Enhance your fleet's efficiency with smart charging

Welcome to part six of our blog series following our webinar with Stekker. Until now, our focus has been on the advantages for individual EV drivers. But what happens when you make the transition to electric with an entire fleet of vehicles? The challenges surrounding cost, operational planning, and grid connection capacity grow exponentially, which can become overwhelming.

This is where smart charging evolves into an essential strategic tool. As our experts Erik de Bruin of Stekker and Leon Hemrika of Road explained in the webinar, the conversation for fleets isn't just about savings; it's about control and efficiency. Let's take a deeper look at the three specific advantages that your fleet and business can experience today.

1. Complete control & operational continuity

It's essential for any business that its vehicles are always ready to go, downtime is costly. Smart charging provides operational certainty.

• Centralised management: Through a central dashboard, such as Stekker's, a fleet manager has a complete overview of the entire fleet. You can see in real time which vehicles are charging, their current battery status, and when they will be fully charged.

• Vehicle prioritisation: Not every vehicle has the same level of urgency. If a service van needs to be on the road first thing in the morning, its charging session can be prioritised. This guarantees that your most critical vehicles are ready on time, while others are scheduled flexibly during more cost-effective periods.

2. Scaling savings: from a single vehicle to an entire fleet

The financial advantages enjoyed by individuals are amplified when applied to an entire fleet.

• Peak load avoidance: Managing peak load is critical when multiple EVs are charging simultaneously. Smart charging prevents your company from surpassing its grid connection limit, allowing you to avoid significant capacity fines from the grid operator. This often represents the single largest and most immediate cost saving for businesses.

• Leverage your own solar power: If your company building has solar panels, the system prioritises charging your fleet with your own self-generated, free electricity, dramatically reducing operational costs.

• Dynamic tariffs & renewable fuel units (RFUs): By strategically charging at the cheapest times and generating RFU certificates for using green power, you can unlock additional savings and even create new streams of income. (It must be added that RFU is a literal translation from the dutch HBE or 'Hernieuwbare brandstof eenheden'. As this refers to a certificate is important that the distinction is made.)

3. Scale your fleet without costly grid reinforcement

A frequent barrier to fleet electrification is the limited capacity of a site's existing grid connection, and upgrading it can be both expensive and time-consuming.

Smart charging offers the solution. By intelligently spreading the charging load over the available time (a practice known as 'load shifting'), you can maximise your current infrastructure. This allows you to expand your fleet and electrify more vehicles without the immediate need to invest in costly and lengthy grid upgrades.

Conclusion: an essential management tool

For today's fleet managers, smart charging isn't a luxury, it's an essential management tool. It provides the control, efficiency, and cost savings required to make the transition to an electric fleet both successful and profitable. The partnership between a flexible platform like that of Road and an intelligent software like that of Stekker helps set the scene for the future of corporate and fleet mobility.

Curious about the government's role in this space? In the final blog of this series, we'll examine how policy and government initiatives are shaping the future of smart charging. Follow us here so you don't miss out.

Want to see the full discussion and watch in-depth examples? You can view the entire webinar recording here.