3 Top Tips for EV Fleet Charging

EV fleet management means overseeing everything about your fleet. It includes organizing, building, and managing your vehicles and the charging solutions that work best for your business.

It’s an issue that’s fast charging to the forefront of America’s businesses as the electric vehicle revolution continues. In 2023, EV sales soared by 60% compared to 2022, indicating growing acceptance for these environmentally friendly vehicles.

But how do you master the art of EV fleet charging to maximize the potential EVs bring to businesses?

What EV Fleet Charging Management Means

Purchasing EVs is merely the first step to electrifying your fleet. Although simple light-duty all-electric vehicles average three cents per mile, only examining the running costs of vehicles fails to account for the costs of the EV charging network behind them.

And that brings us to the issue of developing and implementing an EV charging plan. 

The biggest headache is establishing an in-house charging depot or using the existing charging network. Fleet managers must answer questions like:

·  Do we have the right charging stations for our vehicles?

·  Do we have enough charging points for our vehicles?

·  Is our fleet depot adequately connected to the grid?

·  How do we coordinate charging times for our fleet?

·  How will we monitor the implementation and ongoing success of our charging plan? 

In short, it’s a matter of building a charging plan, ensuring it’s implemented correctly, and then tweaking it to guarantee long-term success.

3 Ways to Implement EV Fleet Charging Effortlessly 

Every firm will have its own approach to EV fleet charging. Some will build dedicated fleet depots, whereas others may have the option of benefiting from the public EV charging network. Likewise, the size of your business and fleet also dictates your approach.

Before getting into the intricacies of EV fleet charging, begin with these three points.

1. Plan Ahead

It may sound simple, but a startling number of companies implement big changes rashly. The key is planning, regardless of where you are in your fleet electrification journey. With the average installation cost of a DC charging station being $185,000, a lack of planning can eliminate any cost savings from electrification.

Think strategically regarding charging point placement and how they connect to the grid. With the lion’s share of costs coming from grid investment and monthly energy costs, minimizing these costs is critical.

2. Utilize Cloud-Based Optimization

Cloud-based optimization systems streamline EV fleet management in every aspect. Connecting your current in-house IT system to a unified optimization system enables you to make the right decisions regarding hardware and hardware placement.

Note that this doesn’t have to mean throwing out your entire tech stack. Many companies already have established fleet management and route scheduling systems. EV fleet management optimization solutions are designed to plug right into your existing tech stack to simplify how you manage your charging network.

3. Test and Optimize

Early trials reveal unexpected problems early. The sooner you uncover those snags, the sooner you can fix them. Likewise, testing is about finding what works for you.

Perhaps you have been inspired by a competitor, but copying what they did isn’t necessarily the best option for you. On the other hand, a huge misconception is you can paste workflows designed for gasoline-powered vehicles to electric ones.

So, what’s the key to testing?

Even if you have big plans, start small. Implement smaller networks and perfect your workflows before expanding. Rushing the transition means you’re less likely to hit your KPIs. How ambitious you want to be depends on your existing resources and where your business stands.

Ideally, begin with 30-60% of your anticipated EV fleet and charging network. This offers an excellent testing environment for iterating without risking your project’s success.

Conclusion: Enter the Future of EV Charging With Bluedot 

Did you know that many businesses find utilizing publicly available charging hubs for their EV fleets simpler?

Take advantage of a convenient and economical solution with Bluedot. Our platform supports businesses in charging their vehicles and automating employee reimbursement under a single platform. Moreover, this app benefits from covering more than 80% of the nation’s public charging network, including Tesla, enabling you to overcome the problem of relying on a variety of disparate apps.

Begin optimizing your EV charging needs by downloading Bluedot now.

‍