Smart vehicles are making a difference in the business by helping field technicians become more efficient with their jobs. You can bet your competitors are catching up to the trend and will use smart car technology to enhance their field operations.
Many businesses are shifting to smart electric fleets because of tax incentives and other benefits. If you don’t want to be left behind, you should consider how your technicians drive and operate.
In this article, we discussed some of the benefits of a smart vehicle for business.
People want to know how accessible the technician is when it comes to field service. Smart cars provide amazing technology integrations that enable GPS use to offer real-time feedback to clients of the technician’s location. A lot of companies like delivery and logistics, use the same technologies to track their fleets.
1. Integrate Smart Technology
Many businesses must allot an available vehicle to the technician and set the route and time of the delivery. Connected smart car fleets have a back-end system that will enable you to make integrations with the car you’ve selected with the customer’s information and delivery route in just a few seconds.
If there’s a work order log from a client, your system will identify the nearest technician and plan the route. Instead of proactively locating and managing every specialist in the field, the smart system will automatically do the entire process for you. This saves you time and money.
2. Monitor Data
Smart cars will gather data and audit your team in the field. Which staff take too long to finish simple outcalls? Which routes are the longest?
The data you get would be quite useful in the long term and short term. With the latter, you can monitor an employee’s car performance every month. For the long term, you can use the accumulated data to identify trends in your organisation’s efficiency, like which areas affect your logistics the most and make the necessary adjustments.
3. Save More Money
One of the major reasons why switching to smart electric vehicles makes business sense is because of the expensive and increasing fuel prices. Electric vehicles have much lower operational costs compared to diesel or petrol vehicles.
The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association calculated that charging with an electric vehicle costs only two to four pence per mile. Compare that to an equivalent diesel or petrol vehicle, you get 10 to 14 pence per mile.
This reflects a big deduction in transport costs for businesses that saves you about 80% to 90% of fuel. If the vehicles in your fleet make regular 100-mile trips every day, going electric would significantly reduce your travel budget.
Smart electric vehicles can make this process even more efficient through real-time data monitoring. Data monitoring and the integration of smart technology help save more money. You can determine which cars are more fuel-efficient and which ones use a lot of fuel but don’t drive far.
This allows you to save more money on fuel. You can identify outdated vans, or inefficient drivers, and get rid of the weak links to improve your fleet’s performance.
4. Redesigning Your Mechanics
Internal mechanics will help you manage the fleet, especially when it comes to big operations. Many smart vehicles also include electric trucks and vans. Hybrid vehicles have different needs from conventional gas-guzzling vehicles, which is why you need to redesign your mechanics.
The need to adapt to electric car mechanics remains a global challenge but you can prepare your staff in advance. Smart electric vehicles will equip your technicians with the knowledge and experience needed to operate amidst this inevitable change.
This helps ensure continuity of service and operations, and that you can stay on top of your business.
5. Save More Money on Maintenance Through Real-Time Feedback
Compared to conventional diesel or petrol cars, an electric car has fewer moving parts. So there is much less servicing and maintenance needed. There are no expensive parts like fuel injection systems, starter motors, exhausts, and radiators that require replacement.
You would still need maintenance for other parts like tyres, breaks, suspension and rotor, but these are less expensive. The batteries will require replacements at some point, but manufacturers generally provide an extended warranty for electric car batteries.
Overall, maintaining an electric vehicle is simple and inexpensive compared to its fuel-based counterparts.
Smart electric cars can help you save even more money on maintenance by identifying problems on their own. Is there a sudden decline in a car’s performance on a regular trip? This could entail minor engine trouble or low tire pressure. Smart data will notify you should problems arise so you can fix them before they get worse.
This proactive maintenance will enable you to prevent costly reactive repairs and save more money on maintenance.
6. Maintaining a Modern Image
Smart cars will allow you and your technicians to maintain a modern image, and this image will become apparent to your customers each time your fleets arrive at the job site. Investing in smart, clean cars reveals a positive environmental attitude and the ability to adopt modern technologies.
Smart cars are already one of the five vehicles on public roads today and they will inevitably replace conventional diesel cars. If your company doesn’t adapt to the latest technology, it will not send a positive image to your clients.
Vehicle telematics data whether connecting to phones or tablets will greatly benefit service organisations. It enhances customer experience and your fleet’s efficiency. Taking advantage of this smart automobile technology makes good business sense.
7. Eco-Friendly
Electric vehicles have immense benefits to the environment because they reduce harmful carbon emissions. About a quarter of the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions have been produced by traditional fuel-based transport.
Electric vehicles do not expel any greenhouse gas emissions. Their emissions are much lower compared to conventional diesel or petrol vehicles. Electric cars also reduce air pollution coming from tailpipe emissions. They help reduce the total CO2 emissions.
Studies have shown that even when getting their power source from carbon-intensive electricity, electric vehicles will still emit fewer greenhouse gases compared to traditional vehicles.
Having an eco-friendly fleet for your business will reflect positively on your business as it shows just how much you care for the environment.
8. Major Tax Benefits
The government has devised several tax incentives for electric vehicles due to their very low carbon emissions. This reduces the total costs of owning an electric vehicle and makes it a more cost-effective option for you and your employees.
These tax benefits will exempt you from:
- Vehicle excise duty
- Fuel duty
- Company car tax
- Fuel benefit charge
- Van benefit charge
Electric vehicles also provide increased capital allowance benefits – a 100% allowance for the first year. You can get the total cost of a van or electric car against taxable profits within the year’s purchase.
Further benefits and changes are coming in the 2022/2023 tax year. In 2022, taxpayers may acquire a $7,500 federal tax credit for the purchase of a new plug-in hybrid or electric vehicle. The credit amount will vary depending on the car’s battery capacity and model.
Learn more about Company Car Tax in the article: What is the Company Car Tax on Electric Cars in 2022/2023
Additional Tip – What is a Smart Charger for a Car Battery?
The shift to electric transport brings a lot of benefits to businesses and the environment as a whole. This shift will have major implications for your business and EV fleets and one is your need for a reliable power source and smart car charger.
To meet the power demand, you need to invest in a charging infrastructure that is reliable and efficient in providing your fleet with power. And by efficiency, we mean an increase in power output at an affordable cost so your business can make some more money on it.
A smart charger is one solution to this problem. It’s an intelligent and safe method of managing electric vehicle charging so you don’t overload the grid and increase the cost. By taking advantage of data connections, smart charging allows the charging operator and utility company to optimize charging through clear communication.
Thus, smart charging is crucial in the smooth transition to electric vehicles because it helps ensure safe and efficient charging for your vehicles. A smart vehicle deserves a smart car battery charger. A smart business like yours deserves a smart system.
Some early smart car options like Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto are already accessible and can be installed. Soon, we will see smart vehicles on the road with built-in connectivity. These vehicles offer huge benefits to businesses.
Pumpt has reliable EV chargers that supply power to your vehicle efficiently so you can avoid any issues and extra costs with EV charging. Learn more about our products and services in our FAQs
