Transitioning Corporate Take-Home Fleets - 7 Lessons Learned
The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report provided humanity with its clearest justification for urgent action to date. Individuals, companies, and governments around the world are answering this call to action with solutions such as renewable electricity and electric vehicles (EVs). The intent of this post is to provide information for companies looking to transition their take-home vehicle fleet to battery electric vehicles. For the past 12 months, I have been designing and implementing a strategy to do this for a 2,000 vehicle fleet with locations around the globe. I hope in sharing these lessons learned, other companies will be able to accelerate their transition.
The scope of the following lessons learned is take-home passenger vehicle fleets. Fleets that return to a centralized home base and heavy-duty vehicles are likely to face a different set of challenges.
Lesson #1 - Identify an experienced fleet management company (FMC)
EVs and particularly battery electric vehicles (BEVs) remain new for many FMCs in regards to related services and general knowledge. I’ve found an FMC’s decision to transition its own staff to BEVs and the progress of that transition to be a good proxy indicator towards the quality of their EV services. First-hand knowledge of the challenges and processes related to BEVs for their account managers goes a long way. One FMC making this transition that I would recommend is LeasePlan.
Lesson #1a - Identify an experienced home charging installation company
In the vast majority of regions, home charging is a requirement for a successful BEV transition. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, over 80 percent of EV charging happens at home.
In the U.S., charger manufacturers have partnered with installation companies to provide coverage across the country. Leading charger manufacturers with fleet reporting capabilities include Enel X and Chargepoint. Both work with Qmerit, a leader in installations with a network of approved electricians. At the time of writing Qmerit has managed the installation of 20 units for me without any issues.
In Europe, there is no single company that can cover all countries. If your company operates across the EU, I would recommend looking for an FMC that can support you.
For home charging, the standard is a wifi-enabled 7 to 11kW level 2 unit that can be plugged into a 220-240V outlet or hardwired into the home’s electric system (note that many jurisdictions in the U.S. require hardwiring, which also means potential holes in drywall that need patching).
Lesson #2 - Identify employee interest
While not essential, understanding how many employees are interested in transitioning is helpful when setting regional conversion expectations. Some of the questions I included were the type of home (e.g., single-family vs multi-unit dwelling), availability of wifi at parking location, max daily distance traveled, preferred vehicle (from those we offered in the region), reason for wanting an EV, and concerns.
Lesson #3 - Identify EV readiness for all regions of operation
Charging infrastructure and EV availability varies greatly from country to country. Research each of your regions and develop a phased rollout approach depending on readiness. A number of nations including China, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. have sufficient infrastructure to start now, while nations in Eastern Europe, LATAM, and Japan require additional development. A great resource for Europe is LeasePlan’s EV Readiness Index.
Lesson #4 - Set vehicle guidelines
Identify appropriate limits to guide your transition. Example include:
Whether to include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or limit to BEVs. The trade-off is transition speed versus impact. Studies such as one by the International Council on Clean Transportation are finding the impact of PHEV to be significantly higher than expected as the vehicles are rarely charged. For the fleet I support, PHEVs are not part of the company target and are avoided in favor of BEVs wherever possible.
A minimum range to support your fleet’s use case. Our service areas can require over 200 miles of driving in a single day. To minimize public charging time, I established a minimum rated range of 200 miles (320 km) using USEPA or Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP).
Manufacturers and charging plug standards.
In the European Union, the Type 2 Combined Charging System (CCS) is the defacto standard with CHAdeMO on the way out. The Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are the only high volume vehicles still using CHAdeMO.
In China, the GB/T is the standard and required for all EVs (Tesla vehicles also have a Tesla charging port for access to their Supercharging network).
In the U.S., Tesla has the majority of the market and the most extensive rapid charging network. If the Model 3 and Y price points work for your fleet, Tesla may be the most effective solution until other manufacturer options evolve. Beyond Tesla, Type 1 CCS is the primary plug standard.
Lesson #5 - Establishing region-specific funding levels
While the total cost of ownership of BEVs is lower than comparable ICE vehicles, the timeline of fleet leases (36 to 48 months) will in most cases not pass the break-even point. Until EVs drop further in price, expect the fleet to require supplemental financial support. A few items to consider:
Premium total lease cost for a BEV to a comparable ICE can vary from nothing to US$4,000 a year depending on the country and their tax policies.
The average home charging installation can vary from US$2,000 up to US$5,000 depending on the country.
Office charging installations start around US$3,000 per point with the potential to increase significantly if electrical upgrades are required.
Lesson #6 - Establish an EV suitability assessment
Charging is the number one issue I run into when assessing if a BEV is suitable. With the exception of Norway, expect all regions to have edge cases where a BEV is not suitable. To prevent placing employees into unsuccessful situations, establish an suitability assessment. Key aspects to consider:
Ability to install a charger at the home. If not, is there a fast public charging option in close (<200m) proximity?
The density of rapid public charging relevant to the employee on expected routes (at least one option every 100 miles). I would recommend against considering fast (i.e., Level 2) public chargers when assessing as their charging speed is insufficient unless planning to stay at the location for 2 to 3 hours.
Less important, but another helpful metric your FMC may be able to provide is the percent of daily driving within the rated range of the vehicle. Depending on the percentage you can increase or decrease your tolerances associated with the density of rapid public charging options.
Lesson #7 - Expect and plan for a lot of questions
Plan for as many situations and questions and then expect to receive some you never thought of.
How will we be reimbursed for home charging? In same situations the FMC will take care of this.
How do we expense public charging? Some FMCs will have e-mobility charging solutions via a charging card or app that operates similar to a fuel card.
Which public charging networks can we use? As long as the plug type matches, any public charging network can be used. As each network has a different cost structure take some time here to evaluate what makes the most sense for your situation and priorities.
Why can’t I connect to X charger? One example: when providing an employee with a universal J1772 plug home charger and a Tesla, communicate they need to use the Tesla to J1772 adaptor with the home charger.
How long does it take my vehicle to charge? Here is a good starter infographic
What are we doing with the home charger if an employee leaves the company? I recommend just leaving the charger - it is not worth the time or expense to retrieve.
What are the tax implications on the employee for installing home chargers? Most countries have laws to exclude home chargers, but not all.
While EVs are not a one size fits all solution to transportation impacts, they can significantly reduce carbon emissions and air pollution when vehicle use is required.