Independent reporting on the risks and transitions affecting UK commercial fleets, our own analysis, and a plain-English guide to the terms this sector uses.
Independent reporting on the risks and transitions affecting UK commercial fleets.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders on why fatigue remains one of the most under-addressed risks on UK roads for commercial operators.
Read on SMMT →Road safety charity Brake's research hub on fatigue-related collisions, including why fatigue is so much harder to establish after the fact than drink or drug driving.
Read on Brake →Grid capacity, depot charging and cost barriers UK HGV operators are navigating as electrification moves from concept to commercial reality.
Read on Logistics UK →Coverage of the Zero Emissions Truck and Van grant and depot charging scheme, with industry reaction on what is still needed to accelerate adoption.
Read on Transport Engineer →What we're seeing in real fleet data, and what it means for operators.
We analysed 79 charging sessions from a single UK fleet over one month. 40% of charging stops had an unused window of six hours or more — energy bought at peak price that could have been bought later, cheaper, on a cleaner grid. Nothing was broken. Every vehicle charged. Every vehicle was ready.
Unlike alcohol, fatigue leaves no roadside test and no blood marker. Investigators rely on skid marks, event data recorders and witness accounts — which means the official figures almost certainly understate the real scale of the problem.
The ZEV Mandate requires 33% of new car registrations and 24% of vans to be zero-emission in 2026, rising annually. New pure-ICE car sales end in 2030, and all new cars and vans must be zero-emission by 2035.
Almost no fleet goes from all-diesel to all-electric overnight. Operators who plan for years of running both side by side, with one view across them, avoid the most expensive mistakes.
The harder a fleet works an electric vehicle, the faster its battery ages. Getting the most out of a fleet means managing both at once rather than optimising one and discovering the cost of the other later.
Electricity is typically cheapest when the grid is running on the most renewable generation. Shifting charging out of the early-evening peak cuts cost and carbon in a single move.
Figures quoted are modelled opportunities based on real fleet records. They are not claimed as savings already realised.
The terms that come up constantly in fleet and electrification conversations, without the jargon.
How much of a battery's original capacity remains, as a percentage. A battery at 80% SoH can still be perfectly usable — the number tells you how it is ageing, not whether it has failed.
A forecast of how much longer a battery or component will perform reliably before it needs replacing. A prediction, not a service history.
The legally required device recording an HGV driver's hours, breaks and speed. It records what happened; it does not record whether the driver was alert.
The UK's Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate, setting a rising annual target for the share of new vehicles a manufacturer sells that must be zero-emission.
The systems already fitted to most commercial vehicles — Geotab and Samsara being the most common in the UK — reporting location, speed and vehicle diagnostics.
Charging during the most expensive hours of the day, usually early evening, when electricity demand and grid carbon intensity are both highest.
Charging infrastructure at a fleet's own site rather than public charge points. Usually cheapest and most controllable — if it is scheduled well.
Ranking how trustworthy a figure is: a documented receipt outranks an invoice reference, which outranks a number typed from memory.
Total whole-life cost divided by distance travelled — the only figure that lets a diesel vehicle and an electric one be compared honestly.
The pattern of how a vehicle is actually used — distance, load, stops, terrain. Two vehicles with identical specifications and different duty cycles will not age the same way.
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