Could Fleet Electrification do More Harm than Good? | Utilimarc Fleet FYIs

Hey there welcome to Fleet FYIs, 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 and some of the industry's finest in candid conversations that will shed some light on not only two decades worth of data insights, but some of the industry's hottest talking points and key metric analysis with the aim to help you better understand your fleet from every angle. 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 heard in today's episode. But 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 episode. If that sounds good to you, let's get back to the show. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Fleet FYIs podcast. How's everyone doing today? I'm finding myself in a type of mood where I like to dig through controversial questions from time to time. And today, if you couldn't already tell, today is one of those days. Now we all know how intrigued I am by the electrification of fleets and although I've started multiple times on this show that I think moving forward electric won't be the only solution. It'll have to be a balance. It's still a topic that is front and center of my mind more often than not. Fleet electrification is well underway within many different sectors all across the world from municipal fleets to last mile delivery solutions. And with sustainability goals becoming stricter and more urgent, many fleet managers are drawn to electric vehicle's promise of zero tail pipe emission. Others, on the other hand, are more attracted to the idea of less routine maintenance and associated upkeep costs. But, the thing is, despite the benefits of switching from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles, there is an arguable lack of EV options available to fit everyone's needs. As of 2020, there are about 370 mod, models of electric cars on the market with electric pickup trucks in very early production and electric utility vehicles being non-existent. Because of this, total electrification is just, you know, it's not a possibility for all fleets. We know this. We've been over this so many times it's not even funny. But, the thing is, is even when the right vehicles for your fleet become available, there's still the question of whether or not they are truly the better option. Fleet managers need to justify that EV's would perform at the same level as their current internal combustion engines models and there is a thought that the familiar might be easier to justify than the unfamiliar. But, if it's not justifiable, it's hard to, again, justify a major financial investment and a significant decrease in performance. I mean, if it were me, that wouldn't make sense at all, but in today's episode, I wanted to gather together the most common points that folks will bring up if they feel that electrification may not be the correct solution and who knows, you may have even thought this at some point in time yourself. Let's dig in. So, let's start with the obvious. Who is the most likely to struggle with eclectic vehicle adoption? We all know here by now that fleets can have widely varying purposes, right? You can have someone from construction. You could have someone from utilities, municipal government fleets, the list is, well, not quite endless, there's kind of a fixed amount of industries, but you know what I mean. My point is, is that fleet managers have a whole variety of things that they need consider when it comes to their fleet's duties and responsibilities that could potentially make them less suitable for electrification. First up on the list and it's probably not surprising to hear is vehicles with variable routes or fleets with variable routes may not be the best candidates to electrify. Now, why is that? Fleet managers have to consider electric vehicle range and work routes when they're planning their daily operations and fleets with fixed routes are far more suitable for electrification than those without. That's a bit of a no-brainer, at least to me it seems. Fleets of school buses or postal service trucks or delivery vehicles typically follow the exact same route, if not a very, very similar route on a daily basis, which can make it easier for fleet managers to optimize routes and ensure the vehicle's range will be sufficient. Now, this comes into play because refueling electric vehicles is not as simple as pulling over to the nearest petrol station, filling up in under five minutes, and getting caught with low, a low battery mid-route can seriously disrupt a workday. Not to mention, cause a really bad mood. When you think about it, vehicles with variable routes like a taxi or emergency services or utility trucks, they can suffer a decrease in performance if they electrify before they're ready to. The ambiguity of different routes each day and a larger disparity in miles driven on one day versus another can leave fleet managers having a bit of a tough time optimizing fleet performance. Think about it from a perspective of a taxi driver. If you can estimate the amount of miles that you would drive in one day or you know exactly where you're going to be driving, it's easier to plan when you're going to charge and where you're going to charge. If you didn't know that, it could force drivers to decline last minute jobs due to insufficient charges. It could mean that you'd have to go back to the fleet yard, get a new vehicle, and then go to a job site disrupting your flow and your customer service. And, with the number being so subjective to how many jobs they're, they're called to on any given day, you know, miles driven, that is, it can be really difficult to strategize efficiently when it comes to route planning. Now the second on this list, which I'm sure you, again, probably would have guessed, is fleets in cold weather regions can have a little bit of a harder time planning for electrification then those that are, you know, say sunny California or Florida respectively. Extreme weather conditions, I'm sure you know, can drastically effect EV batteries and they can actually reduce capacity up to 12% due to slowed or accelerated chemical reactions within the battery pack. We actually wrote an entire post on this over on Utilimarc.com, which is U T I L I M A R C .com, if you haven't been to our blog. I highly suggest that you go check it out, if you haven't already. But this piece is all about thermal management and actually how it works together with maintaining the highest range possible for your different vehicles within your fleet. And, on the back of that, when it comes to thermal management, it can become a bit of a problem when EV's start performing well below their average kilowatt hours per mile, making it difficult for fleet managers to plan routes accordingly. That makes sense, right? I mean, even if though, and I should say, even if you drive an internal combustion engine, your range wouldn't be the same as if it was in the summer as it is in the winter. I mean, you know, you have a different fuel mix. You have just different weather conditions and that can drastically impact your range for an EV and an internal combustion engine. So it's not just, it's not just electrification, but that is a place where it becomes the most noticeable. Now in the case of fleets that operate in storm prone regions, power outages can also be a cause for concern when it come to electrification. I mean, as my friend Dave Meisel said on an earlier podcast episode, how are you going to send an electric vehicle to an area with no electricity, especially if you need to recharge? You can't unless you have backup generators that you're bringing with you. It's just impossible, because unlike gas powered vehicles, refueling with electric charging, it's not an option when it comes to a power outage like I said, unless you bring a backup generator. So, for this reason, it can make electric vehicles perhaps in, inefficient or entirely too futile to deploy. And especially, if they can't perform in the same way that an internal combustion engine model could without the need for additional electricity. Last but not least on this list, lets factor in some charging time here, because that's something that I think a lot of people are really going to be curious about when it comes to fleet electrification potentially putting a damper on performance or as we like to say, do more harm than good. Now, the added element of charging time is enough to weaken fleet performance on it's own. I mean, that's pretty obvious, right? Compared to fueling up on gas or diesel in a matter of minutes, you know, five minutes maybe being the longest you'd ever have to stand at a gas pump. Charging with a basic level one charger could take 11 to 20 hours or if you use a level two adapter to charge in three to eight hours or a DC fast charger under three. Still, in any case, there is a substantial differentiation from the five minutes at a gas station. I mean, I don't know about you, but I couldn't imagine, and granted, you know, I know you don't have to stand outside of your car for this entire time, but if I was in between jobs and I needed refuel in Minnesota in the middle of the winter, I'd prefer an internal combustion engine five minutes rather than three hours at a petrol station when I really needed some more, um, range in my vehicle. Now, this difference in refueling time or recharging time, because I guess it's an apple to oranges, but there, it can make it more difficult for fleet managers to make the most out of their vehicles and send out for last minute jobs. I mean, that's just the truth there. And first time electric vehicle drivers are actually almost all commonly faced with range anxiety, which can effect how comfortable they are in their vehicles and driving without the option of quickly refueling at one of the, I don't know, say 150,000 gas stations across the US can seem daunting because not every single one will have an EV charger available. The thing to remember is, at the end of the day, there are issues with electric vehicles that we'll likely have to face and have to find ways around for the foreseeable future. You know, no new technology is instantly perfect the second it hits the market. I mean, we know that. We started with flip phones, and now we're all on smart phones for the most part, right? We all move up in stages, but luckily strategic planning and telematics data can significantly help with closing the gap of performance disparity. You know, the thing is, is telematics can be a key tool, especially for electric vehicles. Because it can help fleet managers track daily average use, locate their vehicles in real time and it can also help combat range anxiety and fuel inefficiency, because vehicles can be assigned to mapped out areas or fleet managers can find their vehicles and assist drivers in getting to the closest charging station if necessary. And, honestly, telematics data can even give better insight on how batteries are actually performing in cold weather regions and how much range to actually expect from a full charge rather than just guessing. So, I guess what I'm trying to say here is, is it helps by taking some of the unpredictability and some of the guess work out of switching to electric. But what I'd like to know is, is do you think that the addition of electric vehicles to fleets will do more harm than good? Are you a fan of electrification? Or, are you more like me in thinking there's going to be a little more of a balance and that electrification isn't the one size fits all solution. Let me know what you think. Tag me on LinkedIn. Send me an email. Or use the hashtag UtilimarcFleetFYIs. I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say, as always. Ciao. Hey there, I think this is the time that I should queue 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 the show notes and the extra insights coming straight from our analyst to you. That's all from me this week. So, until next time, I'll catch you later.