Why should you grow your EV charging truck fleet?
If you’ve already incorporated some electric trucks into your truck fleet, you probably already know about the many benefits eTrucks offer.
Lower operating costs compared to combustion vehicles, reduced emissions, reduction in noise pollution, and the ability to gain a competitive advantage by improving your brand image, to name a few.
And the exciting thing is, the more you electrify your truck fleet, the greater the benefits become. Planning an effective EV fleet growth strategy will further lower your operating costs, help you achieve your sustainability goals, attract environmentally-conscious customers, and help you comply with government regulations moving forward. (For example in Amsterdam, diesel trucks with an emission standard (EURO) 5 or lower are already banned from the city centre, with plans in place to extend that ban to all diesel vehicles by 2030. While the city of Paris aims to phase out all diesel vehicles as early as 2024).
To make sure you get your strategy right, there are many important factors you need to consider.
Fleet management: How to plan your eTruck fleet growth strategy
Putting together a growth strategy for your eTruck fleet is increasingly becoming an essential aspect of fleet management. Below are some steps you can take to plan your strategy effectively.
Evaluate current fleet
First things first, you will need to evaluate your current fleet. This means assessing the vehicles you currently use, and determining the model, age, fuel consumption, and associated maintenance costs of each vehicle. This analysis will help you determine which vehicles are ready to be replaced with electric trucks.
Set clear targets (consider the net-zero timeline)
It’s also important to establish clear targets for your growth strategy. Here you need to decide exactly how many eTrucks you will be adding to your ev charging truck fleet, and what the timeline will be for this transition. You should also evaluate the different types of EVs available and determine which models are best suited for your needs.
Setting realistic, achievable targets is the goal here, and it’s also a good idea to take note of expected savings or benefits you wish to achieve during the transition.
When you are setting your targets, something you might want to keep in mind is the Net-Zero timeline and how that affects the sale of EVs and the rollout of EV charging stations. With the EU banning the sale of new internal combustion engine cars from 2035, many car manufacturers are planning to go exclusively electric much earlier than that. A trend that may very well also extend to trucks. With governments already ramping up efforts to roll out charging infrastructure, there will certainly be facilities in place to support such a move to electric trucks.
Accounting for this inevitable growth of the EV market and expansion of charging infrastructure while setting your own growth targets would be very much advised.
Consider energy management and electric truck charging infrastructure
Once you’ve decided which eTrucks you plan to add to your truck fleet and when, it’s time to consider your energy management and charging infrastructure needs.
You will need to determine the energy demand required to power your EV fleet as it grows, taking into account your total number of vehicles, the distance they will travel, and the charging infrastructure required.
If you find that your current infrastructure is insufficient for dealing with an expanded EV fleet, you will have to put a plan together for installing new EV charging stations and possibly upgrading existing ones. This plan should identify the specific types of chargers you require, the desired location of these EV charging stations, and also a charging schedule for your expanded eTruck fleet.
Develop an implementation plan (roadmap for a fully electric fleet)
Now you have a clear idea of which eTrucks you need, and the charging infrastructure required to support them, you can put together a plan to implement your strategy.
This plan should clearly outline the steps and milestones required for growing your eTruck fleet, taking into account the procurement process, charging infrastructure plan, employee training, and budget.
It’s important to clearly identify the roles and responsibilities of your team within this plan, and also to develop a communication plan to inform stakeholders of the strategy.
As your truck fleet continues to evolve, and electric vehicles become more commonplace, it’s likely that this implementation plan can eventually be used as the beginning of a roadmap towards a fully electric fleet.
Consider government incentive programs
When putting together the budget part of your plan, considering government incentive programs might help you lower expenses. These programs are designed to encourage companies to adopt EVs and reduce their carbon footprint, and there may be tax credits, grants, rebates, or subsidies available to you depending on your company’s location.
Deploy transition team
With a clear plan in place, you can begin to deploy a transition team in order to make it a reality.
To do this successfully, you should identify all internal stakeholders who will be impacted, engage them from the start of the process, and leverage their expertise throughout the transition.
Doing so will allow your entire business to more effectively navigate the challenges involved with growing your electric truck fleet.
Provide sufficient training
It’s also essential to consider the training required to familiarise your employees with all new eTrucks.
From fleet managers, to mechanics, to drivers; everybody involved with the daily operation of the trucks must be sufficiently trained so that everything runs as smoothly as possible.
Monitor and evaluate progress (and keep up to date with the market)
As you implement your growth strategy, it’s always best to monitor and evaluate your progress on a regular basis. This way you can easily identify any issues that might come up, and make adjustments to the plan if needed.
As the EV market is always evolving, it also makes sense to keep on top of any new developments, technologies, or products that arise. New innovations in the market might bring opportunities to increase efficiency and performance across your truck fleet, but may also bring risks like charger performance issues, recalls, or supply chain disturbances.
Keeping up to date with these kinds of developments will ensure that your growth strategy is always optimised. If you need us, Heliox is also here to help you grow your eTruck fleet in the best way possible.
How Heliox can Help you Grow your EV charging truck Fleet
As Europe’s leading provider of rapid DC chargers for businesses of all sizes, Heliox has got you covered when it comes to growing your eTruck fleet.
We’ve been providing cutting-edge charging solutions for over ten years and we have a 96.2% efficiency rating, the highest in the industry. We offer modular chargers that allow you to scale your charging infrastructure based on your evolving needs. And we also offer mobile, flexible, and fixed rapid chargers, making it easy for you to get your growing eTruck fleet on the road without a fuss.
To maximise your efficiency and lower your operational costs, we also offer monitoring software solutions. And we provide safety services for your new charging infrastructure, as well as 24/7 service and maintenance to make sure your chargers are always working.
Our aim is to make the e-mobility transition as easy for you as possible, so you can continue your operations as usual, and start enjoying all the benefits that eTrucks have to offer.
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