Automated Electric Vehicle Fleet Management
The fast advancement of electric vehicles (EVs) has brought about the opportunity for sustainable and affordable transportation. By using automated electric vehicle fleet management software, this approach helps to promote better operations, maintenance, and overall performance of electric vehicle fleets. In this blog post, we will discuss what EV fleet management is and how using it can enhance business practices.
What is an EV fleet?
An electric vehicle (EV) fleet is a group of electric vehicles that are owned and operated by a single entity, such as a company or organization. These EVs can include a variety of makes and models such as passenger vehicles, vans, buses, or plug-in hybrids. These commercial fleets can be both centralized and decentralized. A centralized fleet is when the vehicles are all stored in the same location, for example, a rideshare company's parking lot. When a fleet is decentralized, it means that the vehicles can be stored in multiple different locations, such as companies giving employees vehicles.
What is EV fleet management?
Whether your company's fleet is centralized or decentralized, all of the electric vehicles in the fleet are managed and coordinated as a cohesive unit. EV fleet management refers to the process of overseeing and coordinating the use of electric vehicles for business or organizational purposes, making sure battery levels are high enough for needed operations. This approach involves planning, monitoring, maintaining, and optimizing the operations of fleet electrification. The goal of your company's EV fleet management is to maximize the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and day-to-day operations.
What are the benefits of using automated EV fleet management
Cost Savings
Since electric cars do not require gasoline like an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, there are lower fuel costs. However, energy costs can be difficult to predict. It's best to charge your fleet vehicles during off-peak times or use a service like SparkCharge Fleet that has a predictable energy cost and no upfront costs. Electric vehicles also have fewer maintenance requirements than ICE vehicles. Saving on the maintenance costs associated with fleet vehicles.
Due to recent incentives, EVs qualify for tax benefits and incentives in the United States, to help save on additional costs. SparkCharge can help your business determine what it qualifies for, head to our partnerships page to learn more.
Environmental Benefits
By using an electric fleet, the lifetime carbon footprint of the fleet vehicles is reduced. Compared to ICE vehicles, an electric vehicle allows for cleaner emissions during operations. EVs produce no tailpipe emissions, while ICE vehicles emit pollutants that contribute to air quality issues. Battery technology is advancing rapidly, leading to more improvements in reducing the environmental impact of vehicles.
Technology Innovation
Using an EV fleet hosts a potential for new advancements in the coming years. Because the EV industry is growing so rapidly, there are major advancements that are coming out that help EV fleet managers and operators navigate these new vehicles. Automated EV fleet management technologies are making it easier for EV fleets to understand their vehicle's battery so it can be better optimized. The future is EV technology, and there are major developments to come in the following years that will make fleet use more convenient and efficient than ever.
What is SparkCharge Fleet?
SparkCharge Fleet is a mobile charging-as-a-service program designed for electric vehicle fleets. When a fleet operator makes a request using our charge management system (CMS), our EV charging delivery technicians are deployed to the requested location to provide DC fast charging. This means your business can avoid the hassles of installing fixed infrastructure including electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) procurement, installation costs, and construction.
EV fleet managers no longer have to look for charging stations or wait for infrastructure to be installed. SparkCharge Fleet can be up in running within the United States in as little as 14 days and with 99.9% guaranteed EV charger uptime.
How can SparkCharge help me automate my EV fleet management?
SparkCharge Fleet uses a CMS that allows you to request DC fast charging to be delivered in one of three ways.
On Demand EV Charging
Regardless of where the vehicles are located, fleet operators can order an electric vehicle charge to be delivered when and where it is needed. This helps to make the EV charging experience more convenient, especially for decentralized electric fleets. Anywhere your vehicle is parked, SparkCharge Fleet can charge.
Automatically When the Charge is Low
We integrate with SmartCar to monitor your vehicle's state of charge (SOC). You can request to have your EV charging delivery automatically deployed to your fleet's lot when vehicle SOC gets below a certain level. This way your fleet vehicles are always charged and ready to go.
On a Recurring Schedule
If you have a regular operational schedule you need to stay on, SparkCharge Fleet can be scheduled to fit within it. Through the CMS you can schedule your EV charging delivery on a recurring schedule to keep your operations charging forward.
SparkCharge is here for businesses looking to utilize electric vehicles in their operations. Our goal is to help electrify your business and make EV charging seamless and convenient so operations are not interrupted. To learn more talk to our team of experts.