The complete guide: 8 steps to electrifying your business fleet

Why electrify your fleet? There are many benefits:

• Zero tailpipe emissions
• Lower maintenance costs
• Renewable energy advantages, such as using on-site generation for zero carbon charging
• Unbeatable insight from state-of-the-art telematics
• Future-proofed business, with the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel car sales just a couple of replacement cycles away.

If you’re considering electric vehicles (EVs) for your business, you’re moving in the right direction.

Electrification isn’t something you can achieve overnight - there are many moving parts to consider.

But this process doesn’t need to be problematic. There are eight essential steps that put fleet managers on the road to electrification.

Download the guide using the button below or continue reading. You'll be able to download our guide at the bottom of this article.

Before you introduce EVs into your fleet, you’ll want to understand and prove the benefits.

Start with a full review of your current fleet usage to understand your operational requirements. Consider factors like mileage (per trip and per day), load requirements, areas of operation and resting locations as a starter for 10.

Follow with a total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation. Influential factors include cost of ‘refuelling’ with electricity versus diesel or petrol, ongoing maintenance requirements, and any tax benefits and toll, levy or congestion-charge exemptions.

The insight from your fleet review and TCO come together to create your business case.

Next up, choosing the right electric vehicles for your business.

Much like traditional vehicles, you’ll look at drivability and function versus form. But for EVs, you’ll also look at specifications like engine range (miles per charge, measured in units of energy, kWh) and charging capability (do you want standard charging speed, or rapid charging capability?)

Some partners arrange EV demonstration days. These let drivers and decision makers try recommended vehicles before committing to purchase.

At this stage, you’ll decide two things: what kind of charge points you want and where they’ll go.

You might think you need charge points at every site you own. But unless your vehicles regularly travel over 100 miles per day, you may be surprised at how few charge points you actually need.

As for type of charge point, this is all down to speed. Slow charge points are cheaper and ideal for overnight charging. Ultra-rapid charge points cost more, but allow for charging at rest stops.

Once you’ve chosen your charging locations, the site survey makes sure your installation is practical and efficient.

Groundworks can be inconvenient, so managing them effectively – such as taking advantage of existing electricity infrastructure – can help minimise disruption and expense. This is the last stage before committing to location.

Time to get plugged in! At this stage, you’ll be ordering and installing your charge point hardware.

Getting your charge points in the ground might require specialist contractors, such as charge point programming experts or a site manager to take responsibility of site works and project management.

Consider using installation day to raise awareness in your business and communicate why you’ve spearheaded the change.

Charge points are user-friendly but sophisticated pieces of tech.

Their initial set up will let you enable clever functionality, like programming different tariffs for different types of users.

Some EV partners will provide software that gives real time visibility of your charging network usage. Certain products even let you remotely lock and reset your equipment, to even better self-manage your fleet.

What happens if your charge points need updates or develop faults?

Even the best products in the world aren’t immune to faults.

Potential charging infrastructure issues to be aware of include outages and failures. But charging technology is smart; manufacturers or specialists can often detect (and correct) faults before the end-user is even aware that anything’s wrong.

Once your electric fleet is up and running, you can use data to optimise the value of your investment.

EV-specific telematics data can provide valuable information, like how efficient your drivers are. Even minor tweaks to driving styles can make journeys more power efficient, which adds up to operational savings.

The more you use your EVs, the more data you gather and the more you can maximise your operation.

Get your guide to fleet electrification

At Drax, we offer a unique end-to-end partnership approach to electrification that supports businesses every step of the way.

As experts in energy and EV markets, we’re perfectly positioned to help organisations build on their sustainability ambitions through fleet electrification.

We’ve created a detailed guide to switching to electric vehicles. Click below to understand how you can evolve your fleet and create real business benefits.