Applications for new board member positions are being invited by the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).
To support its ongoing expansion, the industry body plans to add two fleet operators to its current 14-member board.
Paul Hollick, chair at the AFP, said: “The AFP is experiencing continued growth both in its membership and the scope of its activities. This is very welcome but is placing increased pressure on our board and we are looking for more experts to share the workload.
“Being an AFP board member is deeply rewarding. It brings the opportunity to make a genuine difference to our sector, becoming involved with everything from raising standards and launching new projects, through to campaigning on key issues and providing advice to individual fleet managers.
“If you are passionate about the fleet industry and believe that you could make a positive contribution to the AFP, we’d very much like to hear from you. There is a formal application process followed by a membership vote and, if you’d like to find out more, we can arrange for you to talk to an existing board member.”
Anyone who would like to put their name forward should create a short biography of no more than 250 words, together with a statement on their reasons for applying and what they believe their presence would add to the AFP board.
Applications should be sent to [email protected] and the closing date is midday on 2nd May 2025.
Confidence is as important to improving consumer demand in the used electric vehicle (EV) market as pricing, says the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).
Ric Baird, board director at the AFP, explained that more needs to be done to make EVs feel as much a secure and sensible purchase as a petrol or diesel equivalent.
“The AFP and many other bodies were signatories to a British Vehicle Leasing and Rental Association (BVRLA) open letter last week asking for more government support for electrification in the used sector, especially focusing on the need to make EVs as affordable as possible while shoring up residual values. This is certainly required.
“What is perhaps receiving less attention – although included in the letter – is the need to create more consumer confidence in used EVs, overcoming the real hurdles that exist as well as the large number of distortions and half-truths in circulation. There is an argument that generating a sense of everyday normality and absence of risk around EVs is as important as any financial considerations.”
Chief among these confidence factors, he explained, were establishing the long-term reliability of EV batteries and making charging as economical and accessible as possible.
“There is a huge amount of misinformation around about EV batteries, ranging from their supposed propensity to self-combust to the speed at which they degrade. However, all the available evidence now shows them to be stable, robust and long-lasting, with degradation generally occurring at a slow and predictable rate. That needs to be communicated.
“What we really need to see very quickly is the establishment of an industry backed battery health check designed to reassure consumers in this respect, providing them with the credible information they need to make an informed buying decision. While the government is reportedly working on a project to deliver this, it can’t arrive soon enough.
“Equally, while the charging infrastructure is growing at a pace, its presence is patchy and public chargers are often expensive. Especially for people living in terraced houses or apartments without the off-road parking for their own charger, there needs to be cost effective, convenient charging provided very quickly.”
A successful EV market was not just about inspiring confidence among consumers but car dealers, too, Ric added.
“There remain car dealers who won’t touch a used EV and that’s a situation that can’t continue. Again, there needs to be an understanding that buying and selling electric cars and vans is something that can be done with certainty in 2025.”
The companies responsible for most new electric vehicle registrations have warned the Government that a failure to support the used market will stop the zero-emission transition in its tracks. Writing to the Transport, Environmental Audit and Business Select Committees, signatories are calling for measures that support household and SME access to electric vehicles, and mitigate the volatile residual values denting market confidence.
Coordinated by the BVRLA and signed by The AFP and a host of fleet operators members, vehicle rental and leasing companies, and trade bodies, the letter calls for support on behalf of the full electric vehicle ecosystem. Signatories represent vehicle demand across private and business customers, encompassing insurance, remarketing, and servicing too.
Registrations of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are on an upward trajectory, led by the fleet and leasing sectors and pushed by the Government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate. The size of the new market (≈2m annually[1]) is dwarfed by that of the used market (≈7m annually1), although current support measures focus entirely on pockets of new registrations. The terms of the Mandate increase the proportion of new car and van sales that are for zero-emission vehicles each year, with all those vehicles set to reach the used market in the months and years ahead.
While most new vehicles are bought by businesses, the majority of UK consumers only buy on the used market. Those buyers currently have no support to make the shift to BEVs, creating a chasm between supply, due to increase by 178% by 2028[2], and demand. This gap has put values of second-hand BEVs under pressure, seeing them fall 50% over the last two years and forecast to fall a further 28% by 2030[3]. This leaves the automotive supply chain to absorb the heavy financial impact of incentivising that demand.
The open letter to the Select Committees highlights that relying on the industry to shoulder that impact on a long-term basis is unsustainable and will see new vehicles become more expensive to access or limit supply. Without intervention, forecasts suggest the UK could lose out on 290,000 new EV registrations in the next two years[3]. Such an outcome would be at odds with the ambitious decarbonisation targets set by government and prevent progress from accelerating.
Signatories are calling on the Select Committees to urgently engage with this issue. Solutions suggested by industry include targeted grants, measures to mitigate the volatility that residual values are experiencing, and the introduction of clear and standardised battery health information.
Delivering the letter in Parliament today, BVRLA Chief Executive, Toby Poston said: “The used car market is nearly four times the size of the new one. Maintaining healthy demand and values for second-hand electric vehicles is essential if we want to deliver a sustained transition. A lack of government incentives or affordable public charging infrastructure means that too few used car buyers or dealers are seeing the benefit in going electric. As a result, used BEV supply is outstripping demand and prices are continuing to fall. This depreciation is costing fleets hundreds of millions and being passed on to new buyers in the form of higher motor finance costs.
“To restore confidence in the net zero transition and sustain a healthy electric vehicle ecosystem, the Government needs to intervene.”
The letter was delivered to members of the Transport, Environmental Audit and Business Select Committees on Thursday 3rd April and invites further dialogue with the automotive industry to develop a supportive used EV environment. Over 25 companies signed to underline their support, collectively representing the majority of electric cars and vans currently being bought and operated in the UK.
[1] SMMT data
[2] Cox Automotive data
[3] BVRLA report, “Assessing the impact of support for the used BEV market
Building stronger, more effective relationships with fleet customers is the aim of a new one-day course for motor manufacturers designed to provide insight into current fleet manager thinking.
The “Fleet Mindset Masterclass” has been developed by industry body, the Association of Fleet Professionals, in partnership with automotive sales, technology and marketing specialists ROI Automotive, who partner with 39 leading automotive brands.
The target audience for the course includes manufacturer corporate sales executives, sales managers and account managers who are looking to deepen their understanding of fleet and the complex range of challenges their fleet customers face.
Paul Hollick, chair at the AFP, said: “For us, the introduction of this training is a win-win. It combines the insight that ROI Automotive provides into the approach of manufacturers with the AFP’s awareness of current fleet manager concerns. It’s very much a bridge between the two bodies and their areas of expertise, sharing knowledge to the benefit of all involved.
“The result is a course that provides manufacturers with an enhanced understanding of what fleet managers are aiming to achieve in 2025 and beyond, and the pressures, complexities and challenges they face. This should in turn lead to those fleet managers receiving a higher level of service through greater understanding of their developing needs.
“A pilot of the course has already been held, and the feedback was very positive. We believe this is a strong addition to the now-extensive training portfolio we offer through the AFP Fleet Academy that will have appeal both to established manufacturers and new entrants.”
Nigel Sandiford, CEO at ROI Automotive, added: “Our automotive clients want to empower their teams to better support fleet managers but have found limited opportunities, so we have partnered with the AFP to create this unique course where they will gain a deeper understanding directly from fleet managers about what they need from suppliers. A day such as this – spending time refocusing on your customers – is invaluable.
“Delegates will develop a solid understanding of the landscape of today’s fleet management, uncovering how fleet decisions are made, how internal stakeholders are managed and how to develop a client proposition beyond just selling a product.
“This isn’t a commercial venture for us – we’ve simply helped make it happen for the benefit of fleet buyers and fleet suppliers.”
More details about the Fleet Mindset Masterclass are available by e-mailing [email protected] or calling 07598 686500.
GROWING PROFILE OF THE FLEET MANAGER IS THEME FOR AFP’S 2024 CONFERENCE
Wednesday 7th May has been announced as the date for this year’s annual conference of the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP), with a central theme of the growing profile of the fleet manager.
Taking place once again at The British Motor Museum, Gaydon, it is expected to attract around 250 members and will be sponsored by Enterprise Mobility and Ayvens.
The day will include sessions featuring expert speakers and panels covering salient topics including keeping your fleet compliant, driving change, data driven decisions, what’s new in legislation – and what’s coming over the next 18 months, and fleet roles for the future.
There will also be a keynote speech from the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles and an AFP Academy awards ceremony celebrating members who have gained accreditations from the industry training body during the last year.
Paul Hollick, chair at the AFP, said: “This is our fourth conference since the merger of ACFO and the ICFM, and the event has become widely recognised as one of the highlights of the fleet industry calendar, tackling the issues of the moment in an informed and practical manner.
“This year we’re aiming to make the conference better than ever. Crucially, we’ll be recognising the increasing role of the fleet manager at this unprecedented moment of change for vehicle operators, showing how our members play an essential position in some of the most important aspects of corporate life.
“Also, we’d like to thank Enterprise Mobility and Ayvens for their sponsorship. Support of this kind is what makes events such as the AFP Conference possible, and we’re very grateful for their involvement.”
Registration for the conference, which is open to all AFP members, is now open and can be found at https://www.theafp.co.uk/the-afp-annual-conference-2025/.
The Association of Fleet Operators (AFP) is calling for an official deferral for MOTs on 4.25 tonne electric vans as some fleets report finding tests “impossible” to book.
For MOT test purposes, this special category of vans is treated as a heavy goods vehicle (HGV), meaning that it has to be tested at one year old rather than three, and also faces a more rigorous examination.
Aaron Powell, fleet and logistics director at Speedy Hire is one AFP member being affected and reports that his company will have to potentially take a number of vehicles off the road.
“These 4.25 tonne vans require a Class 7 HGV MOT test and, between generally poor capacity for HGV testing and few test centres being able to handle electric vehicles, we’re finding it impossble on a practical level to book tests. Our lease provider has spent the last three months trying to find garages with the ability to carry out the pre-testing and source available slots for the test with limited success.
“This is going to have a serious impact on our business because we’re going to have to take these vans off the road and no doubt many other fleets are finding themselves in the same situation.”
Lorna McAtear, vice chair at the AFP, said: “As an organisation and at an individual member level, we’re very much focussed on safety and of course recognise the role that the MOT test plays in ensuring that vehicles operated by fleets are in a roadworthy condition.
“However, it’s questionable whether 4.25 tonne electric vans require HGV tests, an argument we have been making to government for some time. The whole point of this category of van when it was introduced in 2019 was to provide easy access for fleets to an electric equivalent of a 3.5 tonne panel van. These vehicles are simply 3.5 tonne vans with bigger batteries.
“The difficulties members are encountering around their inability to book MOT testing only emphasises this confusion. While the situation is being resolved, we would like to see government and the official bodies involved introduce some form of dispensation, similar to that created during the pandemic, allowing fleets to defer tests for a period of perhaps six or 12 months on 4.25 tonners for the first and second year of testing, giving them time to find and book testing facilities. It is disappointing that businesses working in good faith to electrify their light commercial vehicle operations are being affected in this manner.”
She added that despite a willingness on the part of government to try and overcome issues surrounding 4.25 tonne vans, problems remained.
“As a result of discussions between the Office for Zero Emissions, Driver Vehicle Standards Authority and Department for Transport, the operation of these vans on a practical level is often difficult for fleets due to confusion over whether they have been deregulated from all of the operator responsibilities that normally apply to vans over 3.5 tonnes.
“The government is aware of this and is trying to resolve the situation through the current consultation because there remains widespread belief that the 4.25 tonne concept remains worth pursuing as a means of speeding up van electrification. However, this process is taking time.”
A new service from the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) that enables businesses to tap into the knowledge and skills of experienced fleet operators is being launched this week.
Called AFP Fleet Intelligence, it is designed to meet what the industry body describes as growing demand for fleet know-how, while providing a new channel for members to make their skills more widely available.
Paul Hollick, chair at the AFP, said: “For the first time, this service positions us as a provider of fleet expertise rather than a supporting body to fleet professionals, and we see it as a natural extention of our activities.
“We are increasingly approached by organisations looking for services of this kind, and Fleet Intelligence means we can matchmake those businesses with experienced AFP fleet operator members in a structured manner.
“The microsite lists the skills and experience of each consultant, enabling businesses to identify the right expert for their needs.”
He said AFP Fleet Intelligence could provide support when it came to strategies, products and services for anyone from start-ups to long established businesses.
“The service is open to all, be it a small business that needs a couple of hours of advice about an element of their fleet, through to a major service provider who wants to research the viability of a new product or service. The expertise we offer can meet just about any requirement of this type.”
The microsite can be found at www.theafp.co.uk/fleet-intelligence and the cost for consultancy is £100 per hour, £350 for a half day, and £700 for a full day. Experts initially listed include Chris Connors, Stuart Conway, Martin Edgecox, Debbie Floyde, Julie Madoui, Matt Neale, Elaine Pringle and Rob Simister.
A new Public Sector Fleet Operator Working Group is being launched by the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) and will meet for the first time in January.
Led by AFP board member and national fleet manager at National Highways, Martin Edgecox, it is intended to provide an opportunity to discuss the particular concerns facing public sector fleet management.
He said: “Everyone working in public sector fleet management faces quite specific challenges and having a forum to share best practice and raise issues among our peers promises to be very valuable.
“Initial interest has been very high and we’re expecting to have around thirty of the UK’s leading public sector fleets attending the initial meeting, as well as presentations from BYD and Enterprise Rent-a-Car.”
The new group plans to meet four times a year and any member of the AFP involved in the operation of a public sector fleet can attend on request.
Martin said: “There will be several big challenges facing public sector fleets in 2025 but chief among them will be electrification – most publicly funded bodies have a target of completely electrifying by 2027 under the Greening Government environmental commitments – and ongoing budgetary pressures, especially in local government. We’re confident it will prove highly positive to tackle these and other issues in a collegiate manner within the group.”
Further details about the AFP Public Sector Group can be obtained by e-mailing [email protected].
Find out more about the first meeting here: https://www.theafp.co.uk/events/public-sector-fleet-operator-working-group/
You are invited to join us if you are not an AFP member. Find out more about our membership plans: https://www.theafp.co.uk/membership/
Any government help offered to the motor industry to help hit future Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate targets should consider electric van demand as well as supply, says the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).
Chair Paul Hollick said that “flexibilities” reportedly under consideration by transport secretary Louise Haigh – such as allowing manufacturer factory emissions to be taken into account or including exported vehicles made in the UK in the tally – would do nothing to encourage van fleets to electrify.
Paul Hollick, AFP chair, said: “The Van Plan that we launched with the BVRLA and other parties a few months ago explained the demand issues that are behind slow electric van uptake – insufficient public and private charging infrastructure, regulatory barriers, and affordability and availability of suitable product.
“The problem with electric van sales is not so much that they are lower than expected, as seen in the electric car market, but that they appear to have stalled altogether around the 5% mark. Fleets are effectively refusing to buy them for practical reasons and forcing manufacturers to make increasing percentages of vehicles under the ZEV Mandate doesn’t solve that core problem.
“It’s positive that the government is reportedly in what it calls ‘listening’ mode but from reports of recent meetings, they appear to be approaching their rethink from the point of view of helping manufacturers offset limited demand rather than finding ways to dramatically encourage fleets to purchase. We think that creates an unsustainable situation.”
Paul said that only a step change in technology improving the range and payload issues with electric vans would resolve core fleet objections, so potential government action lay instead in areas such as infrastructure, regulation and financial incentives.
“Again, as mentioned in the Van Plan, we need to find ways of rapidly making more chargers offering cheap power available in more places and more accessible to vans, as well as resolving the ongoing issues around licencing and operation of 4.25 tonne vans. Improving these scenarios would potentially create at least some impetus.
“However, nothing changes the core fact that the rapid electrification of electric car fleets was largely powered by massive benefit in kind tax incentives. A similar carrot may be necessary for electric vans to generate the kind of momentum that the government wants to see. Businesses may need to be given a genuine financial benefit to offset the operational problems they experience around electric vans.
“We’re presently in a situation where it appears that many fleets, having found during the pandemic that they can practically extend replacement cycles by several years, are planning to hang on to existing diesel vans until the situation surrounding electric vans improves. Pushing more and more production volume into a market where that kind of attitude is present makes limited sense.”
Plans mooted by US president elect Donald Trump to impose huge tariffs on imported vehicles could have a direct impact on the UK fleet market, the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) is warning.
During his election campaign, he variously promised that tariffs of 100% or 200% would be imposed on all vehicles imported into the US, as well as 60% on all Chinese goods, which would directly affect electric vehicles (EVs) made in China.
Paul Hollick, AFP chair, said that, if implemented, any of these moves could have a dramatic effect on the global car and van market, especially for EVs.
“There seems to be some confusion whether these tariffs are actual plans by the Trump administration or some kind of gambit to negotiate more advantageous trade deals. However, tariffs at this kind of level would effectively make imported cars unsaleable in the US and, of course, there have also been sometimes substantial tariffs recently imposed in the EU.
“All of that production aimed at the US – especially large numbers of Chinese EVs – will inevitably make its way towards freer global markets, the UK being one. So far, the actions of new Chinese entrants have been quite measured but there will be a huge temptation to dump large numbers of cars and vans here at low prices, causing high levels of disruption.
“Quite what the effect of all of this might be is difficult to say. At the extremes, our government might decide that domestic manufacturers need similar protection and introduce tariffs of its own, step back and let the market find its level, or any of a hundred points in-between. The future view looks quite murky.”
UK fleets would be left in a difficult position, he explained, with a domestic market that was tricky to read, and vehicle buying decisions that could be hugely risky.
“On one hand, having access to a supply of cheap Chinese EVs would arguably be good for fleets in their transition to net zero, and also provide a boost to the retail EV market. However, this is likely to come at the risk of stability and a volatile market is ultimately a bad one where, for example, forecasting accurate residual values becomes very difficult.”
Fleets would be watching Trump’s statements carefully over the next few weeks, Paul added.
“The sooner there is some clarity around the situation, the better. It is not a political point to say that what the president elect says and what he does are quite often two different things but it seems likely that, given the extent to which he has spoken about tariffs during his campaign, this is not an issue that is going to go away.
“The truth is that tariffs imposed by a major western economy of the scale being promised are almost unknown in modern times and it is difficult, if not impossible, to forecast the impact. However, it’s also true that some economists are making quite dire predictions. We await the outcome with some trepidation.”