DRIVING THE FUTURE – EV CHARGING
ACCELERATING THE SHIFT TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES The acceleration towards sustainable transportation is being led by public bodies and commercial fleets, who are grasping the opportunity to make the shift to electric vehicles (EV) says John Hartley of Centrica Business Solutions. In the following article he outlines why organisations are making the change to EV and what they have to consider when they do.
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rganisations can make a huge contribution to reducing the threat of climate change by transitioning to electric fleet vehicles, providing atwork charging for employees or turning car parks into EV friendly spaces. EV lowers costs, improves the customer and employee experience and makes a contribution to reducing carbon. Public and business sectors have the scale to realise these benefits in a material way. They also have the advantage of a range of grants and financial incentives to assist them in transitioning to EV and building the required infrastructure. This large scale can also throw up unique challenges, most notably in getting sufficient power to the charge points when there are lots concentrated on one site, as well as the complexity of designing, planning, developing and operating the supporting charging infrastructure.
THREE KEY BENEFITS OF SWITCHING TO EV: 1. Improve your sustainability and environmental compliance Electric vehicles are crucial to
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decarbonising transport and improving air quality. By demonstrating leadership in providing EV charging infrastructure and transitioning fleet vehicles to EV, businesses and public bodies can play a major role in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, while inspiring wider EV adoption across society. Organisations that fail to address their environmental responsibilities face a growing raft of financial penalties and green taxes. For example, London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, which is expected to be rolled out in other cities, provides a powerful financial incentive to move to EV. 2. Reduce costs and generate revenue With the economies of scale of fleet management and falling technology prices for batteries, and charging infrastructure, the cost of EVs is reducing. Long term cost savings can be made by making the switch from petrol and diesel. But electrifying transportation also unlocks opportunities to integrate your EV infrastructure with renewable on-site distributed solutions such as solar and battery storage, which can further reduce energy costs and enhance sustainability across your entire estate. Installing onsite battery storage can also enable your business to earn money from your EV strategy by selling any spare power capacity back to the grid via lucrative Demand Side Response (DSR) and supply optimisation programmes. If grant funding is available this can be improved still further as upfront investment keeps ongoing operational costs low. 3. Improve your brand reputation and customer experience Growing public concern about the
ENERGY MANAGER MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2019
threat of climate change demonstrates an urgent need to take action on sustainability and improve your environmental credibility. While regulatory targets matter, pressure from your stakeholders can often be a more powerful motivator to make the shift to clean transport. Customers’ expectations are growing and they will value the convenience of using onsite charge points, while workplace EV charging also offers an attractive addition to your employee’s benefits package. Moving your fleet to EV is an effective way of expressing your corporate social responsibility (CSR) and succeeding through delighting all your stakeholders.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN PLANNING AN EV STRATEGY There are huge environmental and commercial benefits to making the shift to EV, but there are also a number of challenges. For example: • How do you connect and coordinate all the silos in the complex supply chain and various elements involved in developing a future-proofed EV project? • How do you secure sufficient sustainable power capacity to meet both immediate and future additional power needs? • How do you fund the cost of expanding your on-site generation and storage infrastructure without raiding your capital budgets? • How do you ensure the efficient long-term management of your EV operation using trusted software and apps that your drivers will find user-friendly? Planning and implementing the
