News analysis Fully Charged Live
exhibitor round-up DriveElectric EV leasing company DriveElectric introduced a new platform designed to allow fleets to track the cost and carbon emissions associated with charging their vehicles in real time. The EV Hub gives managers access to a dashboard
featuring insights for individual drivers, vehicles, and charging locations, as well as allowing reports to be generated on a fleet’s overall progress. The hub uses live National Grid data to calculate
the CO2 emissions incurred by the electricity being used for charging at any given moment. This is then combined with vehicle and driving data to produce a CO2 grams per mile figure. Speaking to Business Car at the show, DriveElectric
managing director Mike Potter said: “We could see that there is a real need to help people be informed about what’s really happening with their carbon footprint with the vehicles. “Very often when we first sit down with people
and say ‘Why do you want EVs?’, carbon is one of the things they talk about, so we think we’re on to something that will resonate.”
Ivie
A new EV smart charger and app were introduced by Ivie. The products are designed to allow EVs to be automatically charged at times when it is cheapest or greenest to do so. Ivie’s fleet offering was explained to Business Car at
the show by Rachel Posgate, strategic partnerships director for parent company Chameleon Technology. She said that as well as the charger, app, and installation, a fleet dashboard is also available, giving managers visibility of statistics and data insights about their fleet. She said: “I think one of the key benefits of this
proposition to fleets is that it’s a combination of home charging and public charging in one app, so fleets can reimburse employees for the charging they are doing at home, and then there’s a record of public charging as well.”
Andersen Premium home EV charger brand Andersen was at the show, and on its stand CEO and industry veteran David Martell – original founder of Chargemaster before it was sold to BP – spoke to Business Car about the importance of fleets making sure their EV drivers have access to home charging. He said: “It is so much more cost-effective
charging overnight rather than high-speed charging. Increasingly there are off-peak electricity tariffs. As we know the electricity industry has been in turmoil for the last two or three years, but now it’s starting to get more competitive. “From a business point of view, if you had the
opportunity to run your diesel or petrol cars at half price you would do it. With electric you can do that, or better than that, because [home charging can cost] 10p a kWh – some public charging is 40/50p or more.”
4 | May 2023 |
www.businesscar.co.uk A charged debate
Free fleet EV charging was among the subjects discussed at the Fully Charged Live UK South 2023 show. Sean Keywood was in attendance.
F
leet managers should not just assume they need to offer free charging for electric company cars – and could face pitfalls if they do, it has been said. Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of charging firm Connected Kerb, said businesses could face problems if they introduced such a service for employees, then wanted to withdraw it at a later date.
Speaking during a panel conversation at the Fully Charged Live UK South 2023 show in Farnborough, he said: “In terms of working with business – without pointing fingers at Scotland here, because Scotland has done some fantastic things – I think we don’t want to fall into the same trap that the Scottish network has fallen into, where you start giving away free power, and then you end up being in a position where you have to have a very difficult conversation with people who have become used to it, and then start to charge.
“I think businesses need to think very carefully at the start around how they are going to do it. I don’t think you need to give free power away.
“Cost recovery is perfectly okay in my mind. You should not be making profit off your employees, I don’t think.”
On the other hand, Pateman-Jones did add that large companies could consider the added value they could provide via their status in the energy market.
He said: “If you are a large employer, the opportunity you have to buy power is significantly more than the average individual. So, there is an opportunity for charging for employee- owned vehicles to be a real added value thing for those employees.”
Also speaking at the event, Will David, managing director of charging management company Clenergy EV, said: “We have a lot of clients that are still giving free power, but there are more and more people now charging for power. “Businesses need to think early on about how they are going to monetise it. Even if they don’t want to monetise it right now, they might want to carry on with providing free power, but they still want to make sure the free power is going to the right people – to their employees.
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