Utilimarc at NAFA: Day Two Conference Recap | Utilimarc Fleet FYIs

Gretchen Reese (00:24):

Hey there, welcome to the Fleet FYIs podcast, the weekly podcast by Utilimarc that reveals how you can make the most of your data for smarter fleet management. My name is Gretchen. And every week you'll hear from me or some of the industry's finest in candid conversations that will not only shed some light on over two decades worth of fleet data insights, but also some of the industry's hottest talking points and key metric analysis with the aim to help you better understand your fleet from every angle. 

(00:52):

But before we begin, if this is the first time you've heard our show, thanks for stopping by. I'm so glad you decided to come along for the ride with us. But I've got a quick favor to ask you. Once you've finished today's episode, if you could take a few minutes to leave us a review on your favorite podcasting platform, we would really appreciate it. Give us a rating, five stars I hope, or tell us what you liked or leave us a comment or a question about what you've heard in today's episode. If we haven't yet covered a topic that you're interested in hearing more about, let us know. We would be happy to go over it in detail in a later show.

(01:35):

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Fleet FYIs podcast and welcome back to another daily recap for day two of the NAFA Institute and Expo in Columbus, Ohio. How are y'all doing today? I am actually quite excited to be giving you a daily recap of day two because I thought that day two was very exciting, purely from the premise of the fact that the exposition hall is now open. So we get to see all of the really interesting vendors, all of the super amazing fleets that were involved in NAFA 2022, and here's the best part, we even got a little bit of a sneak peek of the top 100 best fleets in the country. And the presentation I was actually given this morning by some of the folks that made the top five fleets in the country list. So if you'd like to hear more about day two, let's dig in. I think it'll be a good one.

(03:02):

So like I said, day two of NAFA I&E, 2022, that's a lot of twos in one sentence. Um, anyways, day two of NAFA 2022 was very exciting. I for one, I really enjoy the expo halls when they're open at conferences like these. Um, I loved the Utility Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, um, last year in September, I believe, it was the end of September. Um, and I really really liked NAFA 2022, granted this was the first official day of the show with the expo hall open. And yesterday was pretty much seeing all of the booths actually in their beginning stages and being able to be installed and put up and ready to go, all of the vehicles entering the hall just for display and showcase today. 

(03:50):

Either way, it was very, very exciting, I think to be able to see all of this new technology to really be on the frontlines and understand it from every single angle. I mean, you have companies that are putting out EV models that whether or not the supply chain dictates that, if you order them today, they could be here in two years, or they could be here in one year, either way, even with supply chain issues worries aside, it's frustrating, but the technology itself is still absolutely fascinating, at least in my opinion. Then if you look at incorporating hydrogen fuel cells, if you look at incorporating all of the types of alternative fuels, all of it. It's just there's so much technology that's right available at our fingertips, and there's just so much to be able to include. 

(04:39):

Now, there were a few less sessions today than there were yesterday. Like I mentioned yesterday, if you listen to daily recap, day one, a lot of the sessions focused on, at least the ones that I attended, they were focused on electric vehicles. Now granted, not to sound like a broken record here, we all know how I feel about sustainability. It can be approached from every single angle, every single facet of your organization and the root meaning of the term sustainability really means that your organization is around for the long haul. It's not just about, you know, what I call green wash terms of, how can we lower carbon emissions? How can we lower greenhouse gases? I mean, those are very important, but that's not the entire piece of the conversation.

(05:21):

Um, you know, you have a lot of these sessions that are focused on lifecycle and total cost of ownership, and the ones that personally I attended just from personal interest, which were on electric vehicles and alternative fuels, and, you know, where we were a year ago versus today, and this al- alternative fuel electric vehicle universe almost, for lack of a better term, right? And there's so much information being thrown at fleet managers today that sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming. And I'm right there with you. There's a lot of information to take in all the time. 

(05:52):

But, I did hear one very interesting point today. Um, and that was that there are some companies out there that actually instead of doing what you would consider to be financially right for the organization, meaning making the most money or whatever it is, they're doing the right thing that is environmentally, and they are selling their old internal combustion engine vehicles for parts instead of for resale, sending them to auction and then replacing them entirely with EVs. So, there's a lot of different approaches to the sustainability movement, I guess, is the best way to call it. And this is really only the kicking off point. 

(06:31):

I mean, there's so many other approaches and that's just one. The other pretty standard approach is just being able to replace the previously identified candidates with the best, you know, ability to be replaced by EV based on the duties that the vehicle report, performs based on how many miles it drives, based on what fleet yards it sits in overnight. I mean, there's so many that, so many things that goes into it, right? You know, it's not a one size fits all approach and it can be quite complicated. However, one thing I'm finding just from going to conferences like these is that, there's so much more to take in to account than I ever initially thought. And, you know, that's also one of the things that creates a lot of beauty about these conferences too, is there's so many other perspectives that you need to take into account that perhaps previously, you might not have done, and that's what we're all here for, right?

(07:58):

So, I would love to hear your thoughts, and this is true for every single episode but especially when it comes to events like these, like NAFA I&E, 2022. I would love to hear your perspective, your thoughts, your take on whatever you've experienced at the show, especially, you know, if you're at the show and not just watching virtually on the app, which still a great venue for being able to attend the conference virtually, however, um, I always love to hear from people that are at the show as well. I wanna know what you think. Send me an email, tag me on LinkedIn. You can use the #UtilimarcFleetFYIs, or you know, even send me a carrier pigeon if you like. We've done over this. I don't judge. 

(08:37):

Either way, I wanna hear what you thought. Did you like the sessions at the show? Did you hear about some of the topics that you wanted to hear covered? Was there something else that you'd like to hear about perhaps next year or the year after? There's so much going on at shows like this and I love absorbing every bit of knowledge that I can, so toss it all my way if you have something to say I'm always here to listen and until tomorrow, that's all from me. Ciao.

(09:13):

Hey there, I think this is the time that I should cue the virtual high five because you've just finished listening to another episode of the Fleet FYIs podcast. If you're already wanting more content, head over to Utilimarc.com, which is Utilimarc with a C, U-T-I-L-I-M-A-R-C.com, for this episode's show notes and extra insights coming straight from our analysts to you. That's all from me this week, so until next time, I'll catch you later.