Commercial vehicle sales in the age of zero emissions

By Wilfried Aulbur, Frank Pietras, Walter Rentzsch and Elena Yakushkina

The sale and service of medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles has long been dominated by traditional models built around well-known technologies and proven structures and processes between dealers and customers. Now, regulators are putting pressure on truck makers to increase the share of electric trucks sold while targets for sales of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) are ambitious, many customers remain cautious about the switch. Limitations, e.g. in charging infrastructure, and fleet operators uncertainty regarding ZEV applicability for their specific transport use cases do still exist. This means that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) need to rethink their sales and service approaches as a matter of priority.

Understanding customer pain points

Truck fleet operators have long been subject to a range of external pressures: often low margins in logistics, increasing client demands for timeliness and flexibility, ever stricter regulatory frameworks in Europe and North America and a tightening of the market for drivers, to name but a few. This increasingly pressurized environment has led fleet owners to systematically optimize their operations with traditional, internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks down to the last bolt. Understandably, they are now hesitant to adopt new technologies, especially new powertrains, that risk turning their conventional vehicle operations upside down. From the perspective of truck operators, ZEV technologies still pose a number of operational challenges compared to conventional vehicles.

Decreasing subsidies and the lack of public charging infrastructure certainly do not help the case. Driving range concerns remain a perceived risk for operability and speed, e.g. on overnight routes. Moreover, networks of charging points currently have nowhere near the same geographical coverage as conventional gas stations, putting further constraints on the ability of electric trucks to serve changing routes.

From pure vehicle sales to full ecosystem support

What can OEMs do to remove customers' doubts and convince them of the potential long-term benefits of electric powertrains and other new technologies? And how can they do it quickly and broadly enough to meet the fast-approaching regulatory targets and associated legal penalties for non-compliance?

Classical domains of OEMs such as product cost and performance show room for improvement but are being addressed. An even bigger gap exists in the mobility ecosystem needed for ZEV trucks to be able to operate successfully, which mostly falls under the responsibility of OEMs' sales (and aftersales) functions.

Our discussions with industry experts and experience supporting clients shows that vehicle manufacturers need to provide much more comprehensive support to truck owners than in the past, taking them by the hand and guiding them through the transformation of their fleets. Instead of traditional, vehicle-focused sales and services, this support includes e.g. providing help with subsidy schemes, procurement and installation of depot charging stations, access to semi-public charging, providing truce "all-inclusive" financing solutions, covering repair and maintenance, insurance and address residual value concerns. Such offerings, ideally bundled for the requirements of specific fleet customers, turn financial uncertainties around the technology switch into plannable monthly expenses.

Sales approach for the rollout

Once OEMs have developed support measures and prioritized their target customers, they must work out how best to approach those players. Should this be via a dedicated, centrally organized ZEV team, or through key account managers (KAMs) backed up by specialist teams, or perhaps via trusted dealers supported by an expert ZEV team?

After early testing of various approaches, OEMs appear to be converging on a mix of central specialists and local dealers. Especially for the ramp-up phase, a dedicated, flexible team can be supportive, which at a later, mature stage is then integrated into the existing sales and service processes and organization.

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