Fleets converting to electric vehicles might find the transition challenging, particularly the charging infrastructure. Depot charging is one obstacle to tackle on its own, but for fleets whose employees take their vehicles home each day—roughly 30% of fleets, according to an Escalent survey—that charging conundrum is even more profound.
Ford Pro’s home charging solution
With Ford’s new solution, the company will install and maintain its Ford Pro Series 2 48A charger at the homes of fleet employees who require at-home charging. The charger has cellular connectivity capabilities, ensuring it can collect and send data to the fleet manager dashboard regardless of the strength of the Wi-Fi connection (or lack thereof) at the employee’s home.
Using data collected from local utilities, the software will also allow fleet managers to view the rates of off-peak and peak energy use timeframes, enabling fleet managers to schedule vehicle charging when electricity rates are the lowest.
Managers can also schedule and even enable or disable charging from the Ford Pro Telematics dashboard as well as be alerted when a vehicle isn’t charging as it should be. This helps fleet owners remotely manage electric vehicle charging across their fleet.
See also: What it takes to build charging infrastructure, according to a utility provider
Another obstacle to a fleet’s EV transition is how to reimburse those drivers who require at-home charging for fleet vehicles.
“We've seen customers really struggle with the administrative burden of figuring out how much to reimburse drivers for the energy usage to charge for work purposes, and then align that to the drivers’ utility rates that they pay, which are different at every home,” Poll said.
Ford Pro’s new software solution collects data when charging occurs and whether at peak or off-peak times, then calculates that according to the time charged and the energy used to give managers an accurate reimbursement rate for their drivers.
“It really requires data and intelligence in terms of being able to bring in, for example, that utility rate information along with the charging data to calculate the real reimbursement amount that's due to the driver,” Poll told FleetOwner. “Then we provide reporting that allows the fleets to reimburse their drivers accurately considering those factors.”
Support beyond the vehicle
Poll said that as fleet customers transition to electric vehicles, the Ford Pro team seeks out ways to continue supporting fleets “beyond the vehicle itself,” and simply saw at-home charger installation and energy reimbursement as a fleet challenge that needed a solution.
“We look across the business at service and other areas that we can help our fleets be successful,” Poll stated. “We want to help our customers be successful with EV adoption and their fleets and develop solutions to help them with that in both of those areas: installation and reimbursement.”
Ford Pro’s at-home charging solution was developed in-house, centered around its telematics and charging management platform that has expanded over time and through Ford’s 2021 acquisition of Electriphi, an EV charging management software platform. Further, this platform acts as a one-stop shop for managing fleet charging, as it encompasses Ford Pro’s depot charging software, which has been available for several years, with the new at-home charging solution. A separate driver-facing dashboard is available to fleet drivers, showing necessary charging information and insights on the vehicle they drive.
See also: Is the EV infrastructure worry bigger than it should be?
Ford Pro’s at-home charging solution was first tested and released in the UK and is now available for fleets in the U.S. and Canada. Before the release, Ford Pro tested the comprehensive solution in the UK and North America. Those who've already tested the solution have had a positive reaction.
“Our customers are excited to get help from our solutions to control their fleet's EV charging operations remotely," Poll told FleetOwner. "They are particularly excited about three features: 1) reimbursement cost estimation in our charging software, 2) automatic cellular connectivity in chargers, eliminating the need for home Wi-Fi, and 3) simplified, quick installation. We want to help our customers be successful with EV adoption, so we'll continue to be tuned into their needs and feedback as we evolve our solutions."
