EV batteries are one of the many things that may seem daunting to drivers considering the transition from a combustion engine vehicle. How long can they expect these batteries to last?
Know your vehicle
Whilst it is inevitable that EVs are the future of transportation, drivers do have some reservations. For example, the range of an electric car has often been questioned when compared to a combustion engine vehicle. In addition to this, drivers are concerned about the lack of charging infrastructure.
However, these concerns may die out in the coming years. Battery technology is improving each year, meaning vehicles can travel even further. New charging stations are being implemented, with a huge increase in the number of charge points being seen each year.
Speaking of batteries, however, that’s something else that drivers will need to get used to. What is the life of an EV battery, and can they be replaced?
How do EV batteries work?
Electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries. This is a type of rechargeable battery that has many applications. For example, they are used in mobile phone, laptops and tablets due to their ability to provide consistent, portable electricity.
It’s their recharging capability that makes them ideal for electric vehicles.
Rather than using a single battery, EVs use a collection of thousands of lithium-ion cells.
Charging causes chemical changes within the battery. When the vehicle is in motion, the chemical changes are reversed – that’s what generates the electricity needed to power the vehicle.
What happens to EV batteries over time?
Just like your phone or laptop battery, however, the capacity of your vehicle’s battery will decline over time.
The repetitive cycle of charge (when your vehicle is plugged in) and discharge (when you drive the vehicle) have an impact on the amount of charge the battery can hold. In fact, approximately 20% of your battery’s capacity will be lost after approximately eight years of daily use.
Most estimates put the lifespan of an EV battery at anywhere between 10-20 years depending on a number of factors. The lifespan of these batteries, however, is only going to increase as technology advances.
Given that you can expect your vehicle’s battery to last at least 10 years, drivers should not add the lifespan of the battery to their list of reservations about transitioning to an EV.
When the capacity of your EV battery does eventually stop working efficiently, what does this mean? Can you get a replacement, or is the vehicle set for the scrap heap?
Can you replace an electric vehicle battery?
Luckily, many manufacturers provide a warranty. The length of this warranty can vary, but tend to be around 8-10 years or around 100,000 miles. This means that if something went wrong sooner than expected, there’s a chance your warranty will cover any battery replacement.
Unfortunately the battery is one of the most expensive components in an electric vehicle. Replacing it without a warranty won’t come cheap. Currently, the average cost of replacing a battery is roughly £4,000.
Whilst that seems drastic, there is hope! Just 5 years ago, the same battery replacement would have cost just over £7,000. If this trend continues, the cost of replacement might be quite reasonable by the time the 2030 ban comes around and EV adoption in the UK is more widespread.
What can you do to extend the life of your battery?
Whilst there is nothing you can do to fully halt the depreciation of your battery’s capacity, there are steps you can take to encourage a longer life!
For example, you should avoid leaving your vehicle fully charged or at a low charge for an extended period of time. When your battery is charged around 50%, this is actually putting the least amount of strain on the battery. Therefore, if you know that your vehicle isn’t going to be used for a few days, consider waiting to charge it at a later date. Or, if your battery is low, you could charge it to 50%, and finish charging next time you come to use the vehicle.
Using fast or rapid chargers can also degrade your battery capacity if used frequently. Of course, they are a necessity when making long journeys, but it’s worth keeping this in mind if you want to add some years to your battery’s lifespan.
Whilst there’s not much that can be done about the temperature, extreme heat or cold can also put strain on your battery. Parking in the shade in summer and indoors in the winter could make the world of difference in this regard.
Have you considered making the change to electric?
Whilst yes, your battery may lose capacity over time, this does not negate the many benefits of electric vehicles.
More and more drivers and businesses are going to be using EVs in the coming years. Fears surrounding charging and range anxiety are slowly being put to rest.
Maybe it’s time for you to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle?
For fleet managers considering the transition, it is natural to be worried about how EVs may affect your finances. You should be doing everything you can to minimise costs, and this is made possible with the Shell Electric Vehicle Fuel Card. You can save 2p per kWh, access 7,500 charge points across the UK and even use it to pay for regular fuel.
Get in touch today, and we’ll see how we can ease your transition to electric vehicles.
The ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) has continued to grow in recent years, and the initiative aims to bring cleaner air to millions of people living in and out of London. So, what is ULEZ and who does it affect?
What is ULEZ?
ULEZ stands for ‘ultra-low emission zone’ and has been in London has been in operation since 2019. It’s a legally binding initiative which dictates that drivers of vehicles emitting a certain level of pollution must pay a charge for driving in the area.
This charge is separate to the London Congestion Charge, and drivers operating with high emission within the ultra-low emission zone are likely to find themselves paying both daily charges.
What is ‘ULEZ compliant’?
Whether vehicles need to pay a charge depends on whether they meet certain emission standards, measured from Euro 1 to Euro 6. The charge particularly impacts older vehicles that have a high carbon impact – and the charge naturally applies to diesel and petrol engines rather than purely electric vehicles.
How much is the ULEZ charge?
For cars, motorcycles and vans that do not meet the emission standard, the daily charge for driving in this area is £12.50. Failure to pay the charge can result in a penalty as high as £180.
The daily charge for HGVs over 3.5 tonnes is much higher at £100. The penalty for lack of payment can be as high as £1,000.
This does mean that businesses operating in the ULEZ with HGVs are paying hefty charges to operate in this area, especially considering any additional costs put towards acquiring an HGV Safety Permit and complying with the Direct Vision Standard.
Which areas are now in the ULEZ?
In 2023, the ultra-low emission zone was expanded to cover all of London’s boroughs, including those in Outer London.
When first introduced in 2019, the ULEZ only covered central London, and then expanded to all areas within the North and South Circular roads in 2021.
Who is affected?
The ultra-low emission zone applies to drivers of most vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, and special vehicles (up to and including 3.5 tonnes) and minibuses (up to and including five tonnes) that don’t meet emissions standards.
However, according to the Department of Transport, as many as 12.7million of the 18.3million petrol cars on the road at the time ULEZ was introduced were already compliant.
Previously there was a 100% discount in place for residents of the Congestion Charge area, but this discount has now ended, and residents will now also have to pay the £12.50.
Ultra Low Emission Zone exemptions
Drivers of EVs will of course be exempt from any charges. They do not emit harmful greenhouse gases, and therefore do not contribute to the problem that the ULEZ is hoping to tackle.
Most petrol cars and newer diesel cars are also safe from the charge. As a rule, if your diesel car was first registered after September 2015, it is likely to be compliant with the emissions standards. The same goes for petrol cars registered from 2005 onwards.
However, it is estimated that about one in five cars will need to pay. 100,000 cars, 35,000 vans and 3,000 lorries are expected to be affected and subject to the charges.
To be exempt from the charges, your vehicle must not exceed a certain level of nitrogen dioxide emissions. Nitrogen dioxide is a harmful gas that damages lungs and makes life harder for sufferers of asthma and lung and heart disease.
What are the benefits of expanding the zone?
The expected result of the expansion is that people will find alternative methods of travel. Instead of driving, they might opt for public transport or simply to walk or cycle.
As a result, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan states that the city will reduce the amount of carbon being emitted. He explained in 2023 that there are 4,000 premature deaths per year in London linked directly to air pollution.
Given that 60% of residents of this area don’t even own a car, the mayor claims it is fair that the air quality of this area is improved. Whilst the environmental benefits are obvious, Khan suggests that this is “an issue of social justice”, as it is the poorest of Londoners who suffer the most because of toxic air conditions.
The continued expansion of the zone has been met with some criticism, however, mainly due to timing. With many businesses still recovering from the pandemic, their finances may take additional hits due to these new rules. Paying the charge for each of their vehicles every day may prove difficult.
Will your business be impacted by the ULEZ expansion?
If your business operates within the expanded zone, you may find yourself paying the charges if your vehicles are not compliant.
In this case, it’s important to consider what else you can do to save money.
Fuel Card Services is on hand to help any business that aims to transition to electric vehicles to reduce their emissions. We’ve got a selection of EV Charge Cards, and our EV Solutions can help businesses install charging infrastructure in homes and workplaces.
To further reduce costs, we offer a comprehensive suite of commercial fleet services that are designed to save your business time and money through becoming more efficient and cost-effective.
If you think your fleet could be doing more to save on costs, get in touch with our dedicated team today.
Since hybrid vehicles arrived on our roads, motorists have wondered why they are always paired with a petrol-burning engine instead of a diesel engine.
After all, the idea makes sense. Electric motors are very efficient, and diesel engines give you better miles per gallon than petrol engines, so why not create a hybrid? Surely this would be the most efficient vehicle on the market!
However, upon further inspection, it doesn’t seem so simple.
What is a hybrid car?
If you’ve driven on a UK road in the last decade, you’ll have seen a hybrid vehicle. They have been around since the late 90s but weren’t too familiar. They are now becoming a popular solution to the country’s pollution problem.
A hybrid vehicle uses more than one means of propulsion. The most common example is a vehicle with an electric motor and a petrol engine. The electric motor is used at lower speeds, making it very efficient for driving in traffic when stopping and starting. The petrol engine takes over at around 15mph when the vehicle accelerates.
There are multiple types of these vehicles, such as a Parallel Hybrid, Range Extender or a Plug-in.
Hybrid cars Vs EVs
Many drivers find transitioning from traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to fully electric vehicles (EVs) daunting. The prospect of entirely rethinking how you fuel your car, adjusting to new driving habits, and managing the range limitations of EVs can seem like too big a change all at once. Hybrid vehicles are an ideal middle ground.
Most of the hybrids you’re likely to encounter use a petrol engine. Considering that diesel is more efficient, it’s worth investigating why they aren’t paired with an electric motor.
There are three main reasons why we don’t see diesel hybrids.
The cost of diesel hybrid cars
As you have probably seen at fuelling stations, diesel fuel tends to be more expensive than petrol. Additional hardware also makes diesel engines more costly to produce and maintain, often due to parts added to help them reduce emissions. A diesel engine costs around 15% more to manufacture than a petrol engine.
Similarly, electric motors are not cheap. Battery backups, high-tech electronics, and powerful motors drive up prices. This is especially true in current circumstances, with global part shortages driving up prices.
Therefore, combining these two engines would result in an incredibly pricey vehicle. Would the extra cost be worth it?
The complexity of diesel hybrid cars
Hybrids are more complex to manufacture, service, and maintain. These factors combined can make diesel hybrids harder to sell than conventional diesel vehicles.
Stop and start factors of a diesel hybrid
One way hybrids work to save fuel and lower emissions is by using the start/stop ignition and occasionally running in EV-only mode. Whereas, due to the way they are built, diesel engines are the cleanest and most efficient when running steady instead of cold starting.
Diesel hybrid torque
Another advantage of a petrol hybrid is how the two engines complement each other.
A petrol engine outputs the most power at higher speeds, while an electric vehicle delivers the most torque at lower speeds. This means that when the car is moving slowly, the electric motor drives it forward. When it speeds up, the petrol engine is designed to handle the higher speeds efficiently.
However, a diesel engine is also great at producing torque lower down. When paired with an electric motor, there is less efficiency. Both motors are fantastic at low speeds, but some serious engineering is needed to make them work at higher speeds.
A petrol engine and an electric motor are proven to complement each other. A diesel engine and an electric motor simply don’t match that!
Less need for diesel hybrids
There is simply less demand for a diesel vehicle to be hybridised.
Petrol engines can convert 25% of their fuel’s energy into kinetic energy, which moves the vehicle forward. Diesel, on the other hand, is more efficient overall. Some diesel engines can convert 10% more than this. This begs the question, why would we need to hybridise a diesel vehicle if it is already more efficient?
Adding an electric motor would not significantly improve the vehicle’s performance and efficiency. Although it would be more expensive, it would offer a minor improvement. Despite all the reasons listed above to avoid creating a hybridised diesel vehicle, a few are on the market.
The Mercedes E300de, the Peugeot 3008, and the Citroën DS5 are all diesel vehicles supported by an electric motor, though they are built differently.
Which is better, diesel hybrid or petrol hybrid?
The decision between a diesel hybrid and a petrol hybrid ultimately depends on your fleet habits, environmental priorities, and vehicle needs.
Diesel hybrids are a better option for fleet drivers who frequently cover long distances, particularly on highways, as diesel engines are more fuel-efficient and provide superior torque for towing or carrying heavy loads. They offer better fuel economy over long trips and can be an ideal choice for those willing to invest in a higher upfront cost for long-term savings on fuel.
On the other hand, petrol hybrids are well-suited for urban environments, where the stop-and-go nature of driving benefits from the smooth, quiet operation of a petrol engine paired with an electric motor. Petrol hybrids are generally more silent, affordable, and require less maintenance, making them a good choice for those prioritising lower initial costs and a refined driving experience. Looking to make your fleet vehicle servicing simpler? Check out this article.
Could your fleet be using hybrid vehicles?
Moving away from internal combustion engine vehicles is an excellent first step toward helping the UK reach its climate goals. However, switching to electric cars can be daunting, as they require a whole new set of skills to manage.
A hybrid vehicle bridges the gap between electric and ICE cars. You’d still refuel the vehicle similarly, but you’d be starting your journey towards net zero.
As the transportation industry continues to evolve, keeping an eye on your costs is essential. Keeping your fuel costs low is especially necessary to monitor expenses. Keeping important, given rising prices.
Contact Fuel Card Services today. One of our branded fuel cards can save you up to 10p per litre on fuel, and our fleet management services offer other ways to save time and money.
The UK is in the midst of a HGV driver shortage which is having a severe impact on a number of different industries. From insufficient delivery services to supply chain disruption, the whole economy could suffer from a lack of drivers – meaning it is more important than ever that fleet operators remain competitive and able to attract new drivers.
We have covered why the shortage of HGV drivers might be happening in a previous article, so let’s now take a look at what practical steps fleet operators can take to navigate these challenges.
How to attract HGV drivers
There are many different elements to consider in the process of attracting new drivers. Here are our tips:
1. Update your website
It’s important to consider how an aspiring or experienced driver perceives your company. Consequently, you should be looking to take every step possible to ensure they have a positive experience when exposed to the most important channel you have – your website.
It could be wise to dedicate a page on your website to explaining exactly what support you offer both to new and existing drivers. Give them a flavour of what it is like to be a driver within your fleet, showcase the unique benefits you offer to employees, and underline this with the values you teach your managers and leaders – and you could find drivers aligning quickly with your company.
2. Use positive reviews as much as possible
Word of mouth is a fantastic way of expanding your workforce, however it sadly isn’t practical to use this as a mass recruitment tool. The next best thing, then, is likely acquiring written reviews via a popular and trusted reviews platform.
For example, Trustpilot, Google Reviews, and Glass Door are all highly reputable platforms that enable current and previous employees to leave honest reviews of your business. You should always work toward improving the experience of your current driver-base to influence these reviews, but it’s also worth taking this one step further by showcasing these reviews properly.
You could look to use the built-in sharing functionality within these platforms to share reviews via your social media channels, incorporate them into your email marketing, and even feature them on jobs boards alongside your listings. Speaking of which, perhaps our most important tip is to:
3. Create good advertisements
Ask yourself, where are potential drivers likely to spend time during their job search – and what material of yours will they be exposed to while doing so?
Realistically, jobs boards are perhaps the best way of reaching a large number of candidates without requiring too much effort. It’s essential that you put time into meticulously crafting a good advertisement that sells the benefits of your company in a concise way.
To help position yourself to create the perfect listing, it’s also worth reviewing competitor activity to see what kind of messaging they’re putting out into the world.
4. Consult hiring experts if necessary
While it’s often cheaper to manually handle your business’ recruitment drive and to keep that process solely in-house, you may not always get the exact results you’re looking for. In this instance, it could be wise to talk to recruitment agencies who specialise in the haulage sector to see whether you can strike a mutually beneficial arrangement that solves your driver needs and proves profitable for the agency.
How to retain HGV drivers
Equally as important as attracting new drivers is retaining the loyal employees that currently work for you. It can be disheartening for existing employees to see new job offers being posted by your company that feature attractive joining offers and benefits that they themselves do not have access to.
A balanced approach, then, should split attention between recruitment and retention in a measured way. As we’ve mentioned, retention initiatives can in of themselves serve as a recruitment tool, if HGV drivers decide to share positive reviews of your business within their own social networks to help you bring new people on board.
Some retention tools you could consider rolling out include:
Increasing wages to reflect your business’ growth. This is absolutely key to remaining competitive in a marketplace whereby virtually all businesses are struggling to recruit HGV drivers.
Giving your employees a voice. Running regular feedback sessions, planning one-on-one meetings with your drivers and their managers from time to time, and showing that you’re not only listening to but acting on the concerns raised by your drivers is a great way of helping your employees feel connected and respected.
Define your culture from the top down. Building an inclusive, welcoming, and progressive culture in your business could see employees feeling like they’re truly part of a community – rather than feeling that they’re simply selling their time for money to your organisation. This culture is often the cornerstone of your business’ reputation, and so investing time into working with senior management to define what you want your company to represent could prove beneficial.
Credit and reward your employees fairly. If some of your drivers put in significantly more effort than others; enhancing the customer experience, proving flexible, and going above and beyond to support the team – does your business have a process in place for flagging this positive behaviour and rewarding those responsible? Putting a proper rewards scheme in place that incentivises good work and team building could positively impact your workforce.
Where do I start with reviewing my business’ recruitment and retention processes?
Ultimately, there are three key areas to consider improving when looking to positively impact retention and recruitment:
Your business – including your website, company values, mission statement, and offering.
Your messaging – reviewing all messaging across recruitment platforms, jobs boards, social media, and even the internal communications you share with your staff can yield opportunities to improve.
Your current and prospective employees – what do they want to see from your company? Are you taking the time to conduct the right market research, fully understand their needs, and then tailor your job offerings to tick the right boxes for these employees? Doing so may help you edge out over your competition.
While there’s no one solution that works for all fleets, we hope the tips we’ve shared today help you to attract and retain HGV drivers moving forward, no matter how difficult it may seem.
While it would be nice if commercial fleets could operate year-round without fault, that isn’t the core goal for experienced fleet operators. Instead, what’s useful is to understand the range of challenges your fleet is likely to encounter, and how to either take precautions to avoid them or prepare suitable countermeasures that can be used reactively to minimise downtime.
That’s why we’ve created this fleet maintenance guide, which will cover:
Fleet maintenance management describes the process of proactively and reactively resolving issues facing a commercial fleet, with a view to keeping vehicles operational. There are many reasons why this is important, including that:
Having more vehicles available for use could enable you to take on more contracts.
Driver safety is drastically improved by a proper fleet maintenance protocol.
Well-maintained fleets may prove less expensive to run in the long term, given they’re less likely to incur severe damage.
The person responsible for maintaining a fleet can vary from business to business. For larger companies, a senior role is normally allocated to overseeing this entire process. Most companies either build in-house teams to handle key aspects of the maintenance process or look to outsource specific services such as tyre repairs or MOT checks to external providers.
Overall, there are a range of different skills needed to maintain a fleet. Software innovations play a huge role in this dynamic industry, and so developers may be needed to code and improve systems, while logistics is obviously key – not to mention the practical skills needed to actually conduct routine maintenance work on expensive, complex LGVs.
Tips for managing fleet maintenance effectively
With this complexity in mind, here are our maintenance tips that we feel could really make a difference to operators.
1. Document the ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘how’ of fleet maintenance
It’s not only important, but a requirement of every fleet operation that you are able to resolve technical issues when they arise. A more effective approach to maintenance, however, could be to document virtually every issue that your vehicles are likely to face, as well as how to resolve them.
Lean on the internal expertise in your business to get a full picture of what is likely to go wrong with your vehicles. From more standard issues such as tyre punctures or diminishing tread depth, to the rarer, more expensive issues such as a vehicle totalling or a blown head gasket – you only stand to gain by documenting your business’ official approach to these challenges and conferring with your team.
In terms of how best to do this, a simple database of errors including fields such as the contact details of providers that can help, projected costs, and dated, historical records of similar issues could be game changing; improving your ability to react to new issues quickly.
2. Invest in the right fleet maintenance software
For many fleet operators, there is a lot of data to monitor at any one time. It’s useful not only to keep an eye on the maintenance of your vehicles, but also track their routes and mileage. While this could be done with manual methods, it’s often more cost-efficient and practical to invest in a software solution that can help your team focus on the more strategic elements, while automatically collecting data.
At Fuel Card Services, we have developed an answer for this problem. Our fleet services include:
MileageCount – a system for automatically recording and reporting on your vehicles’ mileage claims. This could remove some of the manual reporting tasks your drivers may be assigned with, meaning less admin work and more vehicle uptime whether you’re operating an owned, leased, or grey fleet.
Tele-Gence – our smart telematics solution. This fully customisable solution helps cover all key aspects of your fleet operation; monitoring driver performance, fuel cost management, and equipping your vehicles with the right cameras and equipment to improve safety.
Expert – an online vehicle repair and maintenance portal that can give you access to pre-negotiated maintenance rates at thousands of leading UK garage dealers and independent providers. This solution centralises the billing and cost-analysis process behind every maintenance operation; better equipping your team with the right insights to make strategic decisions.
Having the right technology stack in your business could not only help you save costs, but it could also prove to be an attractive prospect for drivers. Putting driver safety at the heart of your operation is key and combining this with tech that reduces each driver’s admin load could give you an edge over competitors.
3. Build a healthy relationship with your drivers
There’s no shortage of companies that will advocate building strong employee-employer relationships, but have you considered that strengthening relationships with your drivers could have knock-on benefits for vehicle maintenance?
If your drivers are proud of their vehicles, confident that you’re equipping them with the best-in-market technology to do their jobs effectively and feel that they’re able to communicate with you openly and honestly about issues facing their vehicles, then you’re increasing the chances of having issues flagged early on and resolved quickly.
For example, have you considered the potential benefits of equipping your drivers with an easy-to-use fuel finder app that can help speed up their search for a local filling station? Or even speeding up their routine safety checks with a similar type of app?
Making smart choices around improving your operation and sharing your thoughts and priorities with your drivers could help them feel more supported and emotionally invested in your company, which is likely to yield benefits in a variety of ways.
Why vehicle maintenance matters
Vehicle maintenance should be a top priority for your business, and the first and most obvious benefit of a good plan is vehicle and driver safety. Badly maintained cars may be more prone to failures on the road that could lead to serious accidents. Some areas to look out for include:
1. Using a vehicle maintenance planner
There are clear financial benefits to keeping your fleet well-maintained, and the best way to manage this at scale is with a robust maintenance schedule. Having a good schedule reduces the risk of breakdowns or other issues that can force a car off the road unexpectedly- and this type of unplanned downtime can be very costly for firms. It also may mean they have to alter schedules and risk disappointing customers.
So, taking the time to create a vehicle maintenance planner – preferably one that’s digital, features some level of automation, and can be shared with all relevant parties, could streamline your process in the long run.
2. Getting light vehicle maintenance right
Even simple things like making sure your tyres are the correct pressure can improve fuel economy, and therefore reduce running costs.
Therefore, you need a clear plan for what levels of fleet vehicle servicing you’ll look to conduct at different touchpoints with drivers. This must ensure that every vehicle you operate has its own service schedule that’s planned well in advance.
Don’t leave it to the last minute or arrange this on an ad-hoc basis. Factors to consider when creating a maintenance schedule include:
The vehicle’s age
Frequency of use
Mileage
Operating conditions
3. Stay up to date on the latest laws
It’s also essential to familiarise yourself with the current laws around vehicle maintenance, as employers may be liable for accidents that occur on the road if they fail to adequately protect drivers. Research suggests that some fleet operators may currently be at risk of incurring considerable fines due to inadequate maintenance programs.
With the importance of proper maintenance processes underlined, how should you actually go about implementing a maintenance program?
How to conduct service checks
We’ve touched on what vehicle maintenance is and why it matters – but what should a good maintenance programme look like on a day-to-day basis? There are a wide range of checks that need to be performed. Knowing what these are and how frequently they should be done is a vital step in keeping your fleet moving.
For everyday checks – remember FLOWER
Firstly, you must be performing a range of regular checks on your vehicles. Ideally, these should be done every day before setting off, but they should at least be done on a weekly basis or before any long journey. The best way of handling these is to have drivers take responsibility for their own vehicles, so it’s vital they’re trained on what to look for and how to report the results.
There are a few key areas that should be focused on here. The AA suggests these can be easily remembered with the acronym ‘FLOWER’, which consists of the following:
Fuel
Does the vehicle have enough fuel to make the journey? If not, make sure you know where you can use your fuel card to fill up. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often it’s overlooked, and running dry can cause big problems – especially in the winter or for diesel vehicles.
Lights
Are all the bulbs working? Brake lights, indicators and headlights are especially vital. Therefore, have someone walk around the vehicle to make sure they not only work, but can be easily seen. This means clearing away any debris or mud that could obscure them.
Oil
Check your dipstick to ensure your oil level is between the minimum and maximum marks on the stick. If not, you could be running the risk of serious engine damage. This is also a very common problem, as the RAC notes one in three vehicles it’s called out to have dangerously low oil levels.
Water
Make sure your screen wash reservoir is topped up regularly. This is important year-round, but especially so in winter when grit, snow and mud can all smear your windscreen. Even in summer, bugs and pollen can hamper your view, so don’t run the risk of an empty water bottle.
Electrics
Aside from your lights, you should also check other electrics such as your battery. Make sure the connections are clean and tight and use a battery monitor to check its health. It’s a good idea to keep a set of jump leads in each vehicle – or at least on hand at your site – if you have a flat battery. The most common cause of this is leaving lights on, but this issue can also occur if the car hasn’t been used for a while or is used mainly for very short trips with lots of stopping and starting.
Rubber
Making sure your tyres are in good condition is also essential. This involves several steps. Firstly, make sure they’re set to the right pressure as specified in the vehicle manual. Using a pressure gauge is a good idea for this. Then, check the tread depth meets minimum requirements. The treads should be at least 1.6mm deep – that’s about the size of the rim on a 20p piece if you’re not sure. Finally, check the tyres for any other signs of wear or damage, such as cuts, splits, or bulges.
If the daily checks spot any issues with these components, they should be immediately flagged up for maintenance or repair before the car is sent out on to the road.
Conducting longer-term checks for vehicles
A timeframe should also be laid out for more comprehensive servicing, or this could be conducted once a vehicle surpasses a fixed number of miles. This should go into more depth on a range of maintenance issues, including:
Coolant
Air filter
Spark plugs (for petrol vehicles)
Brakes
Transmission fluid
Serpentine belt
Keeping your vehicles in good working order is an essential part of any fleet manager’s job. While some of the day-to-day work can be delegated to individual drivers, it’s still vital that you have a clear plan in place. This means undertaking frequent checks of key systems and a regular vehicle service schedule for more comprehensive car maintenance.
We hope this guide has helped to develop your understanding of fleet maintenance and give you some ideas around how you could fine tune your operation.
How can Fuel Card Services help?
At Fuel Card Services, we specialise in fleet maintenance and have developed a full suite of tools that you can use to become more cost-effective in your operations. Every good fleet management operation requires a desire to both protect drivers and profits, the right people in place, and the right technology to make an efficient operation possible.
To see how we can support you with the right technology, including advanced telematics, view our range of fleet services today, and get in touch with one of our friendly experts for a tailored quote.
