C.R. England

AMERIT FLEET SOLUTIONS AND FLEET FINANCIALS PRESENT

C.R. EnglandOptimizes Fuel Effi ciency

EXCLUSIVELY FOR TOP FLEETS IN NORTH AMERICAVOL. 3

WHY YOU SHOULD DEMAND

ACCURATE FLEET DATA

CLEANER HEAVY-DUTY TRUCK

TECHNOLOGIES ARE COMING

FERRELLGAS PUSHES PASTWINTER PROPANE CHALLENGES

How

LEADINGFLEETS.COM AMERITFLEETSOLUTIONS.COM2 LEADING FLEETS WINTER 2014

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4 Leading Highlights

8 Custom Maintenance: What You Need, Where You Need It Through purpose-built Fleet Service Centers and other custom maintenance programs, Amerit Fleet Solutions offers an answer to a frequent fl eet challenge in how to effectively maintain a sprawling fl eet.

10 How C.R. England Optimizes Fuel Effi ciency To utilize various aerodynamic modifi cations and other fuel reduction strategies, C.R. England carefully researches, tests, pilots, and observes all aspects to any project before and after implementing.

14 Demanding Accurate Fleet Data from Third-Party Suppliers Amerit Fleet Solutions outlines the importance of demanding comprehensive fl eet data from outside vendors. Dont get caught with a black hole in your fl eet data and undermine your fl eets performance.

16 Ferrellgas Pushes Past Winter Challenges While delivering propane in the snow is not uncommon for many Ferrellgas drivers, this winter brought extra challenges to the industry with high demand, road closures, and supply issues affecting routes.

18 State of Clean Technologies in the Heavy-Duty Market CALSTART President and CEO John Boesel provides a breakdown of heavy-duty powertrains and takes a look at where hybrids, natural gas, di-methyl ether and renewable fuels currently stand.

CONTENTS

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WORRY-FREE FLEET MAINTENANCE

Business and Editorial Offi ce

3520 Challenger St., Torrance, CA 90503

Phone: 310-533-2400 Fax: 310-533-2503

E-mail: info@leadingfl eets.com

LEADINGFLEETS.COM AMERITFLEETSOLUTIONS.COM

Ask anybody on the street these

days and they will tell you a story

of how diffi cult and dangerous this winter has been. When our country

is hit with record storms from early fall

to spring it makes the little details of or-

dinary life much more challenging. And

if life was hard for the average person,

operating a fl eet in these conditions can be a down-right magic trick!

I am proud that Amerit is often the

unseen hero in challenging times. As a

dedicated ally and partner, our mission

is to support our clients fl eets as they push to restore or continue services to

communities hardest hit by the savage

storms. We know fi rst hand that extreme conditions never sleep, and so neither

do we. When the weather gets tough,

our team gets going.

I would like to recognize the efforts of

the Amerit teams across the 20+ states

hit hardest by storms this winter. They

worked tirelessly around the clock to re-

pair and return downed vehicles to ser-

vice, keep generator pools running and

they even delivered fuel to fl eet vehicles when no one else would.

At Amerit, we pride ourselves on our

outstanding dedication to servicing our

customers. It is our mission to make the

challenging business of running a fl eet

in the worst winter on record, a little

easier. The Amerit employees who went

above and beyond the call embody the

very best of what we all aspire to: dedi-

cation, service, excellence.

This issue of Leading Fleets is packed full of information and articles that we

hope will act as a resource for you as

you make decisions for the coming

year and beyond. On page 16 you can

read about how Ferrellgas managed

its propane delivery fl eet to meet the record demands this winter and chal-

lenges the company faced with diesel

fuel gelling. Then, the cover story on

page 10 takes a deep dive into how

C.R. England is reducing its fuel use

through aerodynamics, idle reduction,

and driver recognition.

If the hardships this winter have made

you and your company think about the

economic impacts of global climate

change, you will fi nd that the article from John Boesel, President and CEO,

CALSTART on page 18 provides some

useful information about developments

in clean fuel technologies. And if you

are interested in learning more about

Amerit Fleet Solutions and how we re-

duce downtime and alleviate mainte-

nance burdens, take a look at our ar-

ticle on page 8. LF

LEADING FLEETS WINTER 2014 3

Unseen Hero in Winter Storms

CEO VIEWPOINT

By Dan WilliamsCEO, Amerit Fleet Solutions

LEADINGFLEETS.COM AMERITFLEETSOLUTIONS.COM4 LEADING FLEETS WINTER 2014

In two electric initiatives, Fe-dEx Express will test fuel cell

range extenders from Plug Power and Nissans electric compact cargo van, e-NV200.

Fuel Cell Range ExtendersFedEx Express is expected to nearly double the amount of service territory of some of its electric delivery trucks once Plug Power Inc., a power so-lutions company based out of Latham, N.Y., completes development of its fuel cell range extenders.

In a $3 million project fund-ed by the U.S. Department of Energy, Plug Power is develop-ing hydrogen fuel cell range extenders for 20 FedEx Express electric delivery trucks.

Smith Electric Vehicles is also a project partner. The Smith all-electric trucks currently boast about an 80-mile charge. FedEx Express has been using Smiths Newton Step Van in the U.S. since mid-2012.

The fi nished range extender will power the trucks with lithi-um-ion batteries and a 10-kWh hydrogen fuel cell system.

Early customer experiences with electric delivery vehicles have been overwhelmingly pos-itive, said Andy Marsh, Plug Power CEO. But only 1% of these vehicles are electric to-day; we think that this range extender provides the added distance and quick refueling capabilities needed to really grow this market.

Battery-ElectricCompact Cargo VanFedEx Express will begin test-ing the Nissan e-NV200 under real-world conditions in its Washington, D.C. service area. This test marks the fi rst time the vehicle will run in North America. FedEx Express and Nissan have conducted simi-lar e-NV200 tests with fl eets in Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

The fi eld tests will subject the van to routine requirements of a delivery vehicle. The results will be used to help determine the viability of using an EV in this role in the U.S.

Rotating the Nissan e-NV200 into the delivery fl eet is part of the FedEx EarthSmart pro-gram, a global sustainabil-ity platform designed to guide the companys environmental commitment in the communi-ties where it operates. For Nis-san, this effort aligns with its

Blue Citizenship corporate social responsibility program with a focus on increasing the number of vehicles that emit no greenhouse gases by ex-ploring additional vehicle seg-ments that EV technology may be applied.

FedEx Express currently has 167 electric vehicles and 365 hybrid electric vehicles in the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and China, as well as the units that will be deployed in Brazil starting in January. By the end of FedExs fi scal year (May 31, 2014), the company said it plans to increase these numbers to 222 and 393, re-spectively. From 2005 to 2012, the introduction of this type of vehicle in the fl eet enabled the company to save nearly 2.4 mil-lion liters of fuel.

Nissan e-NV200 is scheduled to begin mass production later this year in Europe, according to the delivery company.

LEADING HIGHLIGHTS

FedEx Express Testing

Two Electric Technologies

Photo courtesy of Nissan

This FedEx Express wrapped Nissan e-NV200 was on display at the 2014 Washington Auto Show.

Jerome Webber, vice president of global fl eet operations for

AT&T, received Fleet Finan-cials 2013 Fleet Executive of the Year award, which recog-nizes exceptional leadership by managers who have a title of vice president or higher and/or have other responsibilities beyond fl eet.

The award was presented during the Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) 2013 Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. The 2013 Fleet Executive of the Year award is exclusively sponsored by The CEI Group and Fleet Financials magazine.

Webber provides oversight of

AT&Ts enterprise-wide policy and operating effectiveness for the companys domestic and in-ternational fl eet operations. He oversees acquisitions, end-to-end lifecycle management of ve-hicles and wheeled equipment, fuel management, and provides direction for the development and implementation of the de-ployment of alternative fuels. He also handles nationwide emergency vehicle and genera-tor staging, deployment, and vehicle fueling during natural disaster recovery efforts.

A panel of industry judges evaluated submissions for the award using several criteria, in-cluding cost-saving initiatives,

policy setting, creation of in-novative programs, and cultiva-tion of fl eet manager training and management.

LEADINGFLEETS.COM AMERITFLEETSOLUTIONS.COM LEADING FLEETS WINTER 2014 5

AT&Ts Webber Named 2013

Fleet Executive of the Year

The AmeriGas Airborne Team, a propane delivery

volunteer program that has been around for more than a decade, sent 51 volunteers who had put in 765 days assisting 31 districts in need across 15 states, as of mid-February.

Generally, service techs de