Fleet Demand for EVs is ‘Booming,’ Requiring Software Platforms, Apps

There are a lot of details to consider when moving to electric vehicles. Managers of commercial fleets who are considering transitioning to electric vehicles must determine which vehicles will meet their needs, how they can be run most efficiently, and how and when they will be charged.

A growing number of fleet managers are dealing with these questions, and a lot of vehicles will be affected by their decisions. In a presentation released in conjunction with its recent earnings call, charging technology and services provider Blink Charging reported that there are 250,000 commercial and government fleets, operating 18 million vehicles and considering transitioning to electric.

“The fleet space is booming. I mean, it’s a huge market,” Blink Charging CEO Michael D. Farkas said May 9 during the earnings call.

Transitioning Fleets to Electric

To help fleets make the transition, Blink is launching hardware and software designed to work together and meet the specific needs of fleets. Its new MQ 200 charger communicates with the new Blink Fleet Portal via LTE or Wi-Fi connections. The fleet ecosystem also includes a mobile app for drivers.

Fleet managers need real-time information about the location, activities and status of vehicles and charging depots, drivers need to know their routes and the vehicle’s charging status, and the charging stations need to be operated by software that determines when, how much and how quickly to charge vehicles. These are challenges that can be solved with connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI).

Fleets’ demand for electric vehicles is driven both by the potential efficiencies of the vehicles and by government mandates and by private environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, Farkas said during the call.

“One of the biggest contributors is your lobbying effort and your boots on the ground toward governments, who have a lot of mandates on the fleet side,” Farkas said. “You have to have strong relationships with them to be in contention for their fleet bids as they transition their fleet.”

Dealing with the ‘Headache’ of Making Changes

Ford Pro, too, is helping fleets make the move to electric vehicles. The company reported Monday (May 23) that it found in a survey that three-quarters of U.S. fleet purchasing decision-makers for fleets of all sizes — from small businesses to large fleets — feel pressure to adopt electric vehicles. It also found that 60% of them consider the transition to be “a headache.”

Ford Pro said it eases fleets’ transition to electric vehicle by bundling vehicles with charging solutions and telematics software. For example, the charging software and insights can help fleets reduce operating costs by optimizing the best time to charge vehicles, while the telematics software helps fleets reduce vehicle downtime by providing visibility into maintenance needs

“We know the transition to electric vehicles can come with uncertainties,” Ford Pro CEO Ted Cannis said in a press release. “That’s why we’re focused on working with pioneers like Wilbur-Ellis and PG&E, helping them quickly realize the benefits of combining electric vehicles with charging solutions and data insights to help achieve their sustainability goals, improve how energy is managed, accelerate their productivity and improve bottom lines.”

Optimizing Vehicle Purchasing Decisions

Verizon Connect in April announced a partnership with Sawatch Labs that will provide analytics to help fleets plan to make the switch to electric vehicles.

The analytics will help fleet managers determine how many miles their vehicles are driven, how often the vehicles would need to be charged if they were electric and whether the business would need to install charging stations or have its drivers charge the vehicles at home.

With this integration, connected data that is gathered from the fleet’s vehicles by Verizon Connect, which is a provider of fleet and mobile workforce management solutions, will be studied by Sawatch Labs, a fleet electrification analytics firm, to help fleets plan their electric vehicle strategies.

“Partnering with an industry leader like Verizon Connect ensures fleets around the country will have the real-time insights required to optimize their vehicle purchasing decisions,” Sawatch Labs Chief Operating Officer Sarah Booth said in a press release.