Commercial electric vehicles are rapidly entering the market. Charging is a key consideration for managing EVs and getting the most out of them. Based on aggregated data from real-world connected vehicles, Geotab studied fleet charging trends in the U.S. and Canada to gather insights into how commercial EVs are being used.

Take a look at some key trends:

Most fleet vehicles charge at only one or two locations.

According to Geotab data, more than 50% of EVs in North American and European fleets only ever charge at one or two locations. Less than 10% of vehicles use four or more charging locations.

These findings most likely cover EVs that have predictable routes, return to the same domiciles each day, and have the ability to charge onsite at the fleet’s facility or the driver’s home — having one or two charging locations.

As fleets begin adopting EVs in applications with more complex charging requirements, this overall pattern may change.

Most trucks have a large window for charging.

Knowing how far a vehicle drives is not the only factor determining if it is suitable for electrification. Dwell time is also a major consideration. Given charging takes longer than refueling with gas or diesel, the optimal time to recharge is when the vehicle is stopped or parked during its normal duty cycle.

Data reveals that duty cycles may not need to change to accommodate charging. Looking at how long vehicles dwell on their highest-use days — the days of the year where driving time is highest and dwell time lowest — for many trucks, there would be ample time to charge if they were to transition to EVs. This assumes charging is deployed where the vehicles park.

The majority of trucks spent nearly half of their time parked in a 24-hour period — at least 12 hours for medium-duty and 10 hours for heavy-duty, excluding long-distance trucks.

Light-duty fleet EVs rely on AC charging.

AC charging accounted for 90% of charging for light-duty charging sessions in North America.

Overall, AC charging accounted for the majority of all charging in North America and the EU and across all types of trucks: door-to-door, hub-and-spoke, local, regional, and long-distance.

European vehicles utilized DC charging almost twice as much as North American vehicles, but it still only accounted for 20% of their total charge sessions.

The higher rates of DC charging are possibly due to greater public availability of DC chargers and a more mature market where fleets may be more willing to invest in this type of infrastructure at their depots.

Charging patterns suggest an opportunity for greater utilization.

65% of North American fleet EVs start their charge session before the battery drops to half.

Most fleet vehicles studied were charging cautiously and never depleted their batteries. This is a missed opportunity to utilize an EV to its full potential since many EVs can go well over 100 miles at 50% SOC. EV utilization can be increased by driving more and charging less often or for shorter periods.

Data was sourced from Taking Charge: On the Road to the EV Future, Geotab report that summarizes fleet usage trends from 520,000 trucks in the U.S. and Canada to delve into whether electric trucks have what it takes to transform the industry.