By Andrew Rees, Power, Flexibility & Optimisation Director 

For both personal and commercial use-cases, electric mobility has made considerable strides in recent times; indeed, the vehicles themselves are more advanced and capable than ever before. In recognising this, and their environmental and commercial benefits, fleet operators are making equally encouraging progress in joining the transition.

Nevertheless, a particularly intractable roadblock remains in the eyes of many fleet owners: getting the needed grid power supply.

It’s not difficult to see why. Recently, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed some striking new insights into the challenges of securing grid upgrades to help power electrification. Such is the current process, that truck and van operators could wait up to 15 years for new depot charging connections. Which is, of course, past the end-of-sale date for new combustion-powered commercial vehicles, including heavy goods vehicles.

By way of broader context, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) in their Future Energy Scenarios (FES) work forecast a near doubling in electricity generation capacity in Britain by 2030 in all energy transition scenarios. This coupled with a c. 15% increase in forecast peak demand by 2030, creates a massive challenge for system operators in how to deliver the benefits of new renewable electricity sources through aging and constrained infrastructure.

Getting grid capacity to users and producers is a massive national challenge.  

In addition to the difficulties of accessing grid capacity, connection delays often also relate planning and consent approvals, for example with obtaining easements and access consents (rights to install infrastructure across land you don’t own).  

To make their operations commercially viable, fleets of course require cost-efficient and low-carbon energy supply, and adequate infrastructure in place to receive it. And those factors don’t just cover present usage; they need to be future-proofed for the electric vehicles that would join the fleet in the coming years. 

The complexity and perceived intractability of these requirements is enough to put many fleet operators off electrification in the short to medium-term instead putting their plans on ice until grid capacity constraints and connection queues have decreased. However, in simple terms, that is not a sound commercial strategy. Those that delay simply risk falling further behind, as bans for combustion-engine vehicles get ever closer. But not only that – they also risk losing out on lucrative contracts; businesses are becoming increasingly mindful of decreasing their scope 3 emissions, and expect their suppliers to be ready in helping them do that. 

Instead, fleet operators need to realise that their situation is not intractable.

Much work is happening at the system level, for example recent announcements to increase the threshold for new connections triggering Transmission Impact Assessments (TIA) in England & Wales from 1 MW to 5 MW, and the announcement to remove some planning requirements and costs related to installing public and private charge-points. These changes all help, but come slowly. 

While these system-level changes happen at their own pace,  there are smart technology solutions ready to deploy which actively manage constraints, allowing electrification to happen cost-effectively, today, enabling fleet operators to seize control of this challenge.

This is what the team at VEV has been delivering from day one. And as we’ve seen in our work with small and large energy intensive-use fleets across the country, there are a number of things operators can do to alleviate delays in getting access to the power they need:

• Install an intelligent microgrid solution: A smart microgrid ecosystem can deliver clean-energy charging for vehicles, while reducing grid dependence. By combining cutting-edge solar-power, battery-storage technology, and smart charging software, operators can ensure they have efficiently managed, cost-effective charging whenever they need it. We recently delivered a full microgrid solution like this for one of the UK’s leading commercial van rental businesses, Dawsongroup vans at a location with severe power grid constraints; managed by VEV-IQ, our proprietary data management and charging software platform, the business can now maximise operational and cost efficiency, while forecasting 65 tonnes of carbon emissions savings per year. 

• Work with DNOs/iDNOs, planning and land owners to rollout electric vehicles in line with grid availability: By correctly modelling their EV operations and needs over time, and including information and experience related to the legal & regulatory landscape for accessing grid capacity, fleet managers can phase the transition according to the grid power they will have available through time. With VEV-IQ and the extensive power expertise of our teams, choosing a partner with the right tools, knowledge and relationships to realise this is critical. 

• Effectively balancing power consumption with charging needs: Getting charging schedules right – ensuring that priority vehicles are charged when needed, with the power required – is a must. Smart energy management tools like VEV-IQ do this automatically, ensuring that power is intelligently distributed during vehicles’ charging cycles, and operations are fully optimised, without exceeding grid limits.

While the challenges facing operators may seem insurmountable, there are effective means with which to un-shelve electrification plans, and get on with the business of future-proofing operations and protecting the bottom line. The time to act in the electric transition is now and the teams at VEV have the power to turn that action into a business case fit for the future.