The transition of commercial vehicle fleets from diesel to electric will be considered at the first annual conference of the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).

Taking place at The British Motor Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire on May 18, van electrification specialist Paul Kirby from EV Essentials joins the speaker lineup to discuss the issue.

As well as providing delegates with his own ideas and experiences on fleet electrification, he will be moderating a discussion called, ‘The Trouble With Vans,’ which covers the hurdles that businesses face on the journey to eLCV adoption. Kirby has huge experience in commercial vans and electrification and is a member of The EV Cafe panel, a monthly online discussion program that shares experiences on zero-emission mobility, and has worked most recently at the van leasing broker Vanarama, and at leasing provider LeasePlan.

Other speakers on the panel include Colin Hutt, fleet manager of Clarion Housing; Matt Hammond, head of fleet at Altrad; Stuart Murphy, head of fleet transformation and integration at the Royal Mail; and Steve Openshaw, group fleet and transportation manager at Eric Wright Group.

AFP chair Paul Hollick said: “Van electrification is among the topics at the top of the fleet agenda at the moment with many businesses tackling a range of practical issues from charging to payload, and we are very pleased to be able to include Paul and the other panel speakers as part of our line-up. We are sure that they will have some very interesting observations that delegates will be able to take away and apply to their own situations.”

He added that Mercedes-Benz had signed up as a platinum sponsor for the AFP Conference, alongside Allstar and Mina.

“Obviously, corporate sponsors play a huge part in making an event such as this possible and we’d like to sincerely thank the three companies that have come on board in this capacity. Their contribution is very much valued. We’ve already had delegates fill around 60% of the available capacity. Places are limited, so we advise people to register as soon as possible.”

Registration is here and open to AFP members only.