EV basics for fleet managers

Rebates and incentives reduce upfront capital costs.
Many classes of EVs are already cost competitive, with more classes and models proving to be cost-effective alternatives for a number of fleet use cases. With Federal tax credits and state incentives, combined with lower lifecycle costs, some models prove cost positive in as little as two years.

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Develop a proactive charging plan to optimize costs.
As a fleet owner, you’re not just buying a vehicle, you’re investing in a new technology with a different operating profile than internal combustion engines. Managing EVs requires a proactive charging plan, including on-site, off-site and en route applications. There are three typical ways to charge today's EVs, 120V, 240V and DC fast charging. Most business applications will utilize 240V level 2 charging equipment. This requires your business to have off-street parking, or the ability to install equipment at the curb. Additionally, depending on the size of your fleet, you may need to develop a charger utilization plan that helps you manage charging resources and charge-readiness. There are a wide variety of software solutions available to help with this, some can even be integrated with your existing facilities management software.

Electric vehicle charging takes longer than filling up at a gas station.
While it may take longer to charge an EV than it takes to fill a tank with gasoline, it's important to note that vehicles can be charged during off-hours, on-site, thus alleviating the requirement for employees to take vehicles to a gas station. Additionally, they can plug the vehicle in and walk away, rather than remaining with the vehicle as is required with gas/diesel. This may leave them with more time to do their job, ultimately helping your bottom line.

Vehicle chargers may require power infrastructure upgrades.
Electric Vehicle fleet charging requires careful planning to ensure you develop a plan that maximizes your savings and ensures vehicles are charged and ready when they are needed. It's important to work directly with the utility and a qualified engineer to accurately assess your power needs and to develop a smart fleet charging plan for your business.

ROI can be outstanding.
Electric Vehicles can deliver tremendous savings with proper planning and infrastructure development. Savings opportunities vary, but savings typically comes from:
- Reduced fuel cost
- Reduced maintenance expenses
-Reduced time at the gas station pumping fuel

Explore available models and commercial savings

Advancing electrification in your community.
If you’re a high profile enterprise in your community, a progressive municipality, or if you’re looking to attract and retain talent by offering innovative commuting and transportation benefits to your employees, we’ve also added resources for you to consider in your ‘pacesetter’ role, including organizations that can provide support, and available grants and rebates.

Employer at-work charging programs

Your employees and customers will soon be arriving at your place of business in EVs. Are you prepared?
Many employers provide EV charging to visitors and employees; larger firms typically provide managed L2 access. In most cases, charging is free, or free for a limited period. Even if a network service is used to collect fees, many EV drivers will gladly pay for the convenience of charging. For companies with their own fleets, charging is managed as a company asset. In all but the smallest firms, managed access is required, ensuring that only clients and employees use the chargers with sessions managed as necessary.

Incorporating EVs into employer benefit programs to drive competitive differentiation and preference.
Business of all sizes are evolving their employee transportation and commuting programs to attract and retain top talent, including free, easy to access charging, in addition to EV and/or EVSE purchase incentive programs. One small tech firm in Dallas has watched this increase employee EV ownership to over 50% in less than 2 years. More than half of the company’s employees have a positive view of the program, and the company is able to achieve corporate social responsibility goals as well as contributing to quality of life improvements for their employees. While upfront costs for charging and installation were required, ongoing charger operating costs are nominal in light of reduced employee turn, brand preference, and customer satisfaction.

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Transforming fleets to EVs begins with your charging infrastructure.

One of the most critical factors in fleet electrification is charging infrastructure planning. It's important to develop a plan that works well for your business operations and your bottom line. Charging infrastructure may represent a significant upfront cost, but it may also represent tremendous ongoing savings and efficiencies through reduced fuel costs and vehicle maintenance.

Types of Chargers

Charging EVs requires plugging into a charger connected to the electric grid, also called electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE). There are three major categories of chargers, based on the amount of power the charger can provide:

•   Level 1 (L1) Charging
If your fleet consists of Class 1 through Class 3 vehicles with an average daily travel range of 60 or 40 miles, you may only need Level 1 charging. Level 1 charging can be plugged into a standard 120 V outlet, and may only require vehicle charging a couple of times each week. A full charge may take up to 24 hours with level 1 120 V charging. Level 1 is most often used in home applications, but is sometimes used at workplaces and is a nice option to have if all your Level 2 equipment is use.

•   Level 2 (L2) Charging
The most prevalent commercial charging application is through Level 2 chargers. Level 2 chargers are both cost-effective and can be installed virtually anywhere with 240 V power. Systems range in size and complexity from single phase units costing less than $500 to central units with 2-4 charging plugs on each bollard with card/phone access, managed scheduling services, fee collection, and other integrated services which can cost upwards of $5,000. Level 2 charging ranges from around 6-23kW though it’s important to note that not all vehicles can accept higher charging rates.

•   DC Fast-Charging (DCFC)
For larger vehicles and larger batteries, or when more rapid fueling is needed, direct-current fast charging (DCFC) is a common commercial charging application. Direct current fast chargers, sometimes referred to as a Level 3 DC charging, uses a 3-phase 480 V AC electric circuit, but delivers direct current (DC) to the vehicles. DC Fast-Charging can deliver an 80 percent battery charge or 60 to 100 miles of range for most EV models in about 20-30 minutes of charging. This format is used in public charging stations, especially along heavy-traffic corridors. DCFC chargers currently range from 15-350kW; however not all vehicles can accept higher rates, with 50kW being the minimum across all vehicles.

A typical DCFC charger can cost $40-75K, on average; however, a new class of 20-25kW DCFC units is emerging at <$10K. Standards are an issue with DCFC chargers, as there are three connector types in North America, although adapters are available for some configurations. Another factor to consider is service standards for connectivity, such as whether or not the charger or your vehicle can support remote management, or energy discharge, vs. charging; an important element from a total cost of ownership perspective.

Be sure to consult with an electrician and/or your utility before purchasing a high-amperage charging system as some high-power systems may require significant electrical upgrades to your office or depot location. In some cases the transformer that supplies power to your site may need to be upgraded.

Review Public Charging Locations

Types of Charging Programs and Software Applications

•   EV Charge Management Software
Many providers offer end-to-end software to manage EV charging sites, stations, chargers and connectors. These applications integrate directly with your utility and EV hardware for smart energy management and load balancing, including monitoring sessions, stations and chargers. At minimum, it is important to select a charging solution that empowers you to program charging times that will take advantage of available time of use rate programs and to spread out your energy demand profile to avoid charges and unnecessary equipment upgrades.

•   Managed Charging or Time-of-Use (TOU) Charging
Managed charging allows a utility or third-party to remotely control vehicle charging by turning it up, down, or even off to better correspond to the needs of the grid, much like traditional demand response programs. If your fleet can charge at a home or depot station overnight, you can fuel at the least expensive rates and have a fully-charged vehicle every day. This type of program requires participation by both your utility provider within a dedicated TOU rate plan and a designated implementation plan with your drivers, or via a central management system. For fleets that have discretion in their charging behavior, this can be a big money saver.

•   Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) Technology and Programs
There are many new technologies in development that will empower consumers and utilities to have more control over energy through on-site storage technologies. Vehicle-to-grid technologies may be available to help your organization store solar power for use at night, or in some cases, programs may emerge that allow you to sell power back to the utility for use when supply is low. Additionally, your fleet of electric vehicles may be used to provide back-up power in the event of a power outage. Ask manufacturers if their vehicles are V2G ready when you are researching vehicle options.

•   Employer At-Work Charging Programs
If you’re an employer implementing a Charging at Work program, managed charging can also be used to grant access to chargers, such as those in public portions of a company. Some EVSE units include locally-managed software, accessed by smartphones, which are capable of granting ‘tokens’ for visitors.

Charging Next Steps

Engage with your local utility early-on in planning.
Significant utility service infrastructure changes may be required and need to be planned and completed in advance of the vehicle and charger delivery. Some fleet operations centers may present only a small profile (50-100kW) to local transformers and distribution lines today, but need to support high capacity (4-5MW) electric fueling loads tomorrow. Make sure to engage with your local utility early on in the planning process.

Commercial rebates, grants and rate programs are available.
As with the vehicles themselves, there are local, State, and Federal grant and rebate programs for EVSEs for both public and private. Electricity retailers are also starting to provide EV-specific rate plans, and even EVSE rebates. For more information on fleet electrification at scale and managed charging, visit the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Smart Charging resources.

Review Incentives, Grants & Programs
Review Liberty Programs

Understanding EV maintenance informs total cost of ownership.

Electric vehicle fleets cost less to operate and maintain.
While initial buyer interest in EVs generally focuses on fuel savings from a total cost of ownership, operations and maintenance costs also represent a significant savings opportunity. Electricity is generally less expensive than gasoline and EVs are more efficient than gas-powered vehicles. Electric prices are also generally much more stable than gasoline prices. On a national average, it costs less than half as much to travel the same distance in an EV than a conventional vehicle. Your savings could be more substantial if your current gas powered vehicle gets poor mileage.



Electric vehicles are much simpler systems to maintain in comparison to internal combustion engines.
There are about 20 moving parts in an EV drivetrain, compared to 2000 in a combustion vehicle. Electric propulsion removes the need for spark plugs, fuel controls, oils or other fluids, and with regenerative braking systems, even wear and tear on braking costs are comparatively lower. With less moving parts to maintain, EV fleets save you money and time on replacement and service costs.

Change management requirements for in-house maintenance teams.
Although EVs do have many things in common with their internal combustion engine relatives, fleet conversion does require consideration for skill transition and equipment acquisition for in-house maintenance teams. If you’re moving into one of the ‘bleeding edge’ vehicle types, we recommend building a strong relationship with the manufacturer, including considering negotiating specific performance warranties.



Battery life is longer and range continues to grow.
Electric vehicle batteries are typically designed to last for the expected life of the vehicle, but battery life should be considered when calculating the extended cost of ownership, as all batteries eventually wear out and must be replaced. Battery replacement is typically costly, but as the EV market advances, improvements in battery performance and longevity are also increasing. Initially battery packs were extremely expensive, anticipated to have short life cycles, and were not all created equal. Today, EV batteries are warrantied for a minimum of 8 years or 100,000 miles, with others being 10 years and 150,000 miles, or even lifetime with unlimited miles for some use cases. The failure rate of electric vehicle batteries is extremely low. The cost of replacement has dropped significantly over the last 5 years and innovations in battery technology continue to point to lower costs and higher performance.

EV innovation will continue to deliver operational savings as the market matures.

The EV market has made considerable advancements and manufacturing improvements over the last several years. As the market matures, manufacturers are able to realize economies of scale that will likely result in increased longevity and performance over time.

Municipalities and other policy-makers

As a municipality, you will likely serve a dual-role as both a fleet manager and a local EV community facilitator—regulating, permitting, and potentially promoting EV charging and EV fleets.

Municipalities are in a unique position to accelerate the adoption of EVs through:
1. Policy: Acknowledging EV benefits and actively supporting development of charging infrastructure.
2. Regulation: Implementing development standards and regulations that enable EV use. Simply stating and publishing objectives and educating developers can be effective at driving momentum.
3. Administration: Creating a transparent and predictable EV permitting processes.
4. Programs: Developing public programs to overcome market barriers.
5. Leadership: Demonstrating EV viability in public fleets and facilities.

Leveraging municipal grants and incentives to spur EV market transformation
Some communities are actively working to capture early adopter benefits, including grants that will only be around for a few more years. These early adopter positions can act as a differentiator for attracting progressive businesses and residents, or for the competitive siting of larger DCFC fueling centers, being both a tax base issue, and for derivative collateral businesses. Attracting, or even owning and operating, sufficient public chargers is one municipal role. There are EVSE companies that will do this at no charge, but beware of attached strings. Cities often view their offices or City-owned destinations (e.g. parks, arenas, senior centers, recreation centers) as opportunities to support the EV transition. In an hour or two on a L2 charger, only a dollar or so of energy can be dispensed. You can decide whether to collect fees, or, if free, you can set fees that will charge after the free period. Some grants, available only to municipalities and, in some cases, their contractors, offset increased up front cost of today’s fleet vehicles, or the addition of your own fleet’s charging assets. There are many grants and other incentives, and they change often; the following NCTCOG citation is a good source for getting started. There are also incentives from various charger OEMs and Service Providers. Oncor cannot recommend any particular product or vendor. However, we can observe that there are more contract models out there than there are charger OEMs. With a gap of 75% of the needed DC Fast Chargers and 70% of the needed Level 2 chargers (per SEPA 2030 estimates), there will be a lot of contending for position between the OEMs and Service Providers, as well as incentives available to early adopters or attractive location-specific opportunities.

Establishing policy to factor EVs into new construction
Municipalities can also ensure that new construction accommodates these coming EVs as ‘make ready’ (i.e. vs. more expensive or otherwise constrained future re-work). This can be the number and location of EV parking or charging spaces per MDU, make-ready circuitry for build-out by owner residents, or even anticipatory Amperage ratings at residential panels. Sometimes, just the mention of a preference, or naming of an unadopted standard, will cause the owner/developer to include EVs in their planning. Cities can choose to make preferred EV parking and charging available at their own sites, setting an example for other.





Disclaimer
These facts are provided by ChooseEV. Some numbers and statistics in this content may be estimates and subject to interpretation. Many factors must be taken into account to determine the total cost of ownership of EV and traditional gas-powered vehicles. This information is provided for a general understanding of EV concepts and opportunities. Customers should review information from EV manufacturers before making a purchase decision.