One of the advantages of our lofty office at our Skypark HQ is the view. When it isn’t raining of course.
Recently I’ve been looking out trying to envisage this: what will the fleet of the future look like?
In 2027 – that’s only 10 years away – will we all be moving silently around in electric vehicles? Will a digit poked at an app summon our car having unparked itself remotely? Or perhaps we’ve given up the car altogether and fleets are operated on a car share basis.
Would you fancy that? Maybe there’ll be flying cars too – see Ralph Morton’s guest blog: Is there room for a flying car on your fleet?
I’ve been looking at some of the predictions being made.
For example, the car sharing firm Zipcar owned by Avis currently has 245,000 members, but by 2025 is planning on that number being 1m.
In Germany, Chancellor Merkel wants 1m electric cars by 2020; by 2040 the UK won’t allow petrol or diesel engines to be sold (unless part of a hybrid drivetrain).
According to Forbes, there will be 10 million driverless cars on the road by 2020.
It’s all a bit mind-blowing when you try to grapple with the numbers, consider the possible changes in consumer behaviour as it moves from owner to user, and what the demands of a fleet might be.
But I suspect all these changes will happen gradually; there won’t be a big bang, a sudden cliff edge. Certainly fleet managers will have to be more alert to changing tastes and will need to react more swiftly to a moving tax landscape that maximises efficiencies for both driver and company.
However, consider this: By 2025, 25% of cars sold will have electric engines, up from 5% today. But most of those will be hybrids, and 95% of cars will still rely on fossil fuels for at least part of their power. Not my predictions, but those of Goldman Sachs from its Cars 2025 report.
That doesn’t sound a million miles away from today. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are becoming increasingly prevalent as more manufacturers widen the choice of drivetrains available, and it’s not just for larger cars: even the MINI range now has its first PHEV.
Diesel still has its place in fleets for those high mileage heroes, but you can see its influence steadily declining as the choice of alternative fuel vehicles becomes less ‘alternative’ and more mainstream.
So yes, the future does look confusing in some ways with all those new technologies waiting to grab our attention and provide future mobility solutions. But for the moment, the future has a reassuring look and feel about it; a future that doesn’t look too distant or dissimilar.
And it’s still based around the internal combustion engine.
One of the advantages of our lofty office at our Skypark HQ is the view. When it isn’t raining of course. Recently I’ve been looking out trying to envisage this: what will the fleet of the future look like? In 2027 – that’s only 10 years away – will we all be moving silently around … Continued
OK, OK, I know this sounds a bit, well, sci-fi. But hold on a second. Recently I was at a Frost & Sullivan conference on Intelligent Mobility. It was a fascinating snapshot of the vast array of connected technologies and autonomous driving technology that will be coming our way. But, let’s be honest, the one … Continued
There are many difficult decisions facing managers of company car fleets. And one of the key issues is this: what is the right fuel choice for my fleet? Diesel has been (past tense) the fuel of choice for company cars for a variety of reasons: it’s fuel efficient, and therefore cost effective; it’s also advantageous … Continued
So the combustion engine will be consigned to history in 2040 that much we know (see my previous blog: You’re fired – petrol and diesel engines get the bullet). While we have been keen green backers as a progressive option for fleet for some considerable time, petrol and particularly diesel vehicles still have their place in … Continued
Mairi tells us about her experiences as a volunteer in Malawi and how Celtic FC Foundation and Mary’s Meals are helping towards a better future for the children of our third world. Describe a typical day for you in Malawi? We would leave our accommodation at 7.30am every morning to travel to the under six … Continued
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It’s July, the start of quarter three, so it must be time for the BVRLA’s annual analysis of the business fleet leasing sector, covering the first quarter of 2017. The biggest news is that the total car leasing fleet (all leasing types), has grown by 11% year-on-year, which is fantastic news for all of us! … Continued
Whatever your political leanings, the result of the General Election has left the UK looking like it needs …well, a bit of underpinning to restore stability. Nevertheless, I just hope that there’s clear leadership moving forward. And the good news, at least from our automotive angle, was that there was some very clear direction on … Continued
The end of June was a key moment for the British automotive sector, and no I’m not talking about all the famous drivers and new cars on show at the Goodwood estate for the 2017 Festival of Speed. No, last week saw the first UK drives for one of the most important and most-loved cars … Continued
The clocks have gone forward, we’ve had some sunshine to tempt us into believing summer is around the corner and..hard to believe, but we’re almost halfway through 2017! How did that happen so quickly? And so far it has been a bumper year for new cars and we’ve still got the Ford Fiesta supermini, Mazda … Continued