Welcome back to Switched On, a series of articles helping operators to navigate fleet electrification.
This month we are focusing on charging and infrastructure, and the considerations to make – and misconceptions to be aware of – when choosing, installing and optimising your depot in order to lower your total cost of ownership (TCO).
I spoke to members of the Zenobē team who are working across various aspects of fleet charging and charging infrastructure including electric vehicle analytics, operations, and maintenance.
I hope their insights and expertise will provide you with useful guidance for your fleet electrification journey. Of course, you can always get in touch with us if you have any questions.
Steven Meersman, Co-Founder and Director, Zenobē
Don’t forget charging importance to electric vehicle TCO
In past articles in this series, we have focused on other pieces of the fleet electrification puzzle and how TCO can be influenced by factors including vehicle and battery management. Today we are focusing on chargers and charging infrastructure.
We spoke to colleagues from our business development, EV analytics, charger hardware and EV operations teams for their insight into the influence that charger hardware and software optimisation can have on operations.
Business Development Director for EV Fleet Ian Allder believes that there is a common misconception around chargers when it comes to developing an electric depot.
“Some may think that charging infrastructure is the cheapest part of the solution, a socket in the wall that you plug the bus into, but it really is not,” he says. “There are many technical considerations, such as ensuring that the connectivity between the charger and the vehicle is compatible and that communication between them can take place.”
Ian adds that the sophistication of charging is often overlooked, leading operators to start their fleet transition on the wrong foot.
“Some operators have begun the fleet electrification process by themselves and acquired chargers in isolation,” he says. “There are stories of some getting it wrong and writing off equipment that is nowhere near the end of its life.”
Ian believes it is prudent to take a long-term view when installing charging infrastructure and to look at plans for the next five to 10 years, not just the immediate project. That is to avoid what are known as ‘regret costs’, he explains.
“Investment in the future today is the best approach. For example, you may have a 2 MVA grid connection with a 2 MVA panel with 20 chargers attached to it. Later down the line, you may want to double your fleet of electric vehicles, so you may have to invest in a larger grid connection and a larger MV panel to support it.
“However, it is likely that it would have been cheaper to install a large MV panel on day one rather than upgrading and acquiring a second MV panel later. Additionally, one larger panel at the beginning of the process will occupy a smaller footprint in the depot than two smaller panels.”
Ian concludes: “Incorporating future plans into the layout and the technology you choose might sometimes mean over-specifying today, but it can reduce future upgrade and expansion costs.”
Much to consider for charger selection when electrifying
But what about the chargers themselves? Senior Hardware Manager Ranald Harding explains that the choice of charger is important to ensure that it supports smart charging services.
“Smart charging services require more of a charger compared to out-of-the-box ‘dumb’ charging technology. It is really important that the charger is amenable to smart charging so that we can keep charging as a close as possible to the grid limit. By charging as close as possible to the existing grid limit, operators can avoid expensive grid upgrade works.”
Without the correct charging hardware, an electric depot may not be able to fulfil its potential, as Ranald explains. “Unsuitable charging hardware may cause a depot to be constrained, with limited technical capabilities, and unable to utilise smart charging, so it is important to get the right technology to enable optimisation.
“In our Innovation Centre in Portsmouth, we test this amenability beforehand and identify which charger is the best fit for the vehicles that the fleet operator is working with. This testing can also be carried out remotely.”
From Zenobē’s experience, it is rarely realistic for an operator to build a whole new depot environment for its electric fleet. That is where a flexible approach to depot design and charger installation is key, as Ranald continues.
“The chargers that many in the industry are familiar with are large, boxy units, and for some sites, that is completely inappropriate – there is simply not enough space to install that kind of hardware.
“In these cases, we separate out the main components of the charger and integrate them into the depot, on the roof or in the outside yard, to utilise the existing space without compromising on the charger and the power or quality of charge delivered to the vehicles.”
This approach is all the more critical in built-up areas like cities, where expansion of the depot environment is not possible.
Optimise charging strategy to reduce outgoings
Once a site is built and operational, Zenobē explores how charging can be optimised to save on energy costs, as EV Fleet Analyst Sam Mallet explains.
“We look at how we can shift charging to off-peak periods and we continually monitor this across the year. The more you can charge after midnight, the more money you can save – around £20 per MWh.
“In one depot where we implemented this simple change, it resulted in a saving of about £30,000 per month in electricity bills. That scales up very quickly on large sites over long periods of time.”
Sam also outlines how seasonal shifts can influence charging efficiency. “During the summer and winter period, you may not be able to put 100% of your energy to off-peak because your vehicle efficiency gets far worse, with vehicles arriving back at base with a lower state of charge due to high use of air-conditioning and heating.
“But during the spring and autumn, especially in the UK, the temperature is ideal for running an EV, so you can look at 20-30%, or even 50%, less energy consumption by vehicles during those periods. This is just one way that smart charging monitoring and analysis can save significant costs for operators.”
Ongoing process to ensure charger health
So all the chargers are installed, optimised and monitored. How do you keep it all running? EV Operations Manager Ben Draye makes a plea to keep on top of maintenance.
“It is important for an operator of an EV fleet to keep on top of planned preventative maintenance,” he says. “For most of the chargers that we manage, it is a biannual intervention and gives us the opportunity to get a good look at how they are operating.
“If not, issues may creep up unexpectedly and will not be identified until it is too late, leading to asset downtime when you need that asset to be working, and it can end up being more costly.”
Ben highlights the importance of user training for maintaining a health depot. “Training of the end users within the depot is also important,” he adds. “They are going to be using these chargers, plugging them into buses and reporting any issues to operations.
“Electric depot operators should continue that training, or book more, if they have new staff, because little things like good cable management and inspecting chargers before use can make such a big difference over time to your repair and replacement costs.”
Much early thought about charging is required
Choosing optimal charging infrastructure and software, and the ongoing analysis and maintenance of it, all play a part in operating an electric depot that is not only successful, but cost efficient.
Deciding on the correct vehicle and charger integration on day one, and day-to-day maintenance, all have an impact on operating costs and thus TCO.
