Our electric fleet
delivered 2,000 km per week per car without installing home or workplace chargers .
WORDS BY GOEVIE
Evie Mobility has been operating a high mileage electric fleet in Brisbane since February 2020 . The fleet delivers very high daily kilometres without the need to invest in home or workplace charging . We are keen to share our findings with Australian fleet managers because we believe electric vehicles are ready for prime time .
Evie is building charging stations across the nation , working with the biggest names in fuel distribution , fast food , retail and convenience . Not content to wait for the market , we decided to demonstrate a high mileage fleet that would challenge the performance of the vehicles and charging infrastructure .
High mileage fleets have always been first to adopt fuel-efficient technologies like CNG , hybrid and now battery electric vehicles . Rideshare drivers were our initial market as they are economically motivated and typically drive 50,000 to 100,000 kilometres per annum . The insights from this demanding application will surely apply to many fleet scenarios .
The Hyundai Ioniq best met our requirements for passenger comfort , cost , battery performance , and luggage space . The cars are fully instrumented with open-source off-the-shelf telematics . The vehicles are offered as an all-inclusive subscription , which includes the electric “ fuel ”. Defying the conventional wisdom , we did not install any home or workplace chargers . Drivers keep the vehicles at home . They charge at home using a standard outlet or at any public charger .
So how did the vehicles perform in this demanding fleet application ? The vehicles averaged just over 1,000 km per week . The most popular vehicle averages over 2,000 km per week . The record utilisation for a single vehicle was 2,875 km in one week .
The highest odometer reading in the fleet is just over 60,000km , reflecting a ride-share hiatus during the COVID-19 lockdown . However , the median vehicle has done 6 months of full-time work . Therefore , we expect the vehicles to travel over 100,000 km per year .
Drivers see the vehicles as “ good value ” due to the low total cost over ownership , i . e . a slightly higher weekly subscription , but lower fuel inclusive cost . Bear in mind they are personally paying the bills ! They adapted their operations to electric quickly and now prefer electric over petrol .
Drivers use a combination of overnight and opportunity charging to ensure operational readiness . We are able to guide the drivers to maximise their revenue earning kilometres using trip data and battery state-of-charge data . We use similar data to direct our network planning , e . g . a bank of chargers at Brisbane Airport .
Drivers were initially concerned about the cost of home charging . However , the actual costs are quite low . Using telematics , we track home
20 ISSUE 28 APRIL 2021 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU