Fuel, electric vans and the mobile engineer…
It’s the hidden cost, or not so hidden.
With a mobile workforce, the ever-present cost that is virtually non-negotiable is the cost of fuel. And since it is a done deal that you will be spending money on fuel for any mobile engineer, it is not been looked at as a reasonable area to save cost… until now.
The reason is quite simple. Two factors have propelled the question of fuel to near the top of every Supply Chain Manager’s priority list:
- The increase in fuel cost
- The introduction of electric vans
With the cost of fuel now so high, some mobile engineer teams are now spending into seven figures more than budgeted at the beginning of 2022 and the increase is showing no signs of coming back down any time soon.
What was a difficult decision on the electric vans question has suddenly become a lot easier, or has it?
Should the increase in fuel cost really justify a snap decision to invest in electric vans?
Is the range long enough to genuinely do a day’s work?
Will clients allow your vans to charge at their locations?
How will it impact productivity?
What is the real problem we are contending with?
The real problem with both fuel cost and electric vans is miles travelled.
It has rarely been challenged in the FM and mobile engineer sector how many miles engineers travel. It has been taken for granted that they need to travel to site, travel to collect, travel to hand materials to colleagues and so on.
But the crux of the issue is that many miles are travelled by engineers every year that simply don’t need to be.
The results of this are outstanding:
- If you still have diesel vans (which many will have with waiting lists over 12 months for electric vans) you are paying now 47% more on fuel than 12 months ago for that engineer to travel the same distance.
- If you have electric vans, you can maximise your range by simply reducing the amount of miles travelled.
- For green credentials, many long term FM contracts are being won in part on reduction in transport.
- You can reduce tailpipe emissions on fuel vehicles, and of course save electricity on electric vans.
- Best of all, you can get more jobs done a day.
So on top of a saving in fuel, electricity and a boost in reducing carbon footprint, you can also get more jobs done a day.
Is this a fantasy?
Applying LEAN thinking, you can reduce miles travelled and boost jobs done per day
For over a decade, RLT Onsite has been maximising workforce productivity by delivering lighting, electrical and compliance materials direct to engineers across the UK removing the need for them to collect, eliminating failed visits, keeping them and planning teams in the loop and minimising miles travelled.
So successful is the system that it is giving the typical engineer up to 30% boost in productivity. This is simply due to applying LEAN thinking to the who process of how parts get to engineers and removing every bit of ‘waste’ that can be removed and that includes wasted miles.
So regardless of whether your question is reducing the cost of fuel, whether to switch to electric vans or both, the simplyonsite system is your answer.
The simplyonsite system is designed perfectly for the electric van, for high fuel cost and for FM companies wanting to radically change their cost base.
Reach out to one of our consultants today.
