Shell Fleet Solutions Q1 Trends Report, 2024

Matt Roberts, Global Account Manager

Five years with Shell Fleet Solutions, Matt Roberts serves as a Global Account Manager, covering large-sized fleets in the western U.S., from California to Texas. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, working in the region places him at the forefront of the shifting industry as more fleets seek to find solutions to decarbonize their fleets, due to government requirements to find sustainable solutions or simply to find a better ROI on fleet vehicles. Many of Roberts’ fleet customers include those implementing or seeking information on the electrification of their fleet.

Out of the services offered, the Shell Fleet Navigation Card is where he sees the most impact. He assists fleets during the onboarding process and finds additional ways operators can save on top of the rebates that automatically come with the card. It’s this extra step that customers appreciate the most.

“We look at trends, we look for savings opportunities on a biannual basis,” Roberts said. “I compile a report in Excel, then we walk through it, pointing out things such as, "Hey, this driver, for whatever reason, their cost per distance is 10 times than the rest of your drivers,” he said. “Can we work with the fleet to build policy and structure around ways they can save money and have it add value beyond the good rebate and data available to them?”

Once a fleet card program is in place, he says that managers appreciate the dashboard that gives them a detailed view of fuel spend, visualizes fueling across their fleet and identifies fuel misuse and theft. According to Roberts, many managers report seeing almost immediate improvements. It helps that they have the support of their Shell Fleet Solutions representative to walk them through the numbers.

“We start to see reductions in fuel, anywhere from 5 to 15%, if we’re communicating with the fleet,” Roberts said. “That’s where the real savings come from.”

Roberts says discussions about the shift to EVs and meeting government decarbonization requirements are happening more frequently. He says that many fleets need to understand their fleet data, how the fleet is being used, and understand their fuel usage to know whether EVs are the best fit. He will help the fleet through the process of information gathering and will introduce options available through Shell Recharge should EVs make sense for a business.

“We're going to teach you how to use all the tools and the fun ways to sort the data,” Roberts said. “Then we're going to help you take that data and make good decisions around it. And for some, I can very clearly say, the way you would use it, EV is not for you. Being able to have a name like Shell that you can rely on, to bounce that decision up against, is incredibly powerful.”

Despite concerns around EV sales in the retail sector, there are significant signs that EV implementation is robust in the fleet world. FreightWaves spotlighted a report by nonprofit clean transportation advocacy group Calstart that showed an increase in adoption of zeroemission trucks (ZETs), with a “meteoric rise” in Class 2B cargo vans driving that increase for shorter-length deliveries. States that lead the way are California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.

There are several reasons for this shift, including mandates and incentives available for EVs, especially in California. The state’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation aims to eliminate diesel trucks in the state by 2045.

Source: Zero-emission truck adoption soars — and not just in California