Amazon   AMZN  , FedEx   FDX   and other big fleet operators are moving fast to replace their vast fleets of exhaust-spewing delivery trucks with clea

Grid And Charging Speed Bumps Ahead As Amazon, FedEx And Transit Fleets Go Electric

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2022-10-06 20:00:35

Amazon AMZN , FedEx FDX and other big fleet operators are moving fast to replace their vast fleets of exhaust-spewing delivery trucks with clean electric vehicles. It’s a win for the environment, but keeping tens of thousands of heavy EVs powered up brings new challenges, including installing lots of chargers and only plugging in when electricity rates are cheap. Oh, and don’t drive them too hard or until they’re nearly out of fuel if you want the batteries to last.

“Just like with your cellphone, you don’t want to get to less than a 20% state of charge. The battery’s happy between about a 40% to 80% charge,” said Roland Cordero, who runs maintenance and technology for Foothill Transit, which has 31 battery buses in a 350-unit fleet that ferries commuters between downtown Los Angeles and suburbs in the San Gabriel Valley. “If you’re depleting the energy off of your vehicle below that regularly, you’re gonna cut down the life of a battery.”

Cordero knows a lot about that as his pioneering transit agency has tried to go all-electric for the past 12 years. He’s learned that battery buses don’t work for every Foothill route and that reliability can be a problem. “Out of our entire fleet of battery electric buses right now we have about 53% availability,” Cordero tells Forbes. “So just imagine if our entire fleet was battery electric with only 53% availability. There’s going to be a lot of people not making it to their doctor’s appointment or getting a ride to work.”

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