Are Passenger Vehicle Fleets Ready for Electrification?

Are passenger fleets ready to take the plunge and start incorporating electric vehicles? Although there are now lower operating costs and declines in battery costs, many fleet managers still face challenges when trying to figure out how to make the switch to electric vehicles. 

Concerns include most employees driving too far for an electric vehicle’s battery range and overnight charging will take too long without having an expensive fast charger.

A study from eIQ Mobility, a data science startup, looked at the driving behavior of 5,900 passenger cars to answer fleet managers’ concerns about range, charge time, and infrastructure.

Of the vehicles analyzed, the study found that 91% could be replaced with electric vehicles using only Level 2 EV chargers. Of the 9% of passenger vehicles that couldn’t be electrified, the limitation was range, not charging time, according to eIQ.

eIQ used the EV Design Mileage metric to determine whether an electric vehicle’s range could take on a fleet’s daily operational requirements. The EV Design Mileage looks at the distribution of daily mileage of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, ICE vehicle idling, lower battery performance in hot or cold conditions, and the use of heating and air conditioning. 

Most passenger cars have an EV Design Mileage between 50 and 200 miles, according to the study. eIQ found that 93% of the analyzed passenger vehicles have an EV Design Mileage that an available EV can satisfy. For example, 89% of eIQ passenger cars have an EV Design Mileage less than 310 miles, the range of Tesla’s Model 3 Long Range.

To address the concern about overnight charging, eIQ studied the required charging rate of each vehicle in order to estimate how close each vehicle is to exceeding charger capacities. According to the study, for the 93% of passenger cars that found an EV match, 98% have a charging requirement that can be achieved by using a Level 2 charger overnight. Only 2% of passenger cars with an EV match couldn’t be electrified overnight with a Level 2 charger.