ZeroMission Connecting The Data for a Successful EV Trasition
The saying "you don't know what you don't know" has never been truer than when considering the fleet sector’s transition to commercial electric vehicles (EV). Vehicle operators have big decisions to make, but currently there is a lack of institutional knowledge and independent support that is hindering their ability to make the first steps into this unknown.
Only by gaining a complete picture from a fleet, facilities, service delivery and financial perspective will operators have the insight needed to achieve a successful roll-out and meet the required performance metrics. As such, there will be a growing realisation that vehicles, charging infrastructure, schedules, power supply cannot be managed independently in isolation. Everything has a consequence within a commercial EV operation, so it is about connecting these different aspects of a fleet together to gain a degree of confidence that you can get the job done.
Operating commercial EVs is not the same as petrol-and diesel-powered vehicles and never will be. The problem is that side by side, the vehicles look the same, but they are not, it is a very different proposition. We are trying to replace a universally established and understood fuelling system with a much more challenging and complex ecosystem. Much of what is currently known about running a commercial vehicle fleet will become less relevant with EVs or at least be superseded by other operational considerations. This means an alternative approach is needed and operators will have to adapt to make the switch work.
A crucial part of the journey will be the adoption of smart tools to ensure fleet operators achieve the day-to-day vehicle performance needed for financial and operational viability.The greater upfront costs of commercial EVs, alongside the expense of installing and maintaining onsite charging and power equipment, is well documented, but fleets also need to consider the financial impact of higher vehicle replacement ratios.
The initial priority is to use available data to achieve a one-to-one replacement ratio to minimise capital expenditure and then pinpoint where efficiencies and cost saving opportunities exist. Its crucial to look at transitional and operational planning together to develop an electric vehicle fleet that is fit for purpose from day one, while information can be fed back into the system to finetune processes and target continuous improvements. This added intelligence also becomes very useful for specifying and implementing the next roll-out of vehicles and infrastructure.
Up until now, early adopters of commercial EVs have been looking at the vehicle and charger in isolation, while attempting to coordinate the schedule in the same way as before. This is a recipe for failure, because it is important to understand the main parameters that contribute to the successful operation of an EV and how they influence each other. Understanding the interdependencies between different systems will help to identify trends within a commercial EV operation. When charging should occur? When is the most efficient time to charge? What is the best type of vehicle to use? What is the impact of different routes, load impacts or driving conditions?
Moving forward, AI will enable vast amounts of data to be analysed and acted upon faster and more efficiently than ever before. Vehicles, charging stations, schedules, supply equipment all generate huge volumes of data, which can be interrogated and analysed to generate valuable insights. When you are collecting information from thousands of datapoints on an hourly basis, manual analysis is simply not feasible, but with AI there is huge potential to streamline and automate operational processes.
Commercial electric vehicle (EV) adoption will continue to gather pace as new types and models – across vans and HGVs – become available. This rapidly changing landscape is being driven by an ambitious legislative roadmap for decarbonising commercial vehicles within the UK. The transition to commercial EVs will be a major change for any fleet, but decisions need to be made based on hard facts and operational understanding. This means the switch will be so much more difficult for operators without the use of smart tools to guide them.