White paper on managing ageing diesel van fleets published by Fleetcheck

A new white paper from Fleetcheck is offering fleet managers advice on dealing with ageing diesel vans.

The software company says many van replacement cycles are likely to be substantially extended, because of operator resistance to EVs, and predicted shortages of and higher prices for diesel vans.

Fleetcheck commercial fleet consultant Barrie Wilson said that two key market trends were at play – fleets not electrifying as quickly as the UK Government’s ZEV mandate would demand, and manufacturers being set to meet the mandate’s required production ratios by reducing diesel van production.

Wilson said: “The most probable result of these market conditions is that diesel vans are going to become in increasingly short supply and more expensive. 

“Yes, some fleets will start to electrify in response but the indications that we see across our customer base are that many will hang onto their existing diesel vans for much longer.” 

Wilson said that Fleetcheck was referring to this development as ‘Havana Syndrome’ with older vehicles kept continually roadworthy over decades by a high level of attention to maintenance, similar to US cars from the 1940s and 1950s still in use in Cuba.

He said: “One of the key developments we saw post-pandemic was for fleets to extend their replacement cycles. They are typically already a couple of years longer for diesel vans than before Covid and there is now this possibility they could be stretched even further.

“This creates a range of issues for operators of which the most important are safety and running costs, but it’s also crucial to minimise the environmental impact of these older vehicles and keep them looking good to protect your corporate image.”

The white paper highlights four key areas for fleets – routine service and maintenance, defect management, record keeping and data collection, and budgetary pressures.

Wilson said: “There’s no denying that operating vans into probably eight years and longer will create significant issues for fleets and we use the white paper to examine these.”