Electrification of transport is gaining momentum worldwide. Whether the vehicle fleet is commercial, municipal or a bus fleet, all operators share common challenges related to the transition to an electric future. We explore these common themes here and see how digital depot solutions are essential to successfully making the transition.
Today, vehicle fleets still depend primarily on fossil fuels, and the issues and stakeholders involved are well known
Although the transition to electrification is developing rapidly, vehicle fleets are still largely dependent on fossil fuels. Such an ecosystem has been built over decades with well-known and optimized components. It is generally centered on diesel or gasoline fuel, whose price is relatively stable. The vehicles themselves use technology more than a hundred years old and are well understood in terms of operational parameters. The refueling infrastructure is relatively simple (pumps and fuel tanks), and the time required to refuel is measured in minutes. Most operators have well-established and optimized vehicle and driver planning, which is supported by a series of interlinked IT systems for fleet management, depot management, etc. This is the existing structure, which you can see below in images. However, what is really interesting is what happens when we take this existing ecosystem and now consider the transition.
Fleets of the future have a more complex ecosystem, teeming with new players and new challenges
The challenges begin with the change of energy source, from diesel to electricity. While the price of diesel fuel was relatively stable, electricity costs can change quickly over the course of a day. This is caused by the introduction of time-of-use tariffs. Electricity is generally cheaper at night, and more expensive in the early evening when people return home and the sun sets. In many cases, there are also "power premiums" where electricity is more expensive at key times, again generally in the early evening. In addition, it is now possible to consider using storage, on-site generation, microgrids and virtual power plants to increase grid engagement. While the vehicle cabin has not changed significantly, their powertrain is completely different because electric motors draw energy from a lithium-ion battery. This leads to complexity related to range anxiety, route planning, driving optimization, among other things. The vehicle battery must be charged, which requires charging infrastructure and related electrical infrastructure. This charging infrastructure for a depot consists of chargers and several satellite enclosures or charging outlets for each charger. Charging infrastructure technology is very different from diesel refueling infrastructure and requires different maintenance procedures. The chargers themselves must be coordinated and scheduled. This planning must be coordinated with vehicle and driver scheduling to ensure that each vehicle has the right amount of energy, at the right time, to complete its mission. Finally, the new aspects of energy and load management required in an electric depot must interact with existing IT and operational processes at the depot. But these challenges are not insurmountable, and complexity can be reduced by taking into account the main challenges and then addressing them with digital solutions.
The main challenges and how they can be met
There are three main challenges that, if addressed brilliantly, can significantly increase the success of the transition for a vehicle fleet. The first of these is maintenance of the charging infrastructure. In a typical depot, there may be hundreds of chargers, and it is impossible to control them by physically "monitoring" them. There must be an on-site monitoring system connected to the chargers that transmits their status so they can be viewed remotely. Such a system should ideally be configured so that alerts can also be sent by email or SMS to service teams or similar. Many failures can be resolved by resetting the charger, so the monitoring system must also be able to send remote commands to the chargers to avoid the need for on-site restarts to clear faults. This connectivity also enables the development of a rich data sphere. Historical data can be analyzed to provide valuable operational insights, and detailed machine data can be evaluated to make troubleshooting more efficient.
The second major challenge concerns variable energy costs and grid connections. By controlling charging using load management and energy management, it is possible to significantly reduce a depot's energy needs and electricity costs. From my experience, based on simulations in several real-world depots, a depot's energy needs can be reduced by 40 to 50% through optimized charging. For electricity costs, typical savings of 15 to 25% are recorded when using optimized charging for the depots concerned. These are key levers in a depot's return-on-investment analysis. A depot's energy needs are at the root of electrical infrastructure costs. Increasing energy needs costs more and is an important factor in the depot's capital expenditure. On the operational side, electricity costs are the main driver of a vehicle fleet's operating expenses. Their management is therefore crucial. Digital charging and energy management solutions will be necessary to control charging schedules and related energy flows at the depot. The good thing is that these build on the monitoring solution mentioned earlier by offering the ability to control chargers and overlaying them with layers of intelligence to manage charging and energy. To learn more about load management and its importance, click here >>>
Finally, it is necessary to integrate energy and load management into existing depot operations. This covers not only the integration of the relevant IT systems, but also the integration of operational processes. Ideally, this should start before the chargers are commissioned in the planning phase. Depot operations must be considered holistically with load and energy management. Regarding digital services, it is essential that load and energy management systems can easily interact with existing IT systems. For this, digital solutions must be developed with an architecture compatible with an open ecosystem, while ensuring cybersecurity.
Digital solutions to support the transition to electrification of fleet depots.
If you would like to discuss the issues related to electrifying your vehicle fleet, speak with experts or get a demonstration of what Siemens can offer, come visit us at www.siemens.com/evdepot-digital. The electrification journey is only beginning, and digital services and solutions will play a key role in the transition.
This blog post is made possible thanks to our great partner Siemens in the context of the Cybersecurity and Safety in Transport Forum, an initiative of Propulsion Québec and supported by the government of Quebec.
