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The heat is on
The electrification of road transport is an imperative and will play a big role in helping to reach sustainability targets. Operators are willing to electrify their CV fleets and OEMs have made significant investments into the electrification of vehicles. Yet, they still struggle to convert them into sustainable value streams in the form of attractive product, service and solution offerings.
We have conducted a survey to capture market perspectives on the eReadiness of both the demand (fleet operators) and supply side (OEMs) of the European commercial vehicles market. The results help us to support OEMs in defining a winning strategy to ensure short- to medium-term commercial feasibility.
Key findings
Operators are open towards fleet electrification – yet lack personal experience as well as attractive product and service offerings to overcome persisting barriers.
Electrification will not take off by putting the product first – fleet operators require consistent needs-based tailoring of vehicle and supporting service/ solution offerings.
To compete with ‘new kids on the block’, traditional CV OEMs need to vamp up their direct sales to strengthen their brand and allow a more immediate client interaction.
Fleet operators clearly demand comprehensive solution offerings around BET/ BEB covering the entire vehicle lifecycle. OEMs need to more openly embrace clients’ needs.
The design and delivery of digital services requires a whole new skill set from OEMs to avoid typical pitfalls.
Recommendations for Commercial Vehicle OEMs
To drive fleet electrification, OEMs need to define winning propositions along five key improvement areas.
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1Vamp up your value proposition
Define truly customer-centric offerings to fully exploit fleet operators’ increasing openness towards battery electric truck / battery electric bus-related products and services.
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2Reduce hurdles
Provide enough real-life experience to reduce clients’ operational reservations and support their purchasing process with attractive offers and a strong commercial case.
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3Move closer to your customer
Complement traditional sales elements with a seamless on-line direct-to-consumer experience making transitions between physical and digital touchpoints as seamless as possible.
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4Become a solution architect
(Re-)define the e-solution space you want to play in combining hardware, software and services. Venturing into non-core activities might yield significant competitive advantage but also require new organizational capabilities.
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5Excel at ‘digital’
Understand the specific challenges that come with designing and implementing digital business models in the context of an ecosystem of partners and build the skills to avoid typical pitfalls.
Recommendations for fleet operators
If managed well, shifting to a zero-emission fleet can provide promising opportunities for fleet operators.
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1Be proactive
With the tipping point for fleet electrification approaching fast, get ahead of your competition by fully understanding related challenges and opportunities.
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2Take a phased approach
If not done correctly, moving from petrol and diesel to electric vehicles can be detrimental to a business due to increased capital expenditure and infrastructure constraints impacting fleet efficiency.
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3Do the math
Understanding immediate and future impact on operating cost, TCO, residual values and charging infrastructure can make all the difference for future business success.
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4Seamlessly integrate
To efficiently run electrified fleets, emerging digital solutions that bring together vehicle and infrastructure data need to be integrated into existing IT systems and operational processes.
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5Engage the ecosystem
Operators must also not just think about the vehicle and infrastructure assets but the new collaborators required to support them, including partnerships and agreements with OEMs, energy companies, charge point operators etc.
Cornelia Deppner also contributed to this report.
About this study
We have conducted this survey to capture market perspectives on the eReadiness of both the demand (fleet operators) and supply side (OEMs) of the European commercial vehicles market. Our objective is to help OEMs define a winning strategy to ensure short- to medium-term commercial feasibility.
- 60 participants with a balanced sample of OEMs (n=30) and fleet operators (n=30) were interviewed
- Fleet operators from the Transport and Logistics sector with substantial fleet sizes within light-duty trucks, mid-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks and bus segments
- Major truck and bus OEMs represented by survey respondents across key areas
- Phone interviews across key areas (e.g. executive committee, sales, after sales, marketing) based on a structured questionnaire conducted between August and November 2021
- Complemented by in-depth industry expert interviews
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