How to Right-Size Your Fleet Charging Infrastructure Using Real Telematics Data

Many organizations are incorporating electric vehicles (EVs) into their fleets, enticed by lower operating costs, decreased emissions, and better performance. However, along with EV purchases come a host of considerations beyond simply purchasing a vehicle. Without the right fleet charging infrastructure, EV adoption can quickly become an inefficient and costly ordeal.

Determining the correct number, power level, and location of charging stations is a challenging exercise. At one extreme, building more stations than you need may seem like a safe option but can be expensive and result in an inefficient use of capital, real estate, and electrical infrastructure. At the other extreme,  not building enough charging stations can have negative impacts on operations, cause unwanted expenses, and the potential for unforeseen issues to arise. The optimal solution is somewhere in between, but where?

This post explores four approaches to determining the "right" amount of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) for a fleet, helping you avoid over- or underbuilding your fleet charging infrastructure. Ultimately, we'll examine why Sawatch Labs' EV infrastructure optimizer tool (ezIO) provides a precise, cost-effective solution.

Four Fleet Charging Infrastructure Planning Methodologies

Methodology 1: The "Simple but Costly" 1:1 Ratio

The simplest approach to EVSE planning is installing a dedicated charger for every EV in a fleet.

Pros: It’s easy to understand and ensures every vehicle has a dedicated charging port.

Cons: It tends to be the most expensive option and is rarely the optimal strategy once the fleet moves beyond just a few EVs. Many fleet vehicles require charging only every other day or even less frequently, which leads to an over-investment in EVSE that will be underutilized. This strategy will also require the most physical space, making it a costly and often inefficient way to scale charging infrastructure.

Methodology 2: The “Active Days” Approach

A more refined methodology involves leveraging the fleet vehicles’ telematics data to determine infrastructure needs. This method takes into account that not every vehicle is active every day. Using this method, the fleet manager determines the threshold of daily driving activity for a vehicle to have an assigned EVSE. For vehicles with daily utilization lower than this threshold, an EVSE would be shared among two or more vehicles (e.g. maybe two vehicles that each drive two days per week would be assigned to a single charger).

Pros: This approach is more cost-effective than 1:1 and uses real-world vehicle usage data, which makes it more reflective of the fleet’s operations. It identifies that vehicles sitting idle most days do not need a dedicated charger.

Cons: It does not consider how much a vehicle drives on its active days nor its specific energy needs. It also ignores utility time-of-use (TOU) rates and demand charges, meaning the fleet could still face high electricity bills if "active" vehicles are charging simultaneously during peak hours.

Methodology 3: The “Battery Usage Threshold” Method

This methodology dives deeper into the telematics data, moving beyond ‘active days’ to analyze projected daily energy consumption based on each day’s driving. EVSE is assigned based on the battery size of the EV candidates and the daily energy consumption, which is measured as the percentage of the EV battery’s State of Charge (SOC).

An example of this approach is shown in the table below.

Pros: The telematics data provides detailed analysis of driving patterns allowing fleets to correlate charger needs to actual energy demand. It can lead to a greater number of EVSE reductions when compared to the previous two methods.

Cons: Despite its sophistication, this method still misses critical elements that would allow for true optimization. It ignores when vehicles return to the depot, and when electricity is cheapest.

Methodology 4: Dynamic Optimization by Sawatch Labs' ezIO

Sawatch Labs' ezIO (EV Charging Infrastructure Optimizer) tool offers an efficient solution that goes beyond ratios and energy estimates. This solution provides a truly optimized EVSE count that minimizes charging infrastructure costs.

How ezIO Works: ezIO ingests telematics data while also integrating specific utility rate structures, such as TOU rates. It factors vehicle-specific usable battery capacities and the actual energy each vehicle uses each day.

Using sophisticated energy modeling, vehicle usage and dwell patterns, and expected charging demand, ezIO identifies the minimum number of chargers required to meet all the fleet's charging needs while simultaneously minimizing overall electricity costs.

Pros of Sawatch Labs' ezIO:

• Optimal Number and Location of EVSE: Precisely calculates required infrastructure needs based on expected charging demands per site, providing the optimal number of chargers and level of chargers for each location.

• Significant Cost Savings: Reduces capital expenditure on fleet charging station infrastructure and optimizes charging schedules to leverage the least expensive off-peak electricity rates.

• Energy Demand Insights: Predicts daily demand curves and facilities’ peak demands in 15-minute increments. Within each facility, it allows for comparison between managed vs. unmanaged charging scenarios.

• Addresses True Complexity: Handles the key "when," "how much," and "at what cost" aspects of charging in a way other methods cannot.

  At one site alone, this customer would save $660,000 using Sawatch Labs Optimized Fleet Charging Infrastructure Planning

For one of our clients, a comparison of the four charging methodologies used at a single site revealed a significant cost difference between them. By using our ezIO software instead of a 1:1 ratio, Sawatch Labs  identified potential savings of up to $660,000 on the EVSE buildout. The total projected cost using each methodology is shown below.

Why Sawatch Labs is a Leader in Fleet Charging Infrastructure Optimization

At Sawatch Labs, we specialize in leveraging real-world fleet telematics and energy optimization expertise. We focus on using EV analytics to provide actionable insights into EV suitability assessments, EV infrastructure planning, EV management, and fleet emissions tracking and reporting. We're a strategic partner dedicated to making fleet electrification journeys both successful and cost-effective.

Ready to optimize your fleet charging infrastructure and reduce EVSE costs with data-driven planning?

Contact Sawatch Labs today for a demo of our products, including our EVSE optimizer tool.