victorian electric vehicle trial mid-term report - Department of Transport

One of the objectives of the guidanceabove is to optimise the vehicleutilisation once in-service, and withthis the operational cost savings. Animplication of the observed underutilisationof the trial vehicles isthe reduced operational cost savinginput into the total cost of ownershipbusiness case. This will work againstEV uptake, which means addressingbarriers to vehicle utilisation should bea priority to promote fleet adoption.The inter-related issues of limitedrange, long charging times and a lackof widespread charging infrastructureavailability were cited by trial fleetparticipants and attendees at the fleetworkshops as a major barrier to morewidespread fleet adoption of EVs.Options to address this include:• Larger vehicle batteries – thiswould increase range, but at theexpense of purchase price andcharging time• Faster charging – next-generationEVs are likely to be capable ofdrawing 32 amps, which willeffectively halve the current‘standard’ charging times;sufficient electrical supply mustbe available or installed to supportthe increased demand (refer toSection 5.1)• Public charging network –including specifically quickcharging and/or battery swap,would greatly increase theeffective range of the vehicles,or possibly even support reducedbattery size/vehicle cost forhighly predictable vehicleapplications that align with thecharging network• Corporate charging network –including charging locations atcorporate sites, staff residencesand common corporate fleetdestinations (such as customerfacilities); this approach mayprovide additional brand-buildingbenefits (by increasing the visibilityof the vehicles whilst plugged-inat strategic locations), as wellas the battery size/vehicle costoptimisation described above.The contrasting nature of these optionshighlights the importance of fleetservice duty analysis and matchingto the EV/charging solution. Serviceduties may include tool-of-trade, pool,executive, and a range of other specificpurpose vehicle applications. Of these,vehicles which return to a centrallocation are more easily supportedwith a simple charging solution;however vehicles which operate onpredictable and relatively high mileageroutes provide potentially the greatestopportunity for EVs. By way of example,salary-packaged vehicles for staff thatcommute relatively long distances maybe supported with a home/workplacecharging strategy that will deliversignificant savings in transport energycosts that may be shared between boththe employer and the employee.Discussions with the trial fleetparticipants found that those whohad most successfully integrated theelectric vehicles into their operationalfleet were:• Designating an electric vehicle‘champion’ who can manage andpromote the vehicle/s, and trainand support staff• Mostly assigning the vehicles tosmall groups of (enthusiastic)staff, who could becomefamiliar with the vehicle throughregular use and report on theirexperiences to others• Providing staff with one-on-one/tailored training in use of the EV(EV meet’n’greet sessions werepopular, and one large fleetoperator developed an onlinetraining/assessment tool)• Actively promoting the EV to staff,and characterising it as new,exciting and interesting• Providing feedback to staff ontheir own and their organisation’sEV experience.Conversely, the various issues thatmake up the electric vehicle learningcurve were routinely cited by fleetsin instances where operational useof the vehicles had either not beenattempted or was less than successful.Noting the non-existent or less-thanidealnature of the route-planningand charge-management technologyemployed in the trial (refer to Sections4.1.1 and 5.1.1), these issues may beat least partly addressed by improvedtechnology for management ofthe vehicle.