Phil Barnes: The road ahead for fleet electrification

Podcast Ep 296: Phil Barnes of Geotab shares insights on fleet electrification, data-driven decisions, cost analysis, and strategies for EV adoption in commercial fleets.

As we speak at the recent Nevo Electric Car Show in Dublin last month, Phil Barnes emphasises “if you measure it, you can manage it.”

He should know. Geotab collects 100 billion data points daily and transforms them into actionable insights.

According to Barnes, businesses should invest in comprehensive data collection and analysis systems before making major transitions like electrification.

“What Geotab does is we’re the largest commercial vehicle telematics company, and basically we connect vehicles with our technology, which gives us lots of data. We collect about 100 billion data points every single day. What we do then is we break that down into usable, insightful tools to allow companies to make better, more informed decisions. That could be – can we change from petrol and diesel into an EV? What’s our range? What’s our fuel usage? What’s our CO2 emissions? There’s a plethora of things that we can help them deliver with.”

Changing mindsets

Barnes identifies three distinct groups: early adopters, those who moved too fast without proper analysis, and late adopters who resist change. He says successful businesses must tailor their approach to different customer mindsets and provide education rather than just products.

“So the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have done lots of hard work in the background to bring that technology into that space, and we’re seeing it now across all of the OEMs. There’s a real shift in that, and commercial businesses are really seeing the impact of more choice. I think that’s the key.

So why haven’t more businesses made the leap into electric vehicles?

“Lots of people do not like change – it doesn’t matter whether it’s in your personal life or business life. If it’s working, why change it? But things are changing. The rules and regulations are all going to be changed towards the end of this decade.

“We’ve got these three groups of electrification: early adopters who have done it (some maybe a little bit too fast without analysing data), then the majority are late adopters or reluctant to change because they haven’t got the time, aren’t interested, don’t have enough knowledge or education, and aren’t willing to change their mindset. Geotab is pushing hard to help educate people – if you measure it, you can manage it, and we can give you the data and tools to help you on that journey.

He explained that Geotab’s technology is deployed in the form of a scan tool that scans the ECU (electronic control unit) of a vehicle’s engine.

“We retrieve all of that data. It could be anything from coolant level to fuel level to speed. I was doing a demonstration earlier today where I clicked a button on my vehicle to see how many bits of data I could get in the last half hour, and it gave me 2,000 bits of information. Now scale that – if you’ve got four different manufacturers with four different apps, you’re never going to be able to measure that.

“We take all of that and combine it into a single fleet management platform – we call it the single source of truth. We give you tools to access the information you want. The financial team might want something different from the transport team, who might want something different from HR or the fleet manager team. The tool is for the whole business – it’s a solution for the business, not just to manage your vehicle.”

Will Ireland meet its ambitious EV targets?

I put it to Barnes that Ireland has very ambitious targets for electric vehicles for the end of the decade. Does he believe these targets are realistic?

“There’s a big ask here because there’s a big change coming. The 945,000 vehicles before the end of the decade – we’re going to fall many miles short of that, and the EU are going to land a big fine on the Irish Government. However, we can do a lot more.

“The Government can do more – not just incentivising through grants, but also the extension of BIK on company cars, looking at government fleets, council fleets. We’ve done a lot of work with these organisations to help them get information and data first so they can make decisions. At the moment, they’re running almost blind thinking ‘it might work, it might not work.’ They need assurances that if they’re going to invest in what seems like a more expensive option on day one – going from ICE to EV – they understand the total cost of ownership. We help them with those tools.”

While EVs may seem more expensive initially, Barnes emphasises the importance of analysing the complete financial picture. Businesses should help customers understand long-term value rather than just upfront costs.

“I’d say Ireland is very mid-table – certainly not the best, and we’re not the worst. However, when you look at countries like Finland and some of the Scandinavian countries who are the best in terms of incentivising, guess what? The returns in terms of number of EVs being sold is way higher.

“Let’s also put this into perspective – Ireland is a perfect climate for EVs. It’s never too hot, never too cold, and we don’t care if it rains. The battery will last. You go to Finland, you’ve got extremities from minus 20 to plus 20 – that isn’t good for batteries, even your mobile phone, but in a vehicle it’s a challenge, and they are still adopting.

“So it’s about a change of mindset. It’s about education, dispelling myths. There’s plenty of opportunity and choice out there, but we’re always about measuring it first – get your data, measure it, then you can manage it better.”

• Bank of Ireland is welcoming new customers every day – funding investments, working capital and expansions across multiple sectors. To learn more, click here

• For support in challenging times, click here

• Listen to the ThinkBusiness Podcast for business insights and inspiration. All episodes are here. You can also listen to the Podcast on:

• Spotify

• SoundCloud

• Apple