Inside a fleet suitability assessment — EV case study

Getting a fleet suitability assessment up and running

In 2022, the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen in southern British Columbia was evaluating how to electrify the district’s fleet, which operates in mountainous terrain with high mileage. Jeremy Dresner, the project leader at the time, was coordinating his efforts with surrounding municipalities to address the needs of a region of 10,000 square kilometres. “There’s a real strength in numbers if we can coordinate around purchasing: Add [all the municipalities] up and there are about 250 to 300 vehicles. ​​We want to end up with as coherent and cohesive a plan as possible.” 

Electric Autonomy Canada: How did you get started with your fleet suitability assessment?

Jeremy Dresner: From the very beginning, we wanted to understand what vehicles we can electrify and how we can go about doing that … what the opportunities are, but also what the costs and risks are along the way. The Regional District has embarked on a full assessment of our fleet with telematics to understand the patterns of movement of the vehicles and an analysis of the age and type of vehicles to understand suitable replacement options. Plug In BC provides 50 per cent of the funding for fleet analysis, up to $10,000. The results will be that we will establish the use patterns of the vehicles and the age of the vehicles and their likely replacement schedule, and match them with a suitable replacement vehicle that’s electric, if they’re available.

“On certain journeys, you’re still going to be taking your conventional vehicle. But the assessment will show you, look at all of these journeys, which could easily be done with an EV. We don’t have to do the whole lot at once.”

Electric Autonomy: Don’t you anticipate problems with range?

Jeremy Dresner: The answer to that is yes. If you go on certain journeys, you’re still going to be taking your conventional vehicle — for now. However, the assessment will show you, look at all of these journeys, which could easily be done with an electric vehicle. We don’t have to do the whole lot at once. It’s not realistic to think about it like that.

Electric Autonomy: How long will the suitability assessment take?

Jeremy Dresner: We’ve got some vehicles that mostly operate in the summer, some vehicles that mostly operate in the fall — think mosquito vehicles. You really need to have 12 months of monitoring to get a full picture on all the vehicles because there’s a seasonality. ​​We’re going to do a review after six months. And another review at the end of the year, 12 months on from the start.

“It’s a two-step process: First, understand the vehicles and their needs. Second step: Understand the buildings and their electrification needs.”

Electric Autonomy: What is the next step of the fleet suitability assessment?

Jeremy Dresner: Step two is an infrastructure study of the buildings for charging capacity, and associated electrical upgrade requirements, if needed. So it’s a two-step process: first, understand the vehicles and their needs. Second step: understand the buildings and their electrification needs.

Electric Autonomy: When did you start planning the second step, around charging?

Jeremy Dresner: While the vehicle assessment was ongoing, we started thinking about the charging infrastructure: the Level 1s, Level 2s, DC Fast Chargers and the requirements, the impact on demand charges, the amount of trenching that’s going to be required. Ultimately, you can phase the assessment. And there are certain decisions you can make around putting in plans for further charging points and identifying which parking spaces might be electric vehicle charging points without having to spend a lot of money doing the work. You want to figure out where the vehicles are going, where they’re going to be charging, where they park.

“A lot of people simply haven’t been in an electric vehicle. They’ve heard about them, they’ve read about them, they may even think they don’t want them. But they just haven’t actually experienced it. Then once they do try it, they’re like yeah, I love it.”

Electric Autonomy: Do you have a target for a percentage of the fleet you’re looking to electrify?

Jeremy Dresner: My approach is: Let’s get some electric vehicles. Let’s try it out. If they work, if they are suitable, then we can get some more. A lot of people simply haven’t been in an electric vehicle. They’ve heard about them, they’ve read about them, they may even think they don’t want them. But they just haven’t actually experienced it. Then once they do try it, they’re like, ‘yeah, I love it.’ So addressing that issue head on is how I’m thinking about it rather than getting into the weeds too much in terms of targets and percentages. It’s going to happen organically.

Electric Autonomy: How do you figure out where to put the charging points?

Jeremy Dresner: When it comes to community charging assets, there’s definitely a place for mapping out where that should go. There is an equity consideration in there to make sure that you don’t end up with huge charging black holes in the middle of an area. But again, there’s a strength in numbers to that as well — coordinating across as wide an area as you can between municipalities.

All the cities and towns in the area have identified 350 to 400 spaces that we would like to have EV charging and then we can take that to the federal government when inevitably their funding opportunities come around. So I really don’t think there’s as much benefit in doing all of this work in isolation as discrete municipalities. There’s value in putting it all together, getting the biggest numbers possible and growing the map as widely as possible to get the largest area coverage.

Electric Autonomy: Has the fleet suitability assessment process been a complicated one?

Jeremy Dresner: There are a lot of parts to it. None of them are too difficult. But they’re quite different, so it’s not quite in anyone’s wheelhouse. People who know vehicles might not know about electric panels or infrastructure for cabling or demand charges. People who know about that don’t know about what vehicles are available. And people who know about that may not understand carbon credits, or how electricity gets paid for in the context of charging. So any of this is not especially difficult, but I think the elements don’t have a whole lot of overlap in terms of skills and knowledge.

For example, if you electrify an entire fleet in one building and there are 10 vehicles charging, that will really impact the electrical demand charges on that building. And whether that additional cost of electricity is offset by the cost of fuel that you’re not paying can be difficult to calculate. None of it is insurmountable. It just needs somebody who’s got the time and the wherewithal to bring together these different elements.

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Next, learn more about planning and running an EV fleet pilot project.