(AGENPARL) – ROME mer 29 marzo 2023

Cherish Smith, Edison Energy’s Director of Electric Vehicle Strategy, lays out the role of electrification “lifecycle” support, opportunities for optimization, and bridging the environmental justice gap.

Last summer, a Bloomberg headline touted the news that the U.S. had crossed the electric vehicle “tipping point” for mass adoption, citing an analysis of global adoption rates.

According to the news outlet, five percent of new car sales in the U.S. were powered only by electricity – a threshold signaling the start of mass EV adoption. At that rate, a quarter of new car sales in the U.S. could be electric by the end of 2025.

The rise in sales is being pushed along by private business – corporate fleet electrification is on the rise, spurred by stakeholder and customer pressure, ESG commitments, and major policy movement.

“I think in many ways the train has left the station,” said Cherish Smith, Edison Energy’s Director of Electric Vehicle Strategy. “There are many drivers – ESG and decarbonization goals that many companies are setting, increased vehicle availability, and most recently, increased cost parity between traditional ICE vehicles and EVs. We’re seeing price cuts from Tesla, Ford, and a lot of other OEMS that are making this transition more attractive.”

In general, the cost of EVs has dropped significantly over the past year, with automakers like Nissan and Chevrolet slashing prices on their entry-level models. This was followed by major price cuts from Tesla in China, the U.S., and Europe, sparking a price war among automakers.

“Aside from price drops and cuts in upfront costs that we’re seeing just within the last few months, telling that compelling story to companies in terms of overall operating costs – that total cost of ownership due to lower maintenance and fueling – makes it more attractive for them to go electric,” Smith said.

With major companies across diverse sectors increasingly pursuing electrification of their fleets, it’s an exciting time to be working at Edison Energy and in the broader sector, says Smith.

Smith recently joined Edison after serving as an Energy Solutions Engineer at Johnson Controls, Inc., then at Guidehouse as Director within its Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure (ES&I) segment, where she led multi-year portfolio client engagements with cross-functional project teams.

“I started to see the EV space gain momentum and utilities wanting to support customers in that transition and build out capabilities and capacity there,” Smith said. “I wanted to leverage the utility and customer program experience I had but in the EV space, supporting utilities to understand EV and infrastructure deployment strategy.”

Now, Smith is looking forward to building out an advisory offering around the full lifecycle of fleet electrification. That means exploring what advisory services for companies aiming to electrify can look like in the near and longer term.

“For companies, it’s that upfront strategy, roadmap development, and understanding around which vehicles to swap out and when, and how to be intentional about those choices,” she said. “But ultimately, once we go through with that implementation, how do we, as an advisory team, support implementation and optimization throughout the whole lifecycle of the program? What is the role that advisory can play along the way so that we can add greater value for the client? That is top of mind for me.”

It’s all about the business case

While consumer demand and market competition have spurred the initial wave of EV price drops, several recently enacted policies promise to take the sector to mass adoption.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), passed in 2021, authorizes billions to fund new and existing EV- related programs, including $7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of 500,000 EV charging stations along with alternative fuel corridors – with a particular focus on rural and disadvantaged communities.
Another $5 billion will go towards the replacement of existing school buses with zero – emission school buses, with a priority on low income, rural, and Tribal schools.

Adding to this is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which represents the most significant legislation to accelerate vehicle electrification in U.S. history. Along with tax credits for EVs themselves, the IRA includes increased credit amounts for EV supply equipment, along with billions in funding to boost domestic manufacturing.

But while these policies will serve as significant drivers in moving the sector forward, they won’t be a slam dunk for economy-wide electrification.

“The policy is important to support the infrastructure buildout through IIJA and the IRA, along with a lot of state level policies and utility level incentives, but ultimately what’s got to be there is the business case to see some true movement and momentum,” Smith said.

The business case is there, she says, but ensuring that clients know it – along with an awareness and understanding of how to navigate existing challenges in the market – is key.

“We’ve heard directly from clients – they’re not necessarily looking to lead from a sustainability and environmental perspective because they don’t want to be too far out ahead,” she said. “They want to learn from others, but they also don’t want to be far behind. That’s where we come in to educate and bring them the lessons learned from other companies. There’s a huge educational component around when you need to plug in the vehicle, what the range is, and addressing potential misconceptions to avoid some of the internal pushback that companies may encounter.”

The environmental justice equation

While the damage done to disadvantaged communities by way of exclusionary federal, state, and local policies has long been recognized, undoing historical underfunding and neglect in low-income neighborhoods will take some time.

Currently, these communities fall way short of the infrastructure necessary to build an EV charging ecosystem, while longstanding underinvestment has created significant physical barriers to mobility.

“We have to think about the role for utilities, but it’s very important to have the private sector lead and to have an open, competitive market,” Smith said. “That’s what really helps us advance technology and drive down costs. But we need to be very mindful of where we will likely see gaps, because the business case for charging infrastructure providers in underserved communities, unfortunately, may not be as attractive.”

Regulators could develop policies to help fill in the gaps, says Smith, with utilities potentially owning and operating chargers in some of the neighborhoods that lack investment from the private sector.

“It’s also exploring whether there are price differentials in terms of incentives for low-income customers to increase adoption,” she said.

Electrifying ride share will be another critical element in the environmental justice equation, bringing with it a host of benefits, including the avoidance of emissions and more accessible charging for drivers in underserved communities.

Both Lyft and Uber have announced commitments to reach 100 percent electrified fleets by decade’s end, while offering drivers a host of incentives and programs to enable the rental or purchase of electrified vehicles.

Major cities are also rolling out mandates around electrified ride share. Earlier this year, New York City announced that Uber and Lyft will be required to be zero emission by 2030.

“It’s important to think about how we are incentivizing ride share, because many low-income customers depend on it,” Smith said. “We also need to think about how that increases infrastructure deployment and adoption naturally in underserved communities. It’s important for us to think about all modes, and I think that will be particularly helpful as we look at those low-income and underserved communities and to ensure that they are not left behind in this transition. Incentives are great, but we know that the upfront cost of electric vehicles is just so significant that oftentimes it’s not enough to make a meaningful difference.”

Looking ahead

As more companies ramp up electrification of their fleets, Edison Energy’s Transportation Electrification team will continue to help clients navigate the complexity of new technologies and the availability of vehicles that can meet business and operational requirements.

Alongside that, educating clients about relevant policies and available incentives will be key, together with planning for utility engagement, understanding total-cost-of-ownership and return on investment for converting to EVs, and integrating EV charging into operations while planning for infrastructure build-out.

The team plans to leverage its expertise to help clients develop actionable transportation electrification roadmaps for fleet conversion, create business plans for fleet electrification, and provide implementation support and guidance as they bring vehicles and charging online.

“I think where the rubber meets the road is really through implementation and having that strong technical expertise to do that shovel-in-the-ground EV infrastructure site design and construction,” Smith said. “I certainly see a lot of opportunity there. I plan to leverage the great work the team has already started. We’ve had significant wins with Fortune 500 companies, and it’s been exciting to see.”

Throughout 2023, Smith says the team will build on its strong position in the market while taking advantage of the continued nascency of the sector.

“With a lot of the strong tail winds, I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes,” she said. “What is really compelling is looking at what’s to come in the optimization space. Thinking longer term, a lot of folks haven’t addressed some of the needs and opportunities in that space. I think that will land well with clients who are starting – or who have completed – their transition. And now, we can continue to support them through cost and energy savings, and through some of the optimization offerings as we think about some of our additional hardware and software tools. I’m really excited to see that develop.”

For more information, check out our Transportation Electrification Blog Series.

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Fonte/Source: https://www.edisonenergy.com/blog/widespread-corporate-fleet-electrification-will-come-down-to-the-business-case-and-yes-its-there/