HEVs and MHEVs – but also by means of an external electrical power source. The drive battery can be topped up through an electrical plug in a household socket or by a specific plug connected to a charging station. The battery has a much bigger capacity than that of a full hybrid, with values of 8 to 20kWh, allowing an electric range of up to 60 kilometres and speeds of up to 130km/h, without the need of a combustion engine.

Their main advantage is their low official CO2 emission rating, granting them tax advantages. The real benefit in consumption can only be obtained if the car is plugged in whenever possible.

If not, the extra weight of the battery pack will contribute to a higher average fuel consumption than with a comparable non-hybrid car.

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TOYOTA: A HYBRID FOR EVERYONE As the first volume car manufacturer to drop diesel from its passenger car range, Toyota is a pioneer in alternative drivetrain technology, with a particular focus on petrol electric hybrids. In 1997, Toyota pioneered with the Prius as the first mass-produced hybrid. Today, hybrid has become mainstream and more than ten million customers are proud to drive a hybrid Toyota or Lexus.

A range of benefits Toyota’s full hybrids use battery power more than 50% of the time, leading to best in class CO2 figures, even under the new WLTP standards. Meanwhile, the petrol engine emits NOx and PMs well below the most stringent emission standards. Did you know that hybrids are a major plank in Toyota’s plan to reduce tailpipe CO2, emissions by 90% between 2010 and 2050?

Toyota’s and Lexus’ full hybrids are self-charging. No need for charge points or wall boxes, the car’s operating system manages the energy flow, charging the battery when required and recuperating the energy that is generated when the car brakes or slows down.

A hybrid for all, ready for the future Today, 17 different Toyota and Lexus models offer hybrid drive, including the plug-in Prius that offers all the benefits of pure EV drive with the practicality of a conventional car.

The fourth-generation hybrid technology that powers the new Corolla and RAV4 features smaller and lighter components and delivers greater long-distance economy, while the use of rare earth content has been reduced by 90% compared to the first generation Prius.

for future electric vehicles, and is driving the commercialisation of fuel cell cars on the journey towards zero emissions. Fuel cell technology uses hydrogen to generate electricity that powers the vehicle, with pure water as only by-product. Hydrogen storage is more practical for heavy-duty or long-range application than adding extra battery cells. Many of the technologies developed for hybrid are transferable to Fuel Cell vehicles, so you can be reassured which ever solution you choose

(plug-ins), BEV (battery-powered electric vehicles) and FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicles). The objective: annual sales of more than 5.5 million electrified Toyota and Lexus vehicles including 1 million zero-emission cars.

Asked whether they would go back to a conventional car, most Toyota and Lexus hybrid drivers say that they would never do so. Now it’s up to you to discover the hybrid way of driving and experience the future …

By 2030, both Toyota and Lexus will offer a full range of environmental technologies including HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles) a range of PHEV

More info

Toyota is also a leader in developing the next-generation battery technology

toyotalexusbusinessplus@toyota-europe.com

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The low CO2 emissions of Toyota and Lexus hybrids bring significant taxation benefits while lower fuel consumption reduces day to day running costs.

NEW ENERGIES

A LONG-TERM TRANSITIONAL COMPROMISE Stijn Blanckaert & Dieter Quartier

Hybrids, whether self-charging or pluggable, have the wind in their sails. They help to decarbonise our transport, but how long before EVs take over?

Car manufacturers must invest more in the democratisation of electric vehicle technology to achieve a zero-emission mobility by 2050. Here the Volvo XC40, which will be available as a plug-in hybrid and a fully electric car by 2020.

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Whether or not electric power is the future for (automotive) mobility, is no longer the question. Still, having invested billions of euros in the development of combustion engines, OEMs cannot give up on fossil fuels overnight. Internal combustion engines will be among us for quite some time, however more and more in hybrid form, aided by battery powered motors to reduce emissions.

The easiest and most cost-efficient way to electrify a car is to add a 48-Volt battery and an electric motor in the shape of an alternator-starter.

The result is a mild hybrid, which has the potential of saving some 10% of fuel compared to its non-electrified

version. That won’t suffice in the medium term to reach the EU’s CO2 targets, so bigger batteries, i.e. full hybrids and plug-in hybrids, are the only answer beyond 2021. By 2030, the ICE is likely to be banned entirely in many countries, leaving the market open to nothing but zero-emission vehicles.

it back into electricity and storing it in the battery. Their combustion engine is shut off when no power is needed.

On motorways, they constantly require ‘fossil’ power and the batteries can almost never be recharged regeneratively. In other words, they are nothing but heavy luggage once they are depleted.

Balancing act

Hybrids are relatively expensive to build, too. They offer not only the best, but also the worst of two worlds: they have both a conventional combustion engine and an electric motor mated to a battery pack, plus a complicated gearbox to make it all work. Like electric cars, they face an impossible paradox: they need large batteries to drive

Conceptually speaking, hybrids – unless they are diesel-powered and carry a relatively small battery – are not ideal long-distance travellers.

Generally, they make most sense in and around cities, where they can recover the kinetic energy at their wheels whilst braking or coasting by turning

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2019: HIGH ON HYBRIDS In the next years, hybrids will probably retain a TCO advantage over fully electric cars. There will be plenty of new kids on the block in 2019, so here are the fleet favourites.

MERCEDES E 300 DE Mercedes combines the latest diesel technology with battery power in the E-Class sedan and estate, resulting in an electric range of just over 50 kilometres and CO2 emissions of 41 to 44g/km for a system power of 306bhp.

BMW 330E IPERFORMANCE The second generation of BMW’s 3 Series plug-in hybrid, available this year, offers a theoretical range of 60 electric kilometres and has a power output of 252bhp with an XtraBoost overboost up to 293bhp. With official CO2 emissions of 39g/km it will be very interesting taxation-wise.

DS7 Crossback.

FORD MONDEO HYBRID No plug-in, this Mondeo, but with its predicted CO2-emissions of 96 to 101g/km it is an interesting alternative to diesel. Compared to a PHEV, a regular hybrid such as this one offers the advantage of an untouched boot space and a lower sales price.

2024

Price EV < Price ICE

RANGE ROVER EVOQUE This baby-Velar is the first JLR product to adopt a 48Volt system to become a mild hybrid. Later this year, customers will also be able to order the new Evoque as a PHEV. The ICE is a 1.5 three-cylinder petrol engine.

Information on the battery pack and its range is not available yet.

as much on electricity as possible, but bigger batteries mean more weight – which compromises energy efficiency and hence range – and a higher price. For an OEM, choosing the right battery size means finding the best balance between range, weight and cost.

DS7 CROSSBACK E-TENSE

Indeed, batteries still eat the lion’s share of the budget. But that is about to change. The price of lithium ion packs has come down considerably and is likely to melt further. To a certain extent, plug in hybrids can take credit for that. Ironically, they are bringing about their own demise: by 2024, purely electric vehicles are expected to become cheaper to build than ICE cars – whether they are assisted by a battery pack or not.

PSA’s luxury brand has the honour of inaugurating the group’s first plug-in hybrid powertrain. The DS7 Crossback E-Tense combines two electric motors fed by a 13,2-kWh battery with a turbocharged 1.6 petrol engine for a combined CO2 rating of less than 50g/km and 50km of electric range, measured according to the WLTP.

The Mercedes E 300 de.

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That is five years from now. Until then, hybrids are an alternative you should consider – if the user profile is right and, in the case of plug-in hybrids, if there is access to charging infrastructure.

NEW ENERGIES

PICKING THE RIGHT GAS FOR YOUR FLEET Stijn Blanckaert

LPG, CNG… It’s gas, for all we know. But what are the differences between the two and why would they be a real alternative for diesel and petrol in corporate fleets?

CNG - Compressed Natural Gas

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CNG is increasingly popular as a fuel for cars in Europe, and holds a considerable market share in Italy and Germany, for example. It mainly consists of methane (CH4), created over hundreds of years deep within the earth, extracted and cleaned of impurities and water and then compressed at a pressure of around 200 bar. Before injecting the gas into an internal combustion engine, the pressure is reduced to less than 10 bar. The source for this gas are natural gas-and-condensate wells, coal bed methane wells and oil wells.

The primary use of CNG is for heating and cooking, but also as a fuel for automobiles and light commercial vehicles. Any petrol-powered car can be converted to a bi-fuel vehicle running on both petrol and CNG, after installing CNG cylinders in the car floor, a plumbing and injunction system and the electronics.

The advantage of CNG over LPG is its lower production cost and 80% lower emissions of greenhouse gases compared to petrol. Given the fact that CNG is lighter than air, it disperses quickly in the event of spillage, which makes it safer than the highly inflammable LPG because of the minimal risk of ignition.

A disadvantage of CNG as fuel for cars is the amount of space it occupies. The CNG gas tank lowers the boot volume of cars, although when the gas tank is fitted from the factory, the petrol tank is mostly smaller to allow for a bigger gas tank to be installed without significantly impacting the boot or load space.

LPG - Liquefied Petroleum Gas LPG is a mix of propane and butane gases liquefied at 15°C at a pressure of 5 to 7.5 bar. Given the fact that some LPG variants are primarily made of propane, LPG and propane are often confused. LPG is generated from gas fields when natural gas is extracted and is also won as a by-product of the cracking process during crude-oil refining. Although it is used as a fuel for combustion engines, other purposes of LPG are heating, cooking and refrigeration, often in places where there is no electricity or natural gas pipeline. Many forklifts also use LPG as fuel.

While LPG has twice the calorific value of CNG, with one m3 producing almost twice the energy of the equivalent amount of natural gas, it is not as clean, emitting more CO2 when burnt in an engine, though less than petrol.

In factory-built CNG cars, the gas tanks are stored under the floor of the car, as is the case in this Seat Leon TGI. Seat is the VW-group’s technology leader in the development of CNG-powered cars.

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The fact that LPG-powered cars are often prohibited from entering underground car parks is attributable to the fact that LPG is inflammable and heavier than air. That means that in case of a leak, the gas will settle to the ground and accumulate, augmenting the risk of fire.

Which fuel type is best?

Fleet operation is highly sensitive to costs and here CNG has a clear advantage over LPG. As a liquid fuel, LPG is sold in litres. CNG however, being gaseous, is sold in units of kilograms.

The energy content of 1kg of CNG is equivalent to 2 litres of LPG. Although the litre price of LPG generally appears to be cheaper than the kilogram price of CNG, LPG is actually more expensive in terms of energy content, and has a higher fuel consumption.

Although exact figures depend upon each individual market, in Europe, the fuel cost per kilometre of a compactclass CNG car is some 45% less than petrol, 25% less than diesel, 20% less than a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle and 15% less than LPG. And given that

FOCUS ON THREE CNG MODELS The compact SUV of the Spanish VW-group brand is now also available with CNG power.

The car is animated by a one-litre three-cylinder turbo engine delivering 90 horsepower and 160Nm of torque and can carry 14.3 kilograms of CNG in its three gas tanks, promising a 400km range on gas, with 160 supplementary kilometres using the additional petrol reservoir.

©Source Seat Press site

1 SEAT ARONA 1.5 TGI

1. Seat Arona 1.5 TGI

DOBLO 1.4 T-JET 120 2 FIAT NATURAL POWER

Alongside the VW Group, FCA also believes in CNG, offering CNG versions of the 500L, Doblo, Punto, and Panda. The Doblo is powered by a four-cylinder bi-fuel engine delivering 120 horsepower and 206Nm to the front wheels.

The gas tank comprises 16.15kg of CNG, the petrol tank can hold 22 litres. With a promised 4.9kg/100kmg of CNG consumption, the CNG-range is about 330 kilometres.

2. Fiat Doblo 1.4 T-JET 120 Natural Power

Adding to those facts the additional safety advantages of CNG over LPG, including the possibility to park CNG cars in underground car parks, and the higher amount of technical failures and loss of warranty of mostly retrofit-built LPG powered engines compared to CNG-powered cars, that almost always come straight from the factory in bi-fuel version, it is undoubtedly CNG that has the future over LPG, and really forms an eco-alternative for diesel and petrol.

Availability anxiety The main barrier for any alternative fuel with respect to an established technology is the availability of adequate infrastructure. In this regard, LPG has a much broader availability than CNG. As a petroleum-derived product it’s relatively straightforward for oil companies to offer LPG alongside other petroleum-derived fuels at an existing service station. This gives LPG a big advantage over CNG. The European Commission has approved a Directive that aims to increase the availability of alternatives like CNG across Europe before the beginning of 2025. According to the Directive, each Member State must ensure a maximum distance of 150km between CNG stations on major highways.

Bio-gas On top of the already better eco-characteristics of CNG compared to classic fossil fuels, more and more networks are now offering so called bio-gas.

This “green gas”, technically known as bio-methane, is classic CNG gas, but made from the fermentation of biological waste such as fruits and vegetables, sewage sludge, manure and pruning waste, making it even cleaner than traditional CNG.

3 AUDI A4 AVANT G-TRON

CNG is also an alternative for those seeking a premium estate.

The Audi A4 Avant g-tron is equipped with a two-litre TFSI engine delivering 170hp and 270Nm of torque. With a 19kg gas tank, Audi predicts a range of some 500 kilometres on gas alone. There is also a 25-litre petrol tank adding extra kilometres to that range.

the purchase price of CNG technology is in line with conventional diesel technology, there’s no or little additional initial purchase cost that needs to be recovered before these savings begin to take effect. Summing up, total cost of ownership is a clear advantage with CNG technology.

3. Audi A4 Avant g-tron

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NEW ENERGIES

IN SEARCH OF AN ECONOMY @DieterQuartier

Hydrogen has a lot going for it - not only as a fuel for transport, but also as an energy carrier. All it needs to scale up is an entire economy to be built around it.

H2 can contribute to 20 percent of CO2 emission reduction targets by 2050. At the same time, the transition towards hydrogen has the potential to create ¤2.2 trillion worth of business and 30 million jobs. That is what McKinsey calculated in the Hydrogen Council’s study entitled Hydrogen, Scaling up.

The Hydrogen Council was founded in 2017 at the World Economic Forum and comprises leading companies that invest along the hydrogen value chain, including transportation, industry, and energy production and distribution.

Air Liquide, Alstom, Anglo American, Audi, BMW, Daimler, Engie, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Royal Dutch Shell, Equinor (Statoil), Total and Toyota: they all signed up.

More than just transport

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They believe that hydrogen is the central pillar of the energy transformation we need to limit global warming to 2°C. That involves reducing our CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. Hydrogen can play a major role in several areas: renewable power generation and integration, energy distribution across regions and sectors, and decarbonising both industrial energy use and transportation.

Hydrogen enables the deployment of renewables (wind and solar) by converting and storing more than 500TWh of otherwise curtailed electricity, the Council reckons. It allows international energy distribution, linking renewable-abundant regions with those requiring energy imports. It can also be used as a buffer and strategic reserve for power.

Overall, the study predicts that the annual demand for hydrogen has the potential to grow tenfold by 2050

Hydrogen enables the deployment of renewables (wind and solar) by converting and storing otherwise curtailed electricity. to almost 80EJ, meeting 18% of total final energy demand. With the world’s population expected to increase by two billion people, hydrogen technologies can play a key role in ensuring sustainable economic growth.

1 in 12 cars Interestingly, the Hydrogen Council does not see fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV) as the one and only solution, but an ideal complement to battery electric vehicles (BEV). FCEVs are best suited for long-range applications with heavier payloads and a high need for flexibility. As far as passenger cars are concerned, they reckon that

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by 2030, 1 in 12 cars sold in California, Germany, Japan and South Korea could be hydrogen-powered.

Joeri van Mierlo, Professor at VUB University in Brussels and Director of Mobi research centre, has his doubts about hydrogen as a transportation fuel. “It is mainly used in the chemical industry, where it is created by steam reforming natural gas. That costs energy and means natural gas escapes into the atmosphere. To produce hydrogen sustainably, you can use excess wind energy to draw H2 from water through electrolysis – an energy-consuming process. Hydrogen

FIRST DRIVE: HYUNDAI NEXO Fleet Europe was able to take the wheel of Hyundai’s all new fuel cell vehicle at the Brussels Motor Show. This midsized crossover is jampacked with technology and allows you to drive some 600km with 6kg of pressurised hydrogen.

It feels just like an electric car but only needs five to ten minutes to fill up. More good news: it cleans the air while you drive by filtering 99.9% of all particulate matter.

We were impressed by the technological package, the snazzy design and the roomy, luxurious and very quiet cabin. If you have a filling station nearby, this Nexo could be a great alternative to the hybrid or electric crossovers from premium competitors. Contrary to the latter, the emphasis is much more on comfort and serenity than on performance.

• Power output: 120kW • Torque: 395Nm • CO2 emissions: 0g/km • Fuel consumption: 0.84kg H2/100km (correlated NEDC) • Price: ¤58,000 excluding VAT (Germany) Read the full test drive on the Fleet Europe website

renewable energy,” says Maarten Van Houdenhove, PR manager. DATS 24 is part of Colruyt Group, one of Belgium’s major retailers that has sustainability in its DNA. “We believe that hydrogen is an important contributor to the decarbonisation of transport. Still, it won’t be the only solution. We also invest in natural gas and electric mobility, for instance by installing 22-kW AC chargers in our supermarket car parks,” Van Houdenhove adds.

“A few years ago, hydrogen seemed promising because of the limited range and high cost of BEVs. Battery technology has evolved, though: the latest EVs can travel some 400km on a single charge. Also, the price of batteries has come down by 80% since 2010,” he adds.

Still, Belgian fuel company DATS 24 believes in the hydrogen ecosystem. “Hydrogen is an ideal buffer for

Through its subsidiary DATS 24, Colruyt Group operates 63 CNG stations and 1 hydrogen station in Belgium. It has one of the greenest fleets in the country, including hundreds of natural gas powered cars and a some Toyota Mirai and Hyundai ix35 FCEV.

Still, Germany has promised to install up to 400 HRS by 2023. The UK believes it can build up to 1,150 of them by 2030. In any case, international multilateral cooperation is needed for a hydrogen economy to materialise, as explained by Benoît Poitier from Air Liquide and Euisun Chung of Hyundai Motor Group at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January. “No one country or company can do it alone.

Global problems need global solutions.

Working together, we look forward to seeing hydrogen play an integral role in a cleaner future.”

Global problem, global solution According to Van Mierlo, the other major advantage of FCEVs, i.e. fast refuelling, is also likely to lose importance as the next-generation batteries can be topped up at 450-kW chargers. “Adding 100km of range will just take a few minutes, just as fast as a fuel

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powered vehicles need three times more wind turbines to travel the same distance than a battery-powered vehicle,” says Van Mierlo.

cell vehicle today”. A hydrogen refilling station (HRS) costs about ¤1.25 million, incidentally, making it hard to justify a large-scale deployment.

NEW ENERGIES

COCA-COLA MOVES FORWARD AND EMBRACES EVS Benjamin Uyttebroeck

@uytteb

The car fleet at Coca-Cola European Partners may still be dominated by diesel-powered vehicles but the company is preparing for largescale electrification, says Senior Manager Fleet Europe Marc Devos.

Things have changed since Marc Devos first joined the company, 22 years ago.

Back then, the leasing budget was virtually the only criterion employees needed to take into consideration.

Today, much more thought goes into ensuring the right people drive cars with the right powertrains, in accordance with what is practical, what is possible in each market in terms of legislation and taxation, and what is affordable.

This is Forward CCEP’s new fleet strategy isn’t an isolated fleet-only programme. In 2017, Coca-Cola launched This is Forward, an ambitious sustainability action plan with the objective to cut overall emissions by 50% by 2025. Vehicles are only one area in which Coca-Cola wants to achieve this ambitious goal. “We drew up a new vehicle strategy and we’re hoping to get the green light in the next few months,” said Mr Devos. From 2019 onwards, that should lead to the introduction of greener vehicles.

Marc Devos, Senior Manager Fleet Europe, Coca-Cola: “For the first time, EV ranges are getting where we need them to be.”

FLEET EUROPE #104

“Hybrids and plug-ins are only a stopgap.”

Marc Devos (Coca-Cola European Partners)

Mr Devos believes the future will be fully electric. Nevertheless, the vehicles needed to make that possible aren’t there yet. “Hybrids and plug-in hybrids are only a stopgap,” said Mr Devos. “We’re moving towards full EVs eventually.”

Charging stations “When using plug-in hybrids, it is essential you make sure they are being used correctly,” said Mr Devos. “We accept them when drivers cover a maximum of 25,000km each year, when the driver owns their home and when they have the possibility to have a charging station installed at home. Also, the

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commute to the office needs to be within the vehicle’s full electric range.”

These strict criteria were put in place to ensure drivers of plug-in hybrid cars are really using the full potential their car offers.

“There can be many issues when rolling out plug-in hybrids or EVs,” said Mr Devos. “In cities, people often do not have the possibility to install their own charging station and public infrastructure is often lacking. In the country, older houses may have electricity grids that cannot cope with charging stations and upgrades may be prohibitively expensive.” Because of these restraints, ordering EVs or PHEVs is done on a case-by-case basis.

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY The Coca-Cola Company has a product portfolio that goes beyond the Coke brand and includes water (Chaudfontaine), soft drinks (Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Finley, Appletiser, …), fruit juice (Minute Maid), sports drinks (Aquarius), energy drinks (Naly, Monster), biological drinks (Honest), plant-based drinks (AdeZ), ice tea (Fuze Tea), coffee (CHAQWA).

Pilot programmes Befitting a leading EV adoption country, Norway is also a pioneer country for Coca-Cola. Last year, they delivered 100 Opel Amperas for their sales reps in Norway. In a second pilot, a series of Hyundai Konas were delivered for 10 sales reps and team leaders in Belgium.

“In the first quarter of 2019, we want to launch a third pilot in a number of large cities in France, offering Hyundai Konas, Nissan Leafs or the electric VW Golf, said Mr Devos.” These pilot programmes will enable the company to learn valuable lessons for a more widespread rollout of full-electric vehicles.

“We’re also looking for driver feedback.

Do these vehicles meet their drivers’ expectations?” said Mr Devos.

Availability An obstacle that’s holding back large scale EV adoption at this time is the limited number of models being offered. “There aren’t that many models on the market yet, and those that are, are often not readily available. The Opel Amperas in Norway, for instance, were ordered in June 2017 and only delivered in August 2018.”

Many new EVs have been announced for 2019 but availability remains uncertain at this time. “The big breakthrough will probably be next year,” concluded Mr Devos. “For the first time, ranges are getting where we need them to be,” said Mr Devos. “When you’ve got a 400km range, you’ve got a real alternative to conventional powertrains.”

Marc Devos may be convinced the future will be fully electric, but he also sees a role for hydrogen vehicles. “At this moment, though, they are no viable option. In Belgium, for instance, there are currently only two hydrogen filling stations…”

COCA-COLA EUROPEAN PARTNERS Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) in Belgium is part of the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, operating 3 production sites and 5 distribution centres. The head office is located in Brussels. In 2018, CCEP employed 2,100 people in Belgium across the 7 locations.

Marc Devos, Senior Manager Fleet Europe, manages the fleet for the Benelux countries, France, the UK, Norway and Sweden, accounting for 4,200 vehicles consisting of benefit cars and job cars.

“Availability of EVs is still a problem.”

Marc Devos (Coca-Cola European Partners)

Coca-Cola European Partners is headquartered in Anderlecht, on the outskirts of Brussels.

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Having charging stations at people’s homes is one thing, they also need to be able to recharge their vehicles at the office. At this moment, the head office in Brussels has 23 on-site charging stations, a number which is likely to go up in the future. Other Coca-Cola sites also have charging stations to provide optimum connectivity between all sites.

MANAGEMENT

“FIND YOUR PASSION AND FOLLOW IT” @Frank_J_Jacobs &

@StevenSchoefs

“I wasn’t quite good enough to join Cirque du Soleil, but I was good enough to sell cars,” jokes Simon Dransfield, General Manager Fleet & Business at Jaguar Land Rover Europe. Selected at the Fleet Europe Summit in Barcelona past November as the newest member of the International Fleet Hall of Fame, Simon Dransfield combines an interesting biography with a fresh perspective on the fleet business.

Simon studied sports at university – not the traditional route into the automotive industry, he admits.

Nevertheless, he landed a job at Volvo UK in the late 1980s – “a beautiful accident”. In 1995, he moved onto the international level at Volvo’s Swedish HQ. But by 2000, he felt the urge for something completely different: “I got involved with a start-up buying and selling cars across Europe over the internet. After a few years I did something even further leftfield: I set up a hotdog business.”

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More business adventures ensued: selling 700,000 motorcycle helmets across 50 countries, working on fleet processes & programmes for the VW group, Nissan & Toyota, setting up international distribution networks for various companies. “An amazing journey,” says Simon. Eventually, he circled back to automotive, joining JLR in 2010.

Simon Dransfield, General Manager Fleet & Business at Jaguar Land Rover Europe.

went back a third time and, because of my persistence, they gave in and let me join. I was absolutely determined to prove myself and although I was not the most talented gymnast in the club, I worked hard and in time, I achieved success. I learned a valuable lesson; hard work, commitment and determination earn respect and reap rewards. I took that experience with me into the corporate environment and it has served me well. I try to lead by example, encouraging my team to give of their best at all times. It’s worked and I’m incredibly proud of the team I’m part of.”

What was your specialty as a gymnast?

“The pommel horse. I did up to 28 hours of gymnastics a week whilst doing my A levels and degrees. A couple of my friends joined the Cirque du Soleil, but I wasn’t quite good enough. But maybe I found my true forte in selling cars.”

Looking at your resumé, I can’t help thinking: this guy likes a challenge.

What also strikes me about your resumé is the international dimension. An accident?

“When I was very young, from age 5 to 10, I was a swimmer. But I hated the training. So I asked my dad to find the nearest gymnastics club in York. I did some tests, and I was terrible. I went back. Again, they didn’t let me join. I

“No. Back at Volvo UK, I knew I wanted to do things at international level, but I wasn’t really qualified. So it was a bit of a risk for Volvo to give me that role, but I immediately felt I was ‘home’.

One of the best things about this job

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at international level is the chance to meet people with different outlooks.”

When exactly did you start in your current role at JLR? “I joined JLR in 2010 when they were getting back into the fleet business.

Because everything was new, I was able to write my own job description during the consultation process. And things kicked off in 2011, on St Patrick’s Day (17 March, ed.) to be exact.”

“It really was creating something from nothing: determining how we would go about positioning JLR in the fleet market. I was given an insight into some of the product that would be coming to market over the next two to three years, and that gave me confidence, despite the difficult environment of that moment.”

“DRIVING MORE, NOT LESS” Simon is a family man. Like his career, his family is international too: he lives with his wife and youngest child, a 15-year-old son, in Frankfurt. Two older daughters live in Scotland.

In those eight years, what’s the achievement that you’re proudest of?

“To have made JLR a viable partner for corporate fleets. Another thing I’m very proud of is the people in my team: how they’ve grown to being really capable professionals on their own career path.

They’re the leaders of the future.”

Simon Dransfield and his wife, who works in social services.

“I’m not always great on compromise because too many opinions can make you lose direction. You’ve got to be confident, set priorities and go for it.

That means sometimes you don’t take everybody along, and things can go slow. That can be frustrating.”

“On the other hand: I wouldn’t want to have only people like me working for me. We need different shades of opinion, not just black and white. That’s the only way to get a complete picture.”

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far?

“Find your passion and follow it. If you’re in an environment that’s not giving you that opportunity, try finding something that you do love, with people you love being around. Just work out what makes you happy and don’t listen too much to the specialists. Today specialists know the history of our business, but they don’t necessarily hold the knowledge and vision of tomorrow.”

Pot of gold “My wife’s career is in social services.

My youngest daughter is a mentalhealth professional, the oldest works in a charity for the long-term unemployed. So they’re all on the social rather than the commercial side of things. I think that’s fantastic: they’re helping engage and support a wide spectrum of society that sometimes is not part of the corporate world or necessarily on our agenda. It is critical to reflect how we distribute wealth and take responsibility for our communities. This outlook is a perfect fit with the Tata Group and how we wish to take the lead in our social impact across the globe.”

A Brit abroad “I went home for Christmas, and it was great to be with family and friends. Living abroad makes you realise how important those relationships are. And I miss golf, absolutely! Back in Scotland, it’s a sport

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for everyone. Golf means something else here in Germany.”

Hobbies (when not golfing) “I collect art – Scottish art, mainly.

I love music. Food and wine. And family – that’s where I get my biggest enjoyment.”

Wine recommendation “Let’s go with red. I would say Sassicacia from Italy, and Château Musar, a fantastic Lebanese wine.”

Owning and driving cars “I’m sure there’ll come a time when it won’t be reasonable anymore to own one, in certain areas at least. But some of my ambitions still involve driving a lot: I want to drive from the top of South America all the way down to the bottom of Chile. And all the way across Africa. So actually, I’m looking forward to driving more, not less (laughs).”

FLEET EUROPE #104

What’s the hardest part of your job?

MAAS

SOMO, ADDING THE SOCIAL SIDE TO MAAS @StevenSchoefs

After Uber and Lyft, Here Mobility is launching its own social smartphone app for carpooling, SoMo. “We are convinced that mobility sharing based on social contact is much more efficient than any other form of shared mobility,” says Irit Singer, Head of Marketing at Here Mobility.

“People want to share rides with people they trust, and they want total freedom to decide who they ride with and how they get there.” With the launch of SoMo, short for Social Mobility, Here Mobility offers a ridesharing, all-in-one travel app, which can be your next option to head out instead of taking an Uber or Lyft. “SoMo eases the communication around the complexity of arranging shared rides with people you want to share rides with.”

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However, it is essentially a carpooling app, so the driver and you will be going in the same direction anyway, rather than creating an on-demand ride as with ride-hailers. This is an issue that has been causing a lot of backlash for ride-hailers, since studies suggest that they actually create more traffic congestion by adding more cars on the road than they reduce it.

The difference with most other digital mobility solutions is that these are focusing on building a customer base around their service alone. “We have opened up to the market to create a real mobility platform that is neutral and that democratises the mobility ecosystem.” Today more than 500 companies in ride, bike, limo services, public transport and even helicopters are part of the Here Mobility marketplace.

SoMo adds a social layer to shared mobility.

Since January 2019, SoMo has been available in 15 cities, including Los Angeles, Amsterdam, London and Barcelona, but also cities like Nice, Helsinki, Brussels, Athens, Piraeus and the Hague. “Each month we add between 5 and 10 cities, with the ambition to have our app operational in 350 cities across the globe.”

Gathering together It all starts with the creation of a ‘Gathering’, a SoMo user indicating that they are heading to a particular destination on a particular date. All those who are willing to join them – if they made the event public – can sign up and join the ride. The SoMo app will automatically adapt the route to pick up the other travellers.

Easy commuting If you want to keep it to a select group, you create a private event and only invite those who you want to join the ride, like your colleagues for your commute to work. As a result, SoMo can actually function as Carpooling 2.0, and make commuting smooth and easy with a click on your smartphone. “We do believe our service will be successful in a corporate environment, too, as this is a gathering by itself,” confirms Irit Singer.

If you missed the ride or the car was fully booked already, but you still want 42

to head in that direction, then SoMo can book you a taxi to the gathering as well, since the app is connected to various taxi services.

Heading to an event or to work now?

SoMo is already available for iOS and Android, in English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese (Brazilian).

CONNECTED CES

THE SMARTEST FLEET @StevenSchoefs

The evolution of fleet and mobility management was showcased at CES 2019 Las Vegas, in January 2019. Five innovations to watch out for that will make your corporate mobility smarter. & Safer cities 1 Smarter (Mobileye)

“Mobileye’s Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) technology helps autonomous vehicles make safer decisions based on high accuracy maps, in partnership with the British mapping agency Ordnance Survey, that will result in smarter and safer roads and cities.

delivery 3 Seamless (Continental)

Together, robots and autonomous vehicles create a seamless delivery system which will be allowed in traffic-restricted areas and which can perform deliveries when you are not at home.

Continental’s Seamless Mobility Vision lets driverless vehicles, the Continental Urban Mobility Experience (CUBE), carry delivery robots, perfectly suited for a future with growing e-commerce and urbanisation.

3. Seamless delivery (Contintental)

5 Mobility Pod (Milla)

The Milla Mobility Pod meets the urban mobility needs of the future: small, electric, shared and driverless transport. The pods will be able to enter traffic-restricted zones without adding to traffic congestion, carrying its passengers flexibly and conveniently to their destinations. A pilot for the Milla will be launched in the summer of 2019 in Vélizy, France.

1. Smarter & Safer cities (Mobileye)

2 Emotive Driving (Kia)

4. Remote Vehicle Updating Service (Harman & Cybellum)

Vehicle Updating 4 Remote Service (Harman & Cybellum)

In a partnership with Cybellum, Harman equipped its Remote Vehicle Updating Service or Over-the Air (OTA) offering with a new cybersecurity add-on. For the 23 OEMs who are already counting on Harman’s OTA – good for 30 million connected vehicles – the add-on can mean automated scanning for cybersecurity vulnerabilities and shortening of response time from identification to full recovery of the threat.

2. Emotive Driving (Kia)

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5. Mobility Pod (Milla)

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Emotive Driving, the next level of autonomous driving? Kia presented its Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving (R.E.A.D) System, the world’s first emotional AI-based and interactive in-cabin space centred on human senses. KIA’s AI-based emotional intelligence combines virtual touchtype gesture control, facial expression recognition and even music-response vibration seats.

SHARED MOBILITY

TO SCOOTER OR NOT TO SCOOTER Fien Van den Steen

A year ago, nobody would have considered commuting with an e-scooter. Today, the small vehicles are taking over the streets and the time is right to consider including them in your mobility plan.

E-scooters may have popped up overnight, they are joining the group of micromobility transport. Comparable with dockless and shared bikes, e-scooters are small, often foldable vehicles that close the gap between walking and driving. They are faster than walking but small and agile, so you can bypass traffic congestion. At the same time, they are cheap and easy to handle.

Because all of that, they provide a perfect last-mile solution for many citizens and commuters, especially in traffic-congested and traffic-restricted areas.

Moreover, the e-scooters are smart guys, as they are easily accessible via a smartphone application, so you can both locate the device and pay for your ride. After the ride, you can park and leave them behind anywhere you want. Nevertheless, this free-floating aspect has already provoked a lot of backlash by other road users and public authorities.

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The Big Three Most of the scooter companies started from scratch. They created a new industry surfing on the wave of rising micromobility and shared economy. Yet in the short time since their creation, many of them blossomed into billion-dollar companies, such as Taxify, Bird, Lime and Skip (cf. box-out).

The success of the business did not go unnoticed by other mobility companies. Some big players gained an interest and found a way to get involved in the new-born industry. The big ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft set up their own scooter department, while OEM Ford even acquired scooter sharing company Spin.

This kind of dynamics demonstrate how the shared scooters will not disappear as suddenly as they appeared.

Actually, they are gaining significant value, despite the legislative hassle and sometimes even aggressive backlash they face in some cities. Not only the scooters are agile, so are the scooter companies behind them, who are finding new ways to establish their position in the mobility landscape.

Saving time and money So why should you scooter to work?

First of all, the e-scooter fills in the gap of the distances which are too short to drive, but too long to walk. Therefore, they provide the perfect last-mile solution.

Moreover, most of the shared scooters are located near transit hubs and are easy to localise via a smartphone application, similarly to shared bike systems. As such they can easily fill in any gap of a multimodal commute chain. From car park to railway station, from metro station to office, between

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two buses or from home to another transport hub.

Because of their ease of use, they can save you significant amounts of time and money, which would be wasted in traffic jams otherwise.

In the pocket If you arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really into shared mobility, you could even get your own scooter which offers the same convenience, as it is easily foldable, storable and carriable â&#x20AC;&#x201C; some models come in a handy backpack. For the same foldability they tackle any parking hassle, save parking spaces at the office, while saving time in finding parking spaces on the road.

Bright future Eventually, e-scooters might turn out be future-proof, since they avoid traffic congestion. As such, they allow you to save time and money which would be wasted in traffic jams, while providing an environmentally friendly solution. The environmental credentials

Easy, agile, green, and city-friendly: why an e-scooter commute could become your preferred commute.

Scooter Leasing Besides signing up for a public shared scooter model, or buying privately owned scooters, there is a third option dedicated to companies. Scootersharing company Lime, for instance, has a dedicated corporate option, called Lime Business Network, which delivers a tailor-made corporate scooter sharing plan with Lime scooters.

Moreover, leasing company ALD will start leasing e-scooters as part of a multimodal leasing contract, or as a separate scooter leasing contract.

Depending on the specific needs of the company, ALD offers various scooter models, which can reach up to

18km/h. Depending on the model, the range could go from 50km to 70km, making them capable of bridging larger distances for the employee who lives outside the city centre.

It might become clear that scooters are here to stay, and there are many reasons and ways they can be incorporated in and even enhance a corporate fleet.

$1 billion Several scooter start-ups have surpassed the $1 billion value.

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UNICORNS The scooter might look like a small toy for adults, it is definitely a valuable one. In the short time since they first popped up, several scooter start-ups have surpassed the critical limit of $1 billion value, which makes them ‘unicorns’. The Santa Monica-based scooter and bike sharing company Bird doubled its valuation in a couple of months to $2 billion, while Lima reached a $1.1 billion valuation only one year and a half after its launch. The other scooter giant, Skip Scooters is on its way, being valued at about $100 million.

Source: Vox

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will become all the more important since more cities are introducing traffic restriction zones to cope with air pollution and climate change goals.

These restrictions won’t stop a scooter, while they will stop more polluting and bigger transportation modes, like a personal car.

SAFETY

MEET YOUR NEW MOBILE PA Mark Sutcliffe

In-car Virtual Personal Assistants are turning from science fiction into reality. They are set to increase productivity while keeping company car drivers safer on the road.

“Hey Siri, can you re-route around the motorway queues, reschedule my meeting with Rex at RCP for 3.30pm and text my wife to say I’ll be home late.”

A decade ago, when wireless handsfree car phones were still a pretty neat idea, this sort of voice-activated control was the stuff of sci-fi. Today, a smartphone’s voice-activated Virtual Personal Assistant can take care of these complex tasks without the driver needing to take their hands off the wheel.

And yet the technology that makes this possible is still in its infancy, with further huge strides likely to be made over the next decade. Within the next few years, it’s highly likely that the vast array of fiddly buttons or touchscreen menus will give way to voice-activated controls, making driving significantly safer as an increasingly intelligent Virtual PA takes care of the basics, allowing the driver to concentrate on the road.

Off the shelf or bespoke Many of the OEMs are integrating Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s voice-activated interfaces into their in-car infotainment systems without any requirement for a mobile device. To date, much of this integration with existing proprietary interfaces like CarPlay, Alexa, and Cortana has taken place in smaller cars aimed at the ‘constantly connected’ millennial generation, but business customers are starting to comprehend the productivity potential of connected in-car tech.

Pure technology companies have been making much of the running in this area, but the automotive OEMs are also muscling in on the action and developing their own bespoke solutions. BMW and Mercedes have both unveiled in-car assistants and some of their competitors are set to follow suit in a rapidly evolving sector which, according to Grand View Research, is predicted to be worth ¤59 billion by 2025.

At the most basic level, in-car digital assistants can explain every aspect of the vehicle’s functioning and operation to new drivers – rendering the traditional driver manual virtually obsolete.

But the more advanced systems also allow drivers to control these systems.

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OEM propositions

Automotive OEMs are developing their own bespoke infotainment solutions.

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BMW says its new Intelligent Personal Assistant will combine comprehensive technical knowledge of the vehicle in which it is installed with intuitive responses to simple questions. Tell the car you’re cold and it will adjust the temperature; tell it you’re hungry and it will find a restaurant; tell it you’re tired and it will adjust the lighting and cab ambience to make you feel more alert.

Volvo Cars partners with Google to build Android into next generation

Grab the wheel

Jaguar Land Rover’s Sayer steering wheel

It can also read incoming emails – although from a road safety perspective, listening to complex requests from impatient customers or demanding managers while driving at 120kmh on the Autobahn may not be the most appropriate use of the technology.

Mercedes me incorporates an In-Car Office which can automatically transfer meeting locations from online calendar entries into the navigation system or dial into a telephone conference.

However, the car manufacturers’ systems will also likely integrate with other proprietary voice interfaces such as Siri or Google Assistant to enable remote functions such as preheat from inside the home.

Audi and Volvo announced a partnership with Google that uses a customised version of the Android Auto Operating System to extend voice activated control to heating and cooling, opening and closing windows and seat position.

“Bringing Google services into Volvo cars will accelerate innovation in connectivity and boost our development in applications and connected services,” said Henrik Green, senior vice president of research and development at Volvo Cars. “Soon, Volvo drivers will have direct access to thousands of in-car apps that make daily life easier and the connected in-car experience more enjoyable.”

Looking further into the future, both Mercedes and BMW are experimenting with gesture control, which uses a camera mounted in the roof headlining to interpret hand signals.

But perhaps the most vivid glimpse of a seamlessly connected future comes from Jaguar Land Rover and the ambitious Sayer steering wheel. This futuristic piece of hightech engineering is designed to seamlessly bridge the gaps between home, vehicle and office.

The voice-activated steering wheel will analyse your diary and calculate the best routes to your meetings and appointments while you’re still in bed and arrange access to appropriate vehicles to get you safely to your destination. If the weather forecast predicts snow, then Sayer may substitute your regular drive for a 4x4. If your next appointment is in the city centre, it may arrange an autonomous electric vehicle to take you there while you prepare for the meeting.

If the evolution of smartphone technology is an accurate benchmark, the next decade looks set to herald dramatic change in this rapidly evolving marketplace.

But the one cloud on the horizon concerns how the vast quantities of data harvested by such an intelligent interface is stored and secured, because in the business world, a significant proportion of that data could be commercially sensitive.

Perhaps the ultimate prize will go to the OEM or tech company that can offer intuitive connectivity and control backed up with guaranteed security and privacy.

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VIRTUALLY YOURS: A BRIEF GUIDE TO DIGITAL ASSISTANTS AMAZON ALEXA Amazon’s Alexa is the user-friendly interface that introduced voice activation to millions of homes. The Echo Auto unit is the bolt-on in-car equivalent, allowing the driver to control some entertainment and navigation functions via voice input. Next generation OEM technology is likely to dovetail more seamlessly.

GOOGLE ASSISTANT Increasingly integrated via Bluetooth connectivity or the Android Auto operating system, which some of the major car-makers, such as Volvo and Polestar, are adopting to accelerate the uptake of their voice-activated controls.

MICROSOFT CORTANA Already established within the business community, Cortana is increasingly seen as the logical evolution of the networked car running on Microsoft’s 365 software platform. Dovetails easily with industry standard apps such as Outlook for productivity plus navigational tools for route-planning.

APPLE SIRI The first widely available consumer voice activated interface, Siri is used by millions of drivers for route planning, sending short SMS messages and now – thanks to a tie-in with Volkswagen – unlock their vehicles, enable alarms and check remaining fuel or battery range.

DRAGON DRIVE Developed by Nuance Software, Dragon Drive is being adopted by some car-markers as a voice interface solution that is independent of the tech giants – most of whom are also poised to launch their own smart vehicles.

REMARKETING

HOW CAR AUDIO CAN BOOST RESIDUAL VALUE @Frank_J_Jacobs

High residual values are essential to keep your fleet competitive. Here’s a method you might not have considered yet: a great audio system. In fact, it’s a double win: “It increases RVs and cuts stock days,” says Harman’s Stéphane Denis, proof in hand.

“I love having luxury audio in my car,” says Mr Denis, who joined Harman recently after a distinguished career working for OEMs and lease companies. “I get to rediscover my favourite music, hearing the songs in the greatest detail and the highest quality possible.”

“And when I have business a call, the Bluetooth system uses all the speakers.

It’s like I’m in the middle of the meeting room. Great audio is an essential tool if you’re a sales rep who’s constantly on the road. And it’s a great argument to attract new talent.”

Argument pro Those are user-focused pros of a high-quality in-car sound system.

From a management point of view, there is the counterargument of higher cost. But that too can be an argument pro, says Mr Denis, director of Harman’s Fleet Europe department.

US-based Harman, part of Samsung, is a global leader in high-quality audio systems, with about 45% global market share in the car audio segment, with a portfolio of well-known brands including JBL, Harman Kardon and Bang & Olufsen Automotive.

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Excellent differentiation Sound systems can be an excellent way to differentiate the vehicles you’re providing to your end customers. “Think about it: they’re the only branded piece of kit in the cars,” says Mr Denis. “Your leather seats might be from Faurecia, the end users won’t

know. But they can immediately identify the on-board audio brand.”

That’s the marketing story. But there is a financial story as well. Harman commissioned independent automotive valuation experts DAT Consulting to examine the effect of on-board audio on RVs. And the results were remarkable.

While many OEMs ignore the additional benefits of on-board sound systems – some literally assign it ‘zero value’ – the DAT study came up with two different outcomes, both a lot more positive.

1+1=2 The first example, of a Kia Sportage 1.6 CRDi at 36 months/60,000km shows how installing an advanced audio system helps prop up the RV of the vehicle. The system itself costs about ¤4,200 new, and has its own RV of around ¤2,200, in line with the 50% depreciation of the vehicle itself.

“In effect, this formula demonstrates that one plus one equals two,” says Mr Denis. Not so with a lower-quality sound system which costs only about ¤250, but has an RV of just ¤40 – dragging down the vehicle’s overall RV.

1+1=3 Premium audio, or rather: luxury audio, has the greatest impact on RVs if it is part of a concerted branding effort by the OEM. As demonstrated by a second example: a limited-edition C segment model, branded with

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the audio system as part of its name, had an RV of 44.3%, half a percentage point higher than the same model without the branding (or the sound system).

“In this formula, an audio system doesn’t just protect the RV of a vehicle but can effectively add to its Residual Value. In other words: one plus one equals three!”

Audio systems that protect or increase RVs: that’s great. But the benefits of great audio extend beyond improved depreciation. DAT Consulting sampled remarketing figures for the Ford Kuga, with and without high-end audio.

Separate from the higher RV for the ones with high-end audio (on average ¤134 more than the vehicles without), the difference in number of standing time was 13 stock days – to the advantage of the high-end audio versions.

“Considering that a car costs at least ¤10 per stock day in storage and handling, that’s an important extra,” says Mr Denis.

Private lease Harman is currently partnering with a fleet company on a pilot programme to provide premium audio in cars destined for the private lease market.

“For end consumers, the quality of on-board sound is a highly persuasive argument – and our lease partner agrees,” says Mr Denis.

High-quality audio can have a positive impact on residual values, but today fleet managers are not concerned about this topic.

“DON’T FORGET ABOUT TCO” improved infotainment system and pay for it out of their own pocket. When it comes to the well-being of our drivers, we give preference to initiatives in the safety area rather than in audio or related entertainment options. That’s why we have as yet not considered whether premium audio can have a positive impact on our fleet spend.”

“It’s true: high-quality audio can boost the RV of your car. But don’t forget that it also increases your TCO,” says remarketing expert Johan Verbois (5S Consulting). “And the latter may outweigh the former.”

When considering in-car audio – or other options – two considerations are important from a remarketing perspective, says Mr Verbois: “One: does it anticipate on future demand? That’s often difficult to answer. And two: how much of the cost can I recoup? Lease companies usually write off options completely, or value them at half the car’s RV. To get the same RV as the car itself, is an excellent result. But fleet managers will always ask, and rightly so: What does this cost me extra?”

Meanwhile, rental and leasing company Sixt can’t confirm whether a premium sound system would have a significant impact on RV: “The standard audio systems of premium OEMs already have such good sound quality that the additional price of such systems would have no beneficial influence on remarketing the cars.”

Not yet a must And indeed, “We at Pfizer don’t have an established programme mandating a premium infotainment system,” says Ivor Johnson, Global Fleet Lead for the pharmaceutical multinational.

“However, in some countries and for some job levels, employees have the freedom to select an

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That doesn’t mean things can’t change in the future, says Franz Fehlner, Head of International Fleet at Allianz: “We currently do not include audio or infotainment systems in our fleet policy, but in the coming more ‘connected’ environment, it could become more important to have such systems on board.”

LAST MILE

MOBILITY MEETS LOGISTICS: THE LAST MILE PROBLEM Yves Helven

The mobility sector has inherited the “last mile” concept from the logistics industry. “Last Mile” means the movement of goods from the last distribution centre to the consumer or, translated into mobility language, the last part of the trip from a transportation hub (e.g. railway station, bus station) to the final destination.

Digitisation and artificial intelligence play an increasingly important role in future logistics, with the development of virtual showrooms, like IKEA Place.

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DHL’s 2018 report Shortening the last mile…, compiled in collaboration with Euromonitor explains how 3 seemingly independent changes have redesigned the logistics industry: • Increase of urban population from 3.4 billion to 4.2 billion since 2008 • Increase of mobile phone ownership from 1 in 100 people to 1 in 5 since 2008 • Increase of internet retail from $290.4 billion in 2008 to $1.6 trillion in 2018

In other words, consumers are more urbanised, wealthier and shop more digitally than ever before. On a global scale, this trend will continue as less than 50% of the Asian, Middle Eastern and African populations are currently urbanised, but are being urbanised so at high pace.

HOW LOGISTICS ARE SOLVING THE LAST MILE PROBLEM

The success of Amazon, Alibaba, Rakuten, Lazada and other e-tailers is directly linked to this evolution.

Shortening the last mile resolves a big chunk of the challenge. Distribution centres are being localised, which means that they are increasingly being embedded within urban centres and

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The logistics sector is about 10 years ahead of the mobility sector and has defined a strategy to solve the last mile issue.

Localised delivery networks

major cities. These urban warehouses stock the most common and seasonal items.

This has an impact, not only on distribution as such, but also on the shipment methods. Traditionally, good are transferred from ships to large trucks (outsourced) to smaller trucks (insourced). Suddenly, the inventory management and storage is being transferred from shipment and warehousing companies to the logistics companies (e.g. DHL).

Flexi-delivery solutions

The logistics industry has been looking to Asia, where localised deliveries have always been part of commerce.

IKEA, in the Indian city of Hyderabad, is delivering its flatpacks with electric rickshaws, rather than vans. Similarly, bike or small vehicle deliveries are becoming the vehicle of choice for last-mile logistics.

In addition, the logistics industry is investing in locker-type solutions that can either be fixed or mobile. A variant of the locker solution is the convenience store pick-up. Much more than in Europe, convenience stores (7/11, Familmart, K-Mart) play an important role for the Asian population: it’s where they buy lunch, small groceries, pay bills, withdraw money and print official documents, such as tax declarations and so on.

Seasonal logistics Creating seasonal events, even if they’re not part of the local culture (e.g.

Halloween on the European continent) and discount incentives (e.g. Black Friday) is a joint effort of commerce, distribution and e-tailers to enhance seasonality. The result is an elastic business model whereby the consumer will wait to buy and the supply chain can prepare to sell and distribute.

Amazon Prime responds to the ‘I want it now’ requirements of the customer.

Seasonality, however, comes with great challenges for the distribution sector, temporary workforce being the most important. For logistics companies, dealing efficiently with peak and off-peak operations whilst maintaining operational excellence and cost efficiency, has become another thin line between success and failure.

Technology Like mobility, the logistics sector is also massively using cloud computing, AI and IoT connectivity. Add predictive software to the equation, and Amazon will not only know what you’ll be buying, but also where and when. A good example is DressingRoom from GAP or Place, by IKEA: virtual reality gives the consumer the option to try out before buying. This delivers 3 advantages for the e-tailer: • They can plan ahead what the consumer will be buying • They enhance the consumer’s readiness to buy • They reduce the likelihood of the consumer returning the item

WHAT CAN THE MOBILITY SECTOR LEARN FROM LOGISTICS? A first conclusion is that all aspects of the mobility ecosystem need to work together; the impact of a single good initiative is close to zero. There’s clearly a need for mobility governance that allows all mobility players to coordinate and become more efficient.

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Next, there’s a need to regulate mobility suppliers; not only on the operations (licenses and permits), but on the coordination between the mobility supplier and the ecosystem and, in extremis, on the assessment whether the solution is needed or not.

The mobility sector misses out on the hub-concept, that is now so important in logistics. The only hubs that are currently in place, are bus or train stations. If urban mobility wants to be more successful, it will need to invest in private hubs or mobility stations that effectively reduce last-mile transit.

Finally, the mobility sector and smart cities need to enhance common usage of big data. It is perfectly possible to predict who will be traveling where and adapt solutions or infrastructure accordingly. A lack of data sharing in an increasingly urbanised environment, means only one thing: more congestion.

$290 billion to $1.6 trilliOn Increase internet retail since 2008

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Amazon customers are no longer happy to receive their parcels “between Monday and Wednesday”, rather they want to chose when and where exactly. Ultra-fast solutions such as Amazon Prime put even more pressure on logistics companies. For example, in Japan, the consumer expects to order drinks and have them delivered whilst picnicking in the park.

www.kia.com

Niro goes electric.

Introducing the new Kia e-Niro.

The latest entry in the Kia Electrified range.

There’s a new EV in town and it’s ready to roll. The new Kia e-Niro comes with a fully electric range of up to 455 km, spacious interior, the latest charging technology, and a 7-year warranty. Plenty of reasons to say that there’s nothing like a Niro.

*Max. 150,000 km vehicle warranty. Valid in all EU member states (plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Gibraltar). Deviations according to the valid guarantee conditions, e.g. for paint and equipment, subject to local terms and conditions. The WLTP combined cycle range for the e-Niro is 455 kilometres (282 miles) for the long-range 64 kWh battery pack, and 289 kilometres (179 miles) for the standard (39.2 kWh) battery pack. The specified driving range values were determined according to the legally prescribed measurement procedures (EU) 2017/1153. The above values have been tested in the new WLTP, Worldwide Harmonized Light vehicle Test Procedure, test cycle and converted back to NEDC, New European Driving Cycle, in addition measured according to the RDE, Real Driving Emissions method.