Fleets go electric to lower fueling and maintenance costs
Electric fleets slash fueling and maintenance costs without sacrificing operational readiness.
Cost savings are a major driver for fleet electrification. Electric fleets have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) due to lower fueling and maintenance costs. Simpler mechanics reduce maintenance needs while delivering power so EVs spend more time working and less time getting repaired, extending their useful life.
Electricity is less expensive than fossil fuels at baseline, but electric fleets also bring with them the benefit of sophisticated energy management tools that enable additional savings through fueling optimization.
Because electric fueling is easily connected with other systems such as telematics and route planning tools, fleet managers can manage fueling and power use to lower costs. Charging can be prioritized by vehicle need and fleets can set power ceilings to avoid expensive utility demand charges. Smart charging blends cost optimization with peace of mind, ensuring that electric fleets are charged and ready when needed at the lowest cost possible.
Scheduled Charging Saves Money
According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, electric vehicles typically require less maintenance than conventional vehicles because:
Reduced maintenance can keep vehicles in service longer and reduce total cost of ownership.
Fleets could collectively save $561 million USD and 1.4 billion liters of fuel over 7 years.
Geotab study
New York City analyzed maintenance costs and found that EV maintenance costs were only 20-25% of the costs of maintaining vehicles with combustion engines. In other words, going electric could reduce a fleet maintenance budget by 75-80%.
As vehicle availability continues to expand, we continue to see steady growth in charging activity across our fleet customer base. We expect this growth trend to accelerate as more fleets electrify, bring the right EV charging partner on board and grow their electric fleets to meet savings and sustainability goals. Fleet charging growth is enabling significant emission savings:
66% more GHG emissions have been avoided by fleet charging in 2021 to date over all of 2020
How do fleets charge? As you might expect, the peak charging time for fleets is early in the morning, from 5:00 to 7:00 AM, so that vehicles are ready to tackle their routes when the day begins. As fleets grow, charging activity can be spread over time.
Fleet vehicles charge on average for about 2.5 hours before rolling out. This suggests that there is ample time to charge fleet vehicles and, importantly, to do so at times that typically have lower energy costs.
Beyond the fueling and maintenance savings offered by EVs, smart charging technology can help fleets save even more by scheduling charging at off-peak rates or setting a power ceiling to reduce utility demand charges.
Initially, Alameda County's EV fleet was 35% less costly to operate compared to its gas-powered vehicles. With Power Management capabilities, that number jumped to 54%, saving the county thousands of dollars each year — and those savings continue to increase with every new EV added to the fleet.
Here at ChargePoint headquarters, we accommodated more EVs at low cost by using our own solution to optimize energy use across charging spots. We saved more than $8,000 (6,759€) annualized on energy bills.
