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5 EV Charging Best Practices for Fleet Owners
There are plenty of good reasons to electrify your commercial fleet. First off, you’ll probably save money: Light electric vehicles (EVs) delivering packages in a city cost 13 percent less per mile than gas-powered trucks. You can also take advantage of generous federal subsidies, which can cover as much as 30 percent of the transition costs.
An electric fleet will help you zoom past corporate environmental goals, since EVs are zero-emission machines. And, depending on where you operate, EVs might soon be easier to find than traditional trucks. California’s Advanced Clean Fleets regulation will require commercial truck and bus manufacturers to produce only emission-free models starting in 2036.
A commercial EV fleet has a depreciation challenge, however: Batteries are vulnerable to degradation over time. Luckily, users have some control over the state of health of EV batteries in commercial fleets.
Here are five EV charging best practices that can help your fleet retain its value—and deliver a low total cost of ownership.
EV Charging Best Practices for Commercial Fleets: 5 Tips
Lithium-ion battery chemistry has been thoroughly studied, and manufacturers know what leads to premature capacity loss. These five EV charging tips can help your batteries last as long as physically possible.
- Try to keep EV batteries between 20 percent and 80 percent state of charge. Consistently high or low states of charge, sustained over a long time, can reduce battery capacity. Your EV’s battery management system will do most of the work of keeping the battery within a healthy charging range, but you can help by keeping batteries between 20 and 80 percent of their total capacity.
- Use Level 1 or Level 2 chargers whenever possible. While it’s fine to use DC fast charge technology every now and then, don’t make it your daily practice. In one study, EVs that used DC fast chargers more than three times per month in hot climates lost about 10 percent more capacity than batteries that stuck with Level 1 and Level 2 charging.
- Don’t charge cold batteries. If your region dips into freezing temperatures in the winter, warm up your EVs before you charge them. Charging while very cold can damage lithium-ion battery packs.
- Avoid driving at high speeds in cold temperatures. Winter weather isn’t kind to EV batteries, and if you work them too hard in the cold, you can lose capacity. Industry website Automotive Fleet reports that driving at “high speed” in “low temperatures” can reduce a battery’s total state of health by over 10 percent.
- Protect charging equipment for optimal performance. The surest way to send EV operators to a DC fast charge station, again and again, is to break all the Level 2 chargers. Even worse, semi-functional charging equipment might not regulate current properly, risking damage to a battery. The solution is to invest in EV charging station equipment that protects your chargers, while ensuring safe, convenient access.
How to Protect EV Charging Equipment at the Depot
There are two basic elements of a charging station that are vulnerable to damage at a busy EV fleet depot: charging cables and the charger itself. Invest in the following equipment to reduce the risk, while simplifying charging procedures for staff.
- EV Charger Pedestals. Elevate your Level 2 chargers with robust steel charger stands. These EV Charger Pedestals occupy a small footprint and support up to two chargers, offering the best combination of space savings, equipment protection, and easy access to charging connectors.
- EV Charger Cable Retractors. Keep EV charging cables out of traffic paths with an auto-retracting cable reel. This comprehensive cable management system attaches to walls or to EV Charger Pedestals, where it elevates cables overhead, reduces stress on conductors, and provides easy access for quick connections.
- EV Charger Pedestal and Cable Management Kits. Get both EV Charger Pedestals and pre-integrated EV Charger Cable Retractors in a single package. This full-service solution is ready for quick installation, indoors or outside.
- Structural Bollards. Keep vehicles from running into your charging stations by installing a pair of powerful steel posts. These Structural bollards mount to parking lot or floor surfaces, and are available in several heights.
Charging stations are as essential to the EV fleet as diesel is to traditional trucks. By protecting chargers with EV Charger Handling Equipment from Solus Group, you can get the maximum return on your investment—and make it easier for your staff to follow EV charging best practices like the ones listed above. Contact Solus Group at 314-696-0200 to learn more.