Transportation Electrification
Part 3: EV Fleet Options
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Pickups
America’s workhorses are going electric with exciting offerings from Ford, Chevrolet, Rivian, and Tesla.
Photo Credit: Ford Motors
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Utility Bucket Truck
Can both help electrify a utility fleet and supply power during outages.
Photo Credit: Portland General Electric
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School Bus
Electric school buses are operating across the country in all weather and geographical conditions.
Photo Credit: Lion Electric
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Police
High performance, safety, and low fuel costs give electric vehicles a clear edge.
Photo Credit: Ford Motors
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Refuse
Utilities can speed the electric vehicle transition by switching to electric refuse trucks in their fleets.
Photo Credit: Lion Electric
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Transit
Electric public transit such as buses can support both cleaner travel and shared mobility options.
Photo Credit: Unsplash
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Class 4-6 Delivery
Electrifying delivery fleets can help clean and grow the global shipping market.
Photo Credit: General Motors
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Class 8 Semis & Trucks
With managed charging, utilities can have massive fuel savings as more class 8 trucks hit the road.
Photo Credit: Daimler Trucks
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Light duty fleets
Affordable electric fleet options are saving companies money on fuel and maintenance costs.
Photo Credit: Nissan
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TNC: Uber, Lyft, Taxi
With high mileage and inexpensive power, EVs save Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) money.
Photo Credit: Tesla
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Excavator, Loader
Reduced noise and diesel pollution are additional benefits for light construction equipment.
Photo Credit: JCB
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Tractor
Small tractors offer increased torque and can reduce noise and save money on electric fuel.
Photo Credit: Solectrac
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Forklift
Better air quality at worksites and less noise are added benefits beyond electric fuel savings.
Photo Credit: Toyota
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Paratransit & Shuttles
Airports, senior centers, and more can remove idling pollution.
Photo Credit: Optimal Electric Vehicles, LLC
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Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU)
Electric TRUs save money and improve local air quality.
Photo Credit: United Natural Foods
Vehicle fleets come in all shapes and sizes. They may be publicly owned by local, state, federal, or tribal governments or utilities. Vehicle fleets may be privately owned or leased. Fleet vehicles themselves range in size from small cars to large semi-trucks and construction equipment. The Toolkit explores many different vehicle categories that are rapidly electrifying across a number of segments. A great place to start assisting customers is by learning through doing — and electrifying the utility's vehicle fleet.
Market Outlook: Fleet Vehicles
Fleet vehicle classes. Asterisk indicates that the vehicle can span multiple classes. Graphic information from Department of Energy
There is a wide range of market segments within the fleet vehicle category from small cars to class 8 semis and even larger for off-road applications. Some market segments are already at or near cost parity with ICE equivalents like passenger cars and pickups. Economies of scale and battery cost reductions will help other larger vehicles become increasingly competitive with diesel counterparts.
Some larger vehicles still have large cost deltas to overcome between diesel and electric options. Economies of scale and battery cost reductions will help lessen these deltas over time. In the funding and financing sections, we will discuss ways to bridge these gaps. Some utilities with high demand charges are utilizing V2G benefits to help bridge these cost differentials.
Vehicles such as class 4-6 delivery vans are electrifying quickly. Large fleet owners have expressed that they will prioritize areas where the utility is easy to work with. Local incentives also help steer large fleet electrification.
Industry-wide across market segments, demand will outstrip supply for the foreseeable future. Vehicle manufacturers are making large investments to expand production capacity and build up their supply chains. But this process takes time.
Compared to consumers, fleet operators are more guided by total cost of ownership. As we will see next, there can be significant fuel savings depending on local liquid fuel and electricity costs, vehicle miles traveled and vehicle efficiency depending on climate. Operations and maintenance (O&M) savings are also important for fleets to consider when calculating their total cost of ownership.
Fleet Savings
How much fuel can be saved through fleet electrification? Fleet vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles see big savings when they upgrade to electric fuel. See for yourself.
Southern California Edison has an advanced Fleet Calculator using their rates
Electric Fleet Vehicles Offer Significant Load Growth Benefits
Electric vehicles offer utilities opportunities for increased revenue just like other forms of electrification. Controllable load is an exceptional type of load growth to harness as it can help to mitigate peak capacity issues.
One fleet purchasing 10 electric pickups would increase its electric use by over 6.2 MWh/month
*Based on each electric pickup driving 15,000 mi/yr, which would require 20.5 kWh per day per vehicle
Scaling this to 500 fleet pickups in a service territory is an increase of 311 MWh /month
Managed charging is vital to harness this load by shifting it to times of day with excess capacity and avoiding charging at peak times
Vehicles like garbage trucks, school buses, and police cars offer even greater load growth benefits
Electric Fleet Vehicles Reduce Pollution
Electric fleet vehicles produce no harmful exhaust, greatly improving health outcomes for those who would otherwise drive, ride, or live amongst diesel vehicles. Many fleet vehicles currently run on diesel fuel, which produces exhaust that contains high levels of nitrous oxides (NOx), fine particulate matter, and other pollutants. These emissions have major impacts on local air quality. Diesel particulate matter has been linked to increased rates of asthma and cardiovascular disease, particularly among children, the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions.
Diesel emissions can be especially harmful in areas where diesel vehicles idle, including outside of schools or at warehouses and other job sites near where people live and work. A Yale University study found that children are exposed to far more pollution once entering the school bus, where fine particulate matter was often five to 10 times higher than outside the bus. A child that rides an electric school bus (instead of a diesel one) for one hour total per school day would be spared nearly 2,400 hours of this acute exposure over their K-12 education.
For these health reasons, Departments of Environmental Quality in many states offer funding to help bring down upfront costs for electric fleet vehicles and add immediate air quality benefits to the community. In addition, the U.S. EPA is rolling out its Clean School Bus Program to grant $5 billion over five years to replace diesel buses with zero-emission alternatives.
Electric fleet vehicles can also increase safety at job sites by reducing noise pollution, allowing for clearer communication between workers, and reducing hearing loss over time caused by noisy engines.
Fleet Relationships
Organizational change takes time and support. The utility can play a critical role by developing relationships with fleets in the service territory, public and private, to help guide them along their electrification journey.
First, the utility must identify vehicle fleet operators in the service territory. Demonstrating the operational benefits of EVs and the total cost of ownership advantages are important considerations for fleet operators. The utility can play a key role in helping plan the transition to an electric fleet. Engineering staff and grid planners can provide essential guidance to help this transition happen smoothly and at least cost while minimizing the impact on utility distribution systems. In some cases where there are large heavy-duty vehicle hubs, new sub-stations will need to be constructed.
Fleet Electric Vehicle Education
While fleet offerings for rural America like electric pickups, school buses, garbage trucks and more are coming on strong, there is still an education gap surrounding EVs. The utility can act as a trusted source to help inform utility staff, the general public and fleet customers.
Collaborating with school bus and commercial vehicle dealers in and around the utility service territory is a great opportunity to help inform customers and potentially provide sales or vehicle incentives. This helps the utility to engage with important community stakeholders and build deeper long-term relationships.
For additional information, see Section 4: TE Program Framework and Section 5: Marketing
Fleet Electrification Goes Beyond Road Vehicles
Polaris electric UTV. Photo Credit: Polaris Industries Inc.
Farms, construction sites, ski resorts, commercial boating and even pilots are beginning to experience the benefits of electrification.
Other electric fleet options include tractorsm excavators, backhoes, skid steers, snow machines (at ski resorts), side by sides/Utility Task Vehicles (UTVs), boats (for tourism fleets and industries), and aviation
Additional Resources
PG&E: Take Charge: A Guidebook to Fleet Electrification and Infrastructure
Electrification Coalition: Electric Vehicle Fleets