When choosing how to operate EVs, fleets should understand the difference between unmanaged charging, smart charging, and managed charging.
In the world of fleet electrification, operators are presented with a variety of choices, and to date, emphasis has been on vehicle and charger selection. What is often overlooked, but equally important, is what happens after those decisions are made. Determining when and how to charge has an enormous impact on the operating experience and cost of electrification. Navigating all of this can be overwhelming.
When choosing how to manage charging, fleets should understand the difference between:
With unmanaged charging, fleet operators physically plug-in and unplug EVs at any time that is convenient. This manual process often doesn’t take into account the local utility’s time-of-use rates, demand charges, or site capacity. With rates fluctuating up to 400% in one day, unpredictable energy costs could result in significantly more spent on energy costs.
Smart charging is a step up from unmanaged charging. While the intent is not to be deceptive, ‘smart’ simply means the charging technology has a Wi-Fi connection, enabling passive visibility to the data. The software included in the charger could allow fleets to turn the charger on and off remotely, set timeframes for charging, and identify power draw and energy costs.
Managed charging uses cloud-based software that automatically adapts to fleet operations. In addition to being able to remotely control charging, it also takes into account duty-cycles, energy consumption, utility rates, demand responses, equipment faults, and more–automatically responding to this real-time data. With this comprehensive approach, fleet operators can take a back seat to operating their EV charging while improving costs, and vehicle and equipment uptime.
Through our charge management software (CMS) Omega, fleets can ensure 99.9% platform uptime–the only CMS on the market that can make this guarantee. In addition to being a cloud-based software, we also install an onsite site controller that manages energy capacity at the site, which keeps power draw within utility limits and provides backup energy management.
We’ve found that EV fleets can save as much as 42% when using a managed charging strategy over unmanaged charging. Take three of our customers for example:
Fleet operators should be able to focus on their core business of moving goods and people, not managing charging. Let us put your EV fleet charging on autopilot with charge management software, while guaranteeing our platform will always be there to keep your fleet running smoothly.
Date
6 March 2023
author
Meg Dinga
Senior Director, Marketing Operations & Special Projects, bp pulse fleet
Topics
Connect with us to learn more about how to put your fleet charging on autopilot.
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