Fleet electrification is a rapidly growing trend, as businesses and governments look to reduce their carbon emissions and improve local air quality. As electric vehicles (EVs) become more affordable and operationally capable, more and more fleet profiles are becoming perfect candidates to transition to electric.
In this article, we look at the fleet profiles that with the new breed of electric cars and electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs), are ideally placed to make the switch.
Vehicles regularly complete under 150 miles per day
There are several small, medium and large vans with real-world ranges of 200 miles or more. Three large vans on the market have ranges over 250 miles, and in the small van sector, the VW ID Buzz has a range of over 250 miles.
When the telematics provider Geotab analysed their data from over 1.3 million fleet vehicles, they found the average daily mileage to be only 58 miles, with a maximum daily mileage of 287 miles. Nearly half of all these vehicles never exceeded 250 miles on a single day - making most fleet profiles operationally suitable for electric vehicles.
Vehicles work from a central hub or depot
The ideal fleet profiles for electrification are those whose vehicles return to a central hub or depot each night. This allows for charging infrastructure to be installed to meet the operational requirements of the operations now and in the future.
These fleet profiles are often known as:
Hub-and-spoke: Vehicles make multiple round trips from a centralised hub
Door-to-door: Vehicles make lots of stops within a shift, spending little time at each stop
Local: Vehicles work within an area of around 150 miles from a centralised hub
Ensuring a successful switch to electric
When preparing your fleet for electrification, there are a number of factors to optimise and consider in advance:
Vehicle utilisation: How much a vehicle is used will impact the feasibility of electrification. Vehicles with high utilisation rates provide the best financial return, since the lower cost of electricity compared to diesel or petrol will have a greater effect on the total cost of ownership (TCO). For this reason, it is beneficial to first undertake fleet optimisation exercises to increase utilisation rates in advance of making the transition.
Charging infrastructure: The availability of sufficient charging infrastructure is essential for the successful operation of an electric fleet. For the lowest TCO, fleets should look to install their own charging stations, using charge management solutions to optimise the charging events, so that all vehicles are charged and ready for their required routes when they’re needed.
Route optimisation: Some fleet managers write off their vehicle’s operational suitability for electrification based on their current daily mileage, or due to rare high-mileage days. However, effective route optimisation can reduce daily mileage, or consolidate longer routes onto fewer vehicles so that a higher proportion of the fleet can more readily be switched to electric vehicles. The rare days when a vehicle exceeds the mileage range of an EV can also be effectively managed with the use of high-voltage public charging infrastructure.
Incentives: There are a number of UK government incentives available to businesses that electrify their fleets. These incentives can help to offset the upfront cost of EVs or the installation of the associated charging infrastructure, and should be investigated fully before any investments are made.
The financial and environmental savings of fleet electrification
Many UK fleet managers are considering whether they can switch to electric vehicles and actually save money. Geotab’s analysis shows that this is very possible. Reviewing the UK fleet based on a seven-year service life, and looking at vehicles that could do the full day’s duty on a single charge, the analysis found potential lifetime savings of £7,300 per vehicle that was operationally able to go electric, based on current fuel and electricity rates.
And over a 7-year service life, Geotab calculated that the average vehicle would save around 17,000 litres of fuel, avoiding 39 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The annual carbon emission saving is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide captured by 278 trees.
Want to make the switch to electric?
Electrification is a no-brainer for a growing number of fleets, but to generate the greatest financial and environmental savings, it pays to do your research and optimise your current operations first. That’s where we can help.
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