The 5 features fleet companies want in an EV charging solution

Learn how your charging business can help fleets transition to EVs

February 27, 2024

Commercial fleets are electrifying fast, with the United States Postal Service alone planning to up their EV count to 66,000 vehicles by 2028. It's an excellent opportunity for the EV charging companies stepping up to support fleet managers during that transition, from hardware installation and software setup to daily maintenance and upkeep. But fleets have unique needs, and understanding how to meet them will put everyone ahead of the curve.

Unique challenges of managing an EV fleet

Fleet managers have a lot of demands on their time and attention. Ensuring their vehicles are charged and running is often just one aspect of their job. Here's what they're contending with:

Driver management: Fleet companies manage humans as much as machines. That includes assigning vehicles, making sure drivers arrive and depart on time and use the correct charging stations, as well as communicating any changes in schedules/charger availability.
Time pressures: Commercial fleets often run on tight schedules. Fleet managers need to know delivery times, work schedules, and which EV chargers are available. Charging times are another key consideration—commercial EVs require Level II and Level III (DC) charging stations to be viable in a fleet setting.
Load balancing: Fleets need to manage their power supply carefully in order to keep costs reasonable and avoid overwhelming the grid during peak times.
Access and security: Some fleets may have publicly available chargers, which means they’ll want to monitor their usage and restrict access to some chargers. Fleet companies without public EV chargers also need to make sure their employees are following best practices.
Maintenance: Managers need to quickly know if an EV charger isn't working correctly. Catching a problem too late can derail a fleet’s entire operation because everything is time-sensitive in logistics.
Volume: Keeping an entire fleet of commercial EVs charged and running will always be challenging, but the bigger your fleet, the more challenging it gets. Fleet managers need hardware and software components that work together to minimize some of the complexity and scale of running a large operation.

5 key features fleet managers need in an EV charging solution

So how do we solve those issues? Fortunately, a lot of them can be addressed by really good EV charging software.

1. Hardware & software interoperability

Fleet managers may need a mix of different chargers on-site, all controlled by the same charging station management software (CSMS). Multiple software solutions for different chargers would be a logistical nightmare. Using OCPP-compliant chargers and pairing them with open software allows fleet companies maximum flexibility.

2. Advanced scheduling

In fleet, keeping things on the clock and moving as expected is the name of the game. A robust CSMS can't do the fleet manager's scheduling for them, but it does give them the info they absolutely need to build and maintain that schedule. Seeing available chargers, charging times, and which vehicles are ready to hit the road lets them book and schedule operations smoothly.

3. Smart load balancing

Fleets need to be conscious of their energy consumption to comply with power usage regulations, avoid overwhelming the grid, and shave peek demand. A CSMS with smart load balancing features allows fleet managers to maximize their power supply while staying cost-efficient by daisy-chaining EV charging stations on a single circuit.

4. Strong customer support

There just isn't a lot of room for downtime in the fleet. Even one charging station failing can have a domino effect. So having access to quality support—before, after, and during the transition to EV—when things go wrong is vital.

5. One central hub to rule them all

Keeping their EVs charged is just one item on a fleet manager's to-do list. Big-picture budget overviews on energy usage, costs, and uptime figure heavily into their job description. A single-dashboard CSMS that provides that data, plus control over their entire fleet-charging operation, is worth its weight in gold.