EV chargers for fleets depend on software to operate. When the provider abandons the market, fleets have hard decisions to make to stop operational disruption.
On October 11, Enel X Way USA officially ceased operations within the U.S. and Canada following the corporate’s decision to wind down its electric mobility business. On the tie of the announcement, all industrial Enel X Way chargers would “lose all functionality within the absence of software continuity”
On the eleventh hour, Enel X Way announced it had appointed an advisory service to administer its affairs. The corporate arranged to make sure continuous operation of its chargers until a everlasting solution is in place. Other corporations have offered to take over the chargers for industrial customers.
Losing software support alone could’ve been devasting to fleet operations. EV chargers for fleets depend on software to observe energy consumption, control access to chargers, schedule charging sessions, and maintain utilization data per vehicle or port.
Unlike internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, where refueling is easy and universal, EV fleets are deeply integrated with their charging systems. While fleets could still get power to their vehicles, a blackout could’ve severely hampered operations.
This disruption is, luckily, only theoretical for Enel X Way’s fleet customers. But the corporate still must make good on its guarantees.
So what now?
Jeremy Niles, vp of selling and channel development for Liberty Plugins, counsels that fleets have two immediate decisions: Keep their Enel X chargers and migrate them to a brand new Charge Station Management Platform (CSMS) or tear the hardware out and replace it alongside the CSMS.
But migrating these chargers to a brand new CSMS isn’t so simple as flipping a switch.
“Only a number of CSMS providers are able to helping Enel X customers through the technically complex migration process,” Niles wrote to Automotive Fleet. “Although Enel X chargers are capable of normal OCPP communications, they don’t work with any CSMS out of the box.”
OCPP is Open Charge Point Protocol, an application protocol that manages communication between EVs and the CSMS. Liberty Plugins, a CSMS provider, offers a hardware solution to meter and control Level-2 charge heads and may act as a bridge between any non-networked (or previously networked) charger and a cloud CSMS.
Nonetheless, an entire hardware alternative will not be needed, said Maureen Gillespie, vp of sales & key accounts for Inspiration Mobility. “In lots of cases, the functionality and data collected by ‘smart’ chargers like JuiceBox will be largely replicated with analytics from the onboard telematics in EVs,” she said.
Customers could get monetary savings and headaches by deploying cheaper and more reliable plug-and-charge chargers and use an existing telematics platform to get the needed information from chargers, she said, adding that it’s depending on use case.
A Need for Best Practices in Selecting EV Providers
This case brings up the larger need for best practices on this brave recent world of electrification. Within the case of charging software, fleets should consider partnering with providers that advocate for open, interoperable systems, Gillespie said.
This strategy of vetting must expand to other parts of the EV supply chain too. The duty is compounded by recent terms and technicalities. Welcome to the evolving landscape of EVs in fleets!
EVs don’t take pleasure in a well-established fuel infrastructure, yet. The longer term of EV charging requires constant adaptation and planning. The closure of Enel X Way USA is a stark reminder of how quickly things can change on this nascent industry.
This Article First Appeared At www.automotive-fleet.com
