The Electrification Coalition and FleetAnswers have announced a collaborative partnership to provide online resources on plug-in electric vehicle deployment to U.S. commercial fleet operators. Resources will include information on best practices in vehicle deployment and case studies from early-adopter companies. The content will be available in the Alternative Fuel section on the FleetAnswers website.
With more than 16 million public and private fleet vehicles on the road in the United States, the concentration of buying power associated with fleet operators and fleet management companies represents a significant opportunity to drive deployment of the electric drive vehicle industry. Initial case studies developed by the Coalition and FleetAnswers highlight early lessons in plug-in vehicle operations from FedEx Express and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), two of the largest fleets in their respective industries.
"This partnership between the Electrification Coalition and FleetAnswers is an important step toward accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale to dramatically reduce our nation's dangerous reliance on oil," says Robbie Diamond, President and CEO of the Electrification Coalition. "Fleets possess important characteristics that allow them to be leaders in the electric vehicle space, such as a willingness to consider the total cost of ownership of the vehicle, defined routing, access to central parking facilities, and the ability to leverage low maintenance costs."
"FleetAnswers has a community of thousands of fleet professionals who can benefit from the electric vehicle expertise and resources provided by the Electrification Coalition and the leading companies that are engaged in this space," says Michelle Chen, Project Manager for FleetAnswers. "This partnership will provide interactive content and access to best practices and industry research, all of which will help guide the decision-making process for fleets looking to expand their use of electric vehicles."
Industry Case Studies
One key to the partnership is the information that will be provided by industry leaders in the electrification space. "The transportation sector accounts for 70% of the total oil consumed by the United States – a dependence that threatens our national and economic security. Imagine if we can transform transportation to instead be flexible about its energy source. Transportation electrification can do this," says Dennis Beal, FedEx Express Vice President of Global Vehicles. "We share our knowledge and experience in this case study to help pave the way. As a member of the Electrification Coalition and an organization with more than 45,000 vehicles of various types, FedEx Express believes that the lessons we have learned can help other organizations make informed decisions on how electric vehicles can be a part of fleet mix." FedEx's early fleet adoption of electric vehicles is the subject of a case study that is part of the Electrification Coalition/FleetAnswers partnership.
"For PG&E, a critical element of deploying electric vehicles is to demonstrate a positive return on investment," says Dave Meisel, Director of Fleet Services for PG&E, which is also sharing critical information on the economics of electric vehicles in a case study for the Electrification Coalition/FleetAnswers partnership. "At PG&E, we have worked to capture the value of plug-in electric vehicles across a wide range of activities, which helps to make the economics work today."
