During a virtual meeting with the media, the leaders of the American NAFA explained the challenges facing their members in their efforts to decarbonise.

Accompanied by two lobbyists working alongside NAFA, Bill Schankel explained that this association of 3,100 members in the United States and Canada was at the heart of U.S. government policies on greening transport.

One of the first observations made by our neighbours to the south is that the electrification of business fleets is not going smoothly. The main challenges remain recharging solutions and the availability of electric vehicles, which could replace their petrol equivalents in commercial fleets.

What NAFA’s lobbyists deplore is the fact that legislators do not understand the constraints of parc managers, whose operations are essential not only to trade, but to the well-being of all communities.

Efforts are being made to raise awareness and provide information to these representatives, in particular by inviting them to meet fleet managers directly in their companies.

What NAFA is calling for on behalf of its members is latitude in the application of timetables on the part of certain states that are pushing for electrification without understanding the constraints of operators. This is all the more critical where governments impose penalties if companies fail to meet their targets.

Right to Repair

Another topic of interest during this conversation was access to data and the right to redress. As here, the Americans believe that when a vehicle is purchased, the owner is also the owner of the data emanating from it. As Schankel pointed out, this data is invaluable to fleet managers for measuring the use of their vehicles and drawing up preventive maintenance schedules.

Inspired by the victories achieved in agriculture for the maintenance of tractors and motorized machinery, NAFA also wants to ensure that fleet vehicle maintenance services have access to the data and processes associated with this maintenance.