Electric Vehicle (EV) Fleet Operations

Better ROI on hardware, lower operational costs, and a reduced carbon footprint. How electric vehicle fleet operators and supporting utilities can benefit from the BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator.

Freight transport operators such as postal, retail and grocery chains, can lower their energy costs and their carbon footprint by electrifying the cars, vans and trucks in their fleets.

Converting from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric not only improves air quality but total cost of ownership over ICEs has been declining for some time and in many cases is already cheaper, making a strong economic case on top of the environmental one for electrification.

Increase the success of the transition with the BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator:

Optimizes EV fleet charging to reduce net energy costs, taking into account overnight, opportunity and on-route charging
Maximizes the use of renewable energy, static energy storage and EV battery energy in real-time
Reduces peak demand at warehouses to mitigate the need for expensive electric power distribution infrastructure upgrades
Reduces carbon emissions
Lowers net energy cost for fleet operation over the network
Reduces peak load and demand charges

Municipal, institutional and commercial fleets can make major progress towards reducing emissions, meeting local net-zero carbon goals and lowering their energy costs by electrifying their transit fleets.

Converting from diesel to electric not only improves air quality but total cost of ownership has been declining for some time and in many cases is already cheaper than for diesel, making a strong economic case on top of the environmental one for electrification.

Increase the success of the transition with the BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator:

Optimizes EV fleet charging to reduce net energy costs, taking into account overnight, opportunity and on-route charging
Maximizes the use of renewable energy, static energy storage and EV battery energy in real-time
Reduces peak demand at depots to mitigate the need for expensive electric power distribution infrastructure upgrades
Reduces carbon emissions
Lowers net energy cost for fleet operation over the network
Reduces peak load and demand charges

Ground service vehicle (GSE) electrification, a battery energy storage system, and airport-wide power optimization are a few strategies for reducing costs and harmful emissions.

Whether your airport is in the planning stages or already has EVs in place, optimizing energy use can make electrification more successful, more quickly.

This is where the BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator makes the difference:

Intelligent management of charging: Factor in energy price, peak demand constraints, and equipment schedules.

Energy management of all loads: Optimize across the airport, including other loads like HVAC systems, shifting charging in time and over the network to reduce peaks.

Management of mixed fleets: Most operations will have a mix of gas-powered, hybrid and electric assets for an extended period, and a data-driven management system can optimize across all types factoring in variables like ambient temperature, flight turnaround times and optimal battery cycling.

Integrate solar generation and battery storage: Having local energy sources and battery energy storage greatly increases the opportunities for reducing costs and emissions.

CHALLENGES ON THE ROAD TO ELECTRIFICATION

Building the infrastructure and managing operations to support EV fleets is a challenge for both fleet operators and distribution utilities. There are a multitude of essential inputs which are typically managed by separate, siloed systems:

EV charging
Fleet management
Building energy management
Energy purchase, demand response programs

A HOLISTIC SOLUTION

It’s a highly complex task to effectively manage the energy for charging and operating EV fleets, building energy management, local generation and storage, and energy purchases, plus meet service levels and turnaround times. No one system or human operator is up to the full task.

This is where the BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator offers a novel solution. It delivers all the asset energy management through a single pane of glass, for a holistic view to control and dispatch EV charging and depot or building energy optimization.

The BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator pulls together:

Intelligent management of EV fleet charging and dispatch.This factors in energy price, peak demand constraints and equipment schedules, considering constraints such as equipment service requirements and routes.
Integration of solar generation and battery energy storage. Having local generation and battery storage reduces energy costs and emissions through considering load, energy prices and solar output as driven by weather conditions.
Intelligent management of mixed fleets. Most operations will operate a mix of gas-powered, hybrid and EVs. The EV Fleet Orchestrator effectively manages mixed fleets, factoring in such variables as ambient temperature, energy prices, and optimal battery cycling.

The EV Fleet Orchestrator enables operators to shift loads to reduce peaks and energy costs, and to implement demand-response and other services. It considers battery cycling to maximize battery life while also factoring in time-of-day charging costs, route commitments, driver availability and more.

The BluWave-ai EV Fleet Orchestrator, offered as SaaS, is cloud-based and hardware agnostic. It is built on the BluWave-ai platform, comprised of:

BluWave-ai Edge connects to IoT sensors and meters, using historical and real-time data to predict and optimize use of local generation and storage, charging, energy dispatch and scheduling, and
BluWave-ai Center manages multiple Edge locations, applying machine learning with new data to continuously adapt and improve the AI models used by BluWave-ai Edge.

BLUWAVE-AI EV FLEET ORCHESTRATOR ARCHITECTURE

BENEFITS FOR FLEET OPERATORS

Manage EV fleet charging patterns by taking advantage of intra-day fluctuations in transmission and energy charges
Develop energy arbitrage strategy based on insights and live energy market pricing predictions
Optimize charge and discharge cycles considering transit route constraints and per-vehicle battery characteristics
Optimize use of on-site battery and solar PV to smooth out fleet charging electrical demand
Maximize on-site battery and EV equipment endurance through intelligent optimization of charge and discharge cycles
Provide real-time simulation and dashboarding for current states and future predictions of local EV charging assets.

BENEFITS FOR UTILITIES

Actively manage load fluctuations by implementing demand response and pricing programs for fleet operators
Defer and reduce the CAPEX associated with transmission and distribution upgrades required for EV adoption
Optimally manage power flows to and from locations with large EV fleet charging loads
Optimize across multiple objectives for grid operational constraints (peak shifting, frequency and voltage control, electrical distribution)
Integrate vehicle-to-grid capabilities in support of grid optimization
Provide real-time simulation and dashboarding for current states and future predictions of consolidated grid assets across multiple EV charging assets

LOW-RISK, MULTI-PHASED ONBOARDING PROCESS

To help you evaluate and quantify the benefits of using the BluWave-ai solution in your unique operation, we offer an opportunity assessment and model-building service as either the first phase of deployment or a standalone service. Learn more about our deployment process.

AI-ENABLED RESIDENTIAL EV DETECTION, LOAD PREDICTION AND DEMAND RESPONSE

The increased adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in residential areas introduces challenges for distribution utilities who supply the increased energy demand to charge them. The utility needs to plan the infrastructure to manage the increased capacity and find non-wires alternatives to mitigate peak loads so it can avoid costly capital upgrades. BluWave-ai’s EV Everywhere solution eases the transition to high urban EV penetration.

READY TO DELVE DEEPER INTO ADDRESSING FLEET ELECTRIFICATION CHALLENGES?

BluWave-ai’s white paper, "When the Electric Utility Becomes Your Gas Station: AI-Enabled Energy Management for Successful Fleet Electrification" examines how AI-enabled solutions use data in real-time to continuously learn, fine-tune and provide an optimal energy usage strategy for the entire depot, offloading the fleet and building management from dealing with this complex task, and saving millions of dollars. An AI-enabled energy optimization solution brings the electric utility control room capability into the fleet depot and lays the groundwork for successful fleet electrification.

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