Chris’ Corner: Fleet Electrification That Works for Utilities and Their Customers

Happy February, everyone, and welcome back to my corner of the internet. Today I wanted to talk about some of the work I do here at Resource Innovations. Under the Grid Edge umbrella, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about electric vehicles (not shocking, if you read my previous blog post), and how they interact with utilities and our grid.  

It’s been an interesting journey moving from energy efficiency to renewable energy to transportation electrification. One thing remains constant, though, and that is how to ensure that everything powered by electricity is seen as an asset and not a burden. Tony Reynolds, if you’re reading this, shout out to you for phrasing it this way. 😉 

Reader, the thing that’s so interesting about EVs is that they really can be a burden, especially when thinking about fleets. When a bunch of batteries plug in around the same time in one place, you can imagine the strain that can put on the grid. If you’re having a hard time imagining it, think of extension cords daisy-chaining off each other for all your appliances, pulling electricity from a single outlet. Seems like a bad idea, right?  

Overheating, sparking, or just tripping a circuit breaker are the risks on that scale; for commercial and industrial customers, a fleet of EVs plugged in at once leads to high demand charges for the customer and can push site infrastructure past its limits. We don’t want either of those things. We want EVs to be a benefit for both the utility and the utility customer, and that’s where fleet electrification advisory programs come in.   

Making Fleet Electrification Make Sense for Utilities 

Fleet electrification is one of the fastest ways for utilities to add meaningful new load. It is also one of the fastest ways to create localized reliability issues if charging arrives unplanned at scale. Our partners at Jacksonville Energy Authority (JEA) understood this well. When scoping their fleet electrification program, they advised us to focus on cost-effectiveness above everything else.  

Typically, that means a customer profile that has (1) a clear near-term vehicle replacement cycle, (2) sufficient energy usage (i.e., high-mileage vehicles) to create meaningful load, and (3) enough operational flexibility to shift charging away from local peak hours. It also means sites with a realistic and inexpensive path to construction and interconnection, since the best advisory plan has limited value if the customer cannot execute. 

Usually, a “good fit” customer has several traits: 

• Predictable Dwell Time. Vehicles return to a depot on a consistent schedule, making it easy to set up a charging schedule. 

• Centralized Parking. Although I joked about daisy chains before, we do want assets in one place, so we can consolidate upgrade costs. Depot charging consolidates managed charging, charge scheduling, and infrastructure upgrades. When compared to the costs and logistics associated with fully decentralized take-home charging, depot charging will typically win out on cost-effectiveness. 

• Meaningful Energy Consumption. Higher mileage and heavier utilization improve the likelihood that incremental kWh sales outweigh program delivery costs. 

• Charging Flexibility. The fleet can delay charging, stagger starts, or cap site demand without operational failure, enabling the utility to mitigate transformer loading (or upgrades) and customer demand charges. 

• Readiness. A motivated site manager and a willingness to share basic facility data (service size, interval data, expected vehicle counts) increase the likelihood of implementation.  

From a utility perspective, the cost-effectiveness logic is straightforward: the program is worth doing when it increases the probability and speed of electrification while reducing the probability of unmanaged peaks and unplanned upgrades. 

Making Fleet Electrification Make Sense for Commercial & Industrial Customers 

For most C&I customers, the question about fleet electrification always comes down to the cost and disruption. They want to know if an investment in EVs pencils out without affecting operations. The main barriers are rarely the vehicles themselves, though a few EV skeptics still pop up occasionally. Lately, questions are more around infrastructure costs, lead times for constructions... and the monthly bill once charging begins. 

A customer-facing fleet electrification plan needs to solve three problems at the same time: 

1. Make the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Legible for All 
   Vehicle price is only one line item. What matters is lifecycle cost: fuel and maintenance savings, expected utilization, incentives, and residual value. A credible plan translates vehicle operations into a phased replacement pathway, starting with the “easy wins” (predictable routes, high mileage, sufficient dwell time) and expanding as charging and operational confidence mature. 

2. Consider Infrastructure Upfront 
   Customers need an answer to basic questions early: How much power is available? Where will chargers go? What upgrades are required (service, switchgear, panels, trenching)? What is the interconnection timeline? A good advisory engagement produces a high-level site concept design and a sequencing strategy, so customers can test in Year 1 and expand as the fleet grows. 

3. Put Guardrails Around the Electric Bill 
   Unmanaged depot charging can create steep coincident peaks that drive demand charges that negate operational savings. The solution is charging smarter. Use managed charging when possible to create a charging schedule that aligns with both dwell time and the lowest demand times. In many cases, right-sizing charger count and power level to the duty cycle matters more than installing the fastest chargers available. 

When these three pieces are integrated, fleet electrification stops feeling like a leap for customers. Equipped with knowledge and a plan, we can create fleet electrification roadmaps that actually work, like we do for Xcel Energy’s Fleet Electrification Advisory Program (FEAP). Our partners on this program expressed that one of their biggest priorities is an advisory program that leads to implementation. 

To make that happen, a customer should be able to walk away with clear answers to four questions: 

1. Which vehicles electrify first, and why? 

2. What site upgrades are required, and in what sequence? 

3. What charging strategy keeps the bill low and predictable? 

4. What is the timeline from decision to wheels-in-service? 

This is where utility advisory programs can be unusually valuable: they reduce customer risk at the decision points that most often derail projects, while also steering charging behavior toward outcomes that work for the grid. I put some links together in case you’re curious to learn more about our fleet electrification programs.  

That’s it for today, folks! Next time, I want to talk about EV road trips before spring hits!