How to manage EVs using technology

Managing electric vehicles through technology  

The roundtable discussion focused on how technology can help fleets to manage their transition to electric vehicles. It was moderated by Fleet200 Strategy Network sponsor Trakm8.

Q: Which technologies will help you manage your fleets?

• Telematics, particularly driver behaviour. Most users waxed lyrical about how measuring driver behaviour helps now and will become even more important for electric vehicles (EVs) because it will affect range while safety will be of concern with a lot of EVs having higher torque and some of the technology can be distracting.
• Charge point software to help manage charging events, schedule charging at lowest rates, booking charge points based on current range/linked to tasks and duty cycles.
• Routing software to help manage duty cycles.
• Technology to help with understanding which vehicles could be swapped for EVs.

Q: What information from telematics will be essential & what will be game changing?

• Driver behaviour and state of charge will be essential.
• Charging events, either via the telematics or charge point will be essential, like fuel cards to advise fleets about transactions and understand how much energy has been taken.
• Vehicle health, particularly the battery and any degradation will be game changing to help understand any limitations and help inform decision making.
• Analysing the fleet usage and making suggestions on alternative vehicles if more efficient/cost effective.
• Linking the state of charge with job/mileage requirement daily will be game changing to help ensure vehicles can complete their duty cycles and ensure charging is appropriate to the need rather than charging to full.

Q: Do you think driving behaviour/style will change with the adoption of EVs? For the better/worse?

• Most people think it will change, more likely to see more harsh acceleration events due to increased torque, but fewer harsh braking events due to use of regen braking. 
• Some feel speeding might reduce as drivers becomes more cautious of the effect on range.

Q: Will trips/duty cycles need to change to accommodate range and if so will you consider route optimisation technology?

• This hadn’t been fully considered and for some didn’t think this was plausible though for some operators the idea of creating new routes, if more suitable to EVs and/or to reduce the number of miles travelled, would be ideal as they will reduce the need to charge as often and reduce further the spend on energy.
• Others liked the fact that using technology to optimise journeys also means they can proactively send ETAs to customers and allow them to track the vehicle. This could be game changing from a customer service perspective and reduce the strain on planning/customer service teams fielding calls looking for updates.