Operating battery electric vehicles across the United States provides a test bed for whatever challenges a fleet is going to face worldwide.
How will winter freezes impact range? Check out the performance of BEVs in Alaska. What impact will scorching summer temperatures have on vehicle range? Monitor the BEVs in Arizona. What demand will mountainous ascents place on power consumption? Here’s data from the Rockies.
Siemens US operates vehicles in all of these geographies and is well on its way to the electrification of its mixed fleet. The industrial and technological giant has made a commitment to achieve a 90% cut in its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade, and its vehicle fleet is not only a significant CO2 emitter, but also has zero emission alternatives available.
In the US, the company adopted its first BEV in late 2020 and plans to wave goodbye to its last vehicle with an internal combustion engine in 2030. It’s 8,000-plus vehicles range from small vans to cars, pick-ups, large vans and heavy trucks, and its ambitious decarbonisation programme has forced a rethink of the type of vehicles it operates.
Finding the right EVs
For the sales teams the move to zero emission motoring involves familiar compact SUVs, such as the Volkswagen ID.4, Chevrolet Equinox, Volvo XC40 Recharge and Ford Mustang Mach-E.
But as with many fleets, finding battery-powered replacements for small and large vans has proved a challenge that required a degree of lateral thinking.
“To figure out how to get eventually to EVs, we knew we had to get out of vans and into something else,” said Adam Orth, US Head of Fleet, Mobility Services at Siemens Corporation (pictured top). “The service group has to be there for a customer, and has to have all the tools, so it’s a lot harder to identify the best EV for the role.”
Fleet review
The fleet had used the same type of vehicles for years, despite its operational requirements changing. Vehicles were carrying less, with more parts and components shipped directly to customer premises, and even prior to its CO2 reduction drive Siemens was examining its operations.
A field study identified the Chevrolet Equinox (pictured above) as a viable alternative to the small vans formerly driven by its service engineers. An ICE version of the compact SUV offered proof of concept to the engineering team that the car could be upfitted to carry all of the tools and equipment that the engineers need, before the wheels of the first battery-powered Equinox rolled onto the fleet.
For larger vans, the Chevy Silverado EV (pictured below) has proved to be a viable alternative, and in the heavy truck sector Siemens has already taken delivery of an electric tractor unit from Volvo, as well as an electric yard spotter from Orange EV.
The Equinox and Silverado are delivering 300-plus and 400 miles of range respectively from a single charge of their batteries, which is sufficient for most employees’ daily requirements.
“The only gap for us, and I’m not alone in the US because I talk about this with my global peers in the UK, Austria and Germany, is the medium duty space. No vehicles right now are really capable of delivering payload and having the range,” said Orth. “But to that point, you need to know how far people really need to drive, where people are going, and how often, and that’s where GPS comes into play.”
Telematics data is answering these questions for the fleet team.
Change management
Viewing the transition to electric vehicles as a change management exercise, rather than simply a switch of powertrain, has been key to the success of Siemens’s decarbonisation programme.
The new vehicles are so different behind the wheel, with their one pedal driving, regenerative braking and hi-tech screens that driver coaching and education is a constant part of the process.
“The best example is the videos that we have made that are specific to our vehicles,” said Orth.
Dealers stick QR codes into vehicles as part of their upfitting work, and the codes link directly to dedicated Siemens videos explaining how best to use the vehicle.
Driver satisfaction
The transition from ICE to BEV may not have been easy initially, “but once drivers have them, they don’t want to go back because of the comfort, technology and ease of use,” said Orth.
Siemens started the transition to BEVs on the West Coast, then Florida and Texas, identifying states that had the best public charging infrastructure. The roll out has been facilitated by the fact that more than 80% of the company’s drivers have a home charger (typically a Siemens VersiCharge wallbox paid for by the business), so they can start each day with a ‘full tank’.
Unique solutions
Positive reports of the BEVs spread fast, and it wasn’t long before teams in other states were asking to make the switch to zero emission motoring. Nonetheless, the prospect of a copy-and-paste blueprint that can be deployed from one division to the next has proved to be far from the truth.
“With the journey to electrification, you have got to be flexible, and constantly figuring out what you want to do next. You can’t say, oh, here is our solution, here is our vehicle for the next 10 years. You have to be able to adapt because roles are changing and how we use the vehicles is changing,” said Orth.
TCO considerations
His decarbonisation program has also had to contend with the budgetary implications that electric SUVs carry a substantially higher sticker price than small diesel vans, even if EV have fallen as volumes have risen.
“Our goal and our road map were never dependent on subsidies or incentives of any sort. It’s always just been, hey, what’s the vehicle price and let’s figure out how it’s going to work for us,” said Orth.
The BEVs are working well from a maintenance perspective, he added, requiring little more than new tyres and wiper blades from time to time. Electric motors have proved to be robust and reliable, eliminating the risk faced by ICE vehicles of escalating maintenance requirements and costs as they age.
“We’ve had some EVs on the road for five years plus, and we are now looking at them and thinking we could really hold onto them for significantly longer,” said Orth.
Longer holding periods?
Moreover, initial concerns about battery degradation have proved completely unfounded, with large, industry-wide studies showing batteries retain more than 90% of their capacity after years of tough fleet use.
Siemens funds its vehicles via a TRAC (Terminal Rental Adjustment Clause) lease, akin to a finance lease in Europe, based on a three-year term, but the flexibility of the arrangement means it can choose to keep vehicles for as long as it wants.
Energy solutions
Orth also sees opportunities for the electric vehicles to start playing a part in the wider energy mosaic of Siemens.
“Vehicle to grid is where the industry is going. I would say the future of fleet, especially for those of us that have EVs, is energy management,” said Orth.
All of his fleet’s Silverados and Equinoxes have V2G capability, and Siemens already makes the hardware and software to facilitate this ecosystem.
“The industrial shift that is coming from a fleet perspective for those of us that do have energy through the EVs and electrification is already very, very interesting, and it’s only going to get more interesting as the ecosystem ties together,” he said.
Images: Siemens and Chevrolet