Charging Your EV: Where to Start? | Utilimarc Fleet FYIs

Gretchen Reese (00:24):

Hey there, welcome to the Fleet FYIs podcast, the weekly podcast by Utilimarc that reveals how you can make the most of your data for smarter fleet management. My name is Gretchen and every week you'll hear from me or some of the industry's finest in candid conversations that will not only shed some light on over two decades worth of fleet data insights, but also some of the industry's hottest talking points and key metric analysis that aim to help you better understand your fleet from every angle.

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But before we begin, if this is the first time you've heard our show, thanks for stopping by. I'm so glad you decided to come along for the ride with us. But I've got a quick favor to ask you. Once you've finished today's episode, if you could take a few minutes to leave us a review on your favorite podcasting platform, we would really appreciate it. Give us a rating, five stars I hope, or tell us what you liked or leave us a comment or question about what you've heard in today's episode. If we haven't yet covered a topic that you're interested in hearing more about, let us know. We would be happy to go over it in detail in a later show.

(01:35):

Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Fleet FYIs podcast. This episode is rather fitting this week because over the last few days myself and the rest of Utilimarc team have been at the NAFA I&E Columbus, Ohio, which you will have known if you've been listening to our daily recaps, which the last one just went out yesterday so make sure you have a listen once you're done with this episode. And you guessed it, a huge topic of conversation was in fact electric vehicles and EV charging, even though we are a few years out, especially due to procurement issues with the actual rolling out and procurement of this RV technology.

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For fleet managers undergoing the overwhelming endeavor of electrification, there can be endless considerations and questions to ask along the way. It makes sense right? Which vehicles to electrify first? Which models make the most sense for your fleet? Will drivers be charging vehicles at a fleet yard? Will it be out on the road? Will it be at home? There's so much to ask and seemingly so little time to figure it out.

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One question that I personally think is often asked too late is which electric vehicle service equipment or EVSE to invest into? Now, I'm sure you all know that charging stations and plugs can total up to very quickly hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the size of your fleet and the equipment chosen as well as, you know, obviously varying by brand and location, to which you have to take into account installation fees and delivery fees and all of that that goes into it.

(03:03):

Additionally, the decision of where charging will take place further affects the price of ch- of the charging itself because not all, especially if you're using solar panels, you might not get the same amount of energy in say January as you would in July. That's pretty standard as well. Creating a charging strategy is an essential step of electrification that many do not realize should be done well in advance of receiving any new electric vehicle technology, kind of the planning before obtaining, right?

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And whilst it can be a relatively simple idea for a single EV driver to implement a single port level one charger in their own home, fleets looking to build an entire charging station with several ports for fleets can be looking at months and months of installation time. Let's dig in.

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So there's a variety of factors that can affect how managers choose to charge their EV fleets. The first one and probably the biggest one is cost itself. Now, when it comes to cost, charging electric vehicles at home is typically, if you look at all the variables that you could include, tends to be the cheapest option here. Fleet managers can consider implementing a vehicle take home policy for electric vehicles allowing drivers to plug it overnight and come back to work with a full charge. And the simplest most cost effective plugs at user home are level one chargers which require no expensive installation. If they need to leave an environment then they can literally just be pulled off of the wall and put in the boot of a car. It's pretty simple, but they're also the slowest to charge the level one plugs. Typically, adding maybe three to five miles of range per hour. So pretty slow.

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They are the cheapest chargers because they can plug into standard 120 volt outlets without the need for additional equipment, no expansion of your electrical box so it basically means it's painless implementation. Now these universal plugs are compatible with all EVs on the market except for Tesla's making it simple to implement across a diverse fleet. One disadvantage to charging vehicles at home though is the amount of planning needed for it to be successful. We're still learning, we're still being able to track any types of reimbursement that needs to happen. If you're expecting your employees to charge vehicles at home and how you can actually pay for the electricity they're using for their car, there's no way to tell if it's a toaster a, a curling iron, a television or charging your vehicle, all the kilowatt hours just read as, these are the kilowatt hours of energy use per month.

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Now, to try and combat this or at least in the beginning of this learning stage, fleet managers need to take into account each drivers living situation and whether an outlet is available where they typically park. Some people live in apartments, some li- people live in single family homes, or some people only have on street parking and no garage available so we don't always know if take home is the best scenario for charging fleet vehicles. So, and like I said, reimbursing drivers for home energy is another consideration to keep in mind and it just makes this a little bit more complicated.

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Now if we go into the second factor here, it's time, because, you know, we always like to talk about cost, time, and convenience and those on coincidentally are the three on my list today. But number two is time. So whilst it's unlikely for fleets to depend solely on level three charging due to it being one, of the most expensive way to charge but also, it degrades the battery faster than any of your other charging equipment, it's worth considering level three as a supplementary option, kind of those quick top ups that you might need. Level three charging is also known as DC fast charging as it's the fastest way to charge and EV. And for those of you that don't know the difference between AC or DC, it's alternating current or direct current. Direct current means there's no conversion necessary, it doesn't alternate from, um, AC to DC like a level one, level two plug would. It's strictly a direct current charger, that's why it's faster, but that's also why it can degrade the battery a little bit faster too. There's a lot that goes into it that I won't get into in this show because it's coming up in a later episode but just so you know.

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Anyways, these plugs charge vehicles at up to about 525 miles an hour making them pretty ideal for use on the road and for giving last minute top ups before heading out from the depot. Now, whilst these chargers can definitely help drivers in a pinch by charging up to 80% of battery capacity in under an hour, level three public charging can often be more costly than fueling a comparable internal combustion engine vehicle with gas. One option for fleets looking to implement fast chargers is inta- is installing charging stations at their own fleet yard. So for example, a single port level three station can cost up to around $50,000 I believe for the equipment alone with installation adding on another $50,000 t- as well. And this investment presents the most costs upfront of any charging strategy, but it can also provide a long term solution for vehicles who don't have much time at the fleet yard before setting out again.

(08:35):

Now there is a very interesting company that is delving into how to offset some of these upfront costs and it's exciting because there'll be on Fleet FYIs in a later episode and I'm really excited for you guys to hear about it and it maybe potentially could eliminate the need for a pilot altogether, but you'll have to stay tuned to catch that one.

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Um, last on my list, now we have convenience, that's the third factor that fleet managers need to take into account when it comes to starting to build their EV charging step, strategy because, you know, we all know it's multifaceted. (laughs) It's multifaceted, it's a long day after a long conference so bear with me here. For fleet managers who need their vehicles to be accessible when they're not in use, level two charging right at the fleet yard can be a great option. Whilst level one chargers offer the lowest upfront costs and level three offer the quickest charging times, level two can be a sweet spot of convenience for fleet electric vehicles.

(09:31):

Level two chargers can add between 12 and 80 miles of range per hour so charging in between shifts doesn't require nearly as many hours as it would with a level one charger. Drivers can simply plug in their vehicles after a work day and pick it up the next day fully charged and it'll be ready to go. But unlike level one plugs, a level two electric vehicle service equipment requires access to 240 volt outlets which must be installed by an electrician, so that's where that additional cost is. All in all, equipment installation can total up to around $2,200, sometimes a little bit more depending on if you have to add in a trench whether it's at a fleet yard or if it's take home charging. Say for example if your garage is not attached to your home, you know, you have your electrical box in your home but you need to charge in your garage that can be a little complicated. But anyways, compared to the cost of installing level three fast chargers on site, this number can be much more realistic for fleets requiring dozens of charging stations.

(10:54):

But what does all this mean? Ultimately, deciding on the optimal charger for your fleet depends on the factors afflect- affecting your fleet's daily operation. Likely, fleets will implement a strategy that makes this various charging options for different scenarios. For example, level two charging at the yard overnight with access to public fast charging for mid-route top ups when necessary could be the best option for your fleet. It definitely takes a little bit of a deep dive and analysis to be able to determine that. I can't tell you that through a podcast episode but I'm sure you knew that already. However, I'm always available to help when I can or at least to my team will be as well too.

(11:29):

Um, regardless of what works best for your fleet though, the best charging strategy is the one what, that's well planned in advance and that considers every alternative. A major oversight that any manager can make is to put in their order for new EVs and leave charging as an afterthought, which surprisingly, we're still seeing a lot of. You know, the thought that I need to electric vehicles fast but then you don't think about the charging equipment first, that can pose a bit of a challenge because, you know, you need the infrastructure to charge the vehicles, you know, the two kinda go together. But anyways, there, there's evidently no one size fits all strategy for EV charging and nor will there ever will be. All there can be is the best strategy for you and your fleet and that might be different from me and my fleet or, you know, someone in California or someone in New York and their fleets, right? So the more time we spent evaluating options and crunching numbers, the less challenges there will be to work through hopefully in the long run.

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But I would love to hear your thoughts. I want to know everything you think about EV charging. If you have any questions, if you have any concerns, let me know. You can send me an email, you can tag me on LinkedIn or you can use the #UtilimarcFleetFYIs or even send me a carrier pigeon. We like mail especially, with a comes, when it comes with a bird through the window. I don't judge. Anyways, I'd love to hear from you, please, please, please let me know your thoughts. I'm curious to see what's going on in your minds when it comes to targeting strategies. But until next week, I will chat to you all again on Friday. I hope you guys will like the next episode because it I'm sure will be a good one. Ciao.

(13:27):

Hey there, I think this is the time that I should cue the Virtual High Five because you've just finished listening to another episode of the Fleet FYIs Podcast. If you're already wanting more content, head over to utilimarc.com, which is Utilimarc with a C. U-T-I-L-I-M-A-R-C.com For this episode's show notes and extra insights coming straight from our analysts to you. That's all from me this week. So until next time, I'll catch you later.

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