Conclusion
When an EV battery becomes critically low, most vehicles will enter into “turtle mode” (sometimes called “limp mode”) — a setting where the vehicle will continue to drive but at a much reduced speed and with limited use of accessories. I see most fleet electrification efforts as being in turtle mode. Still moving forward. Not yet stuck in a ditch. Hopeful to reach the final destination or stumble upon a magic charging station just in time. If we are serious about reducing carbon emissions and combatting climate change, we must do more than passively cruising down the road watching the charge trickle out of our battery — we must act with urgency and clarity. Having been part of the electric vehicle industry for a long time, I know that our best bet is to orient a little less around technology and a lot more around sociology.
Fifteen years ago, senior leaders in the Defense Department handed me a five-page list of questions to determine if and how the military could advance towards electrifying its fleet of non-tactical vehicles (i.e., normal cars, trucks, and buses operating on military facilities). At a time when EV technology was truly just emerging into commercial availability, I was able to make some real headway. We pulled together state and federal resources to launch a variety of innovative projects, including the first federal facility to have an all-electric vehicle fleet and the first successful “vehicle-to-grid” project in California. Technologies developed through this program were subsequently commercialized, and we helped shape federal and state policies.
Whatever success I had back then was in spite of the technology available at the time. My accomplishments were truly about mass persuasion and the mobilization of human and financial resources across dozens of organizations — executed from within the world’s most complex bureaucracy, in concert with multiple utilities, regulators, vendors and state agencies. While I certainly applied my skills as a scientist and engineer, the work was more akin to my time on political campaigns than the doctoral dissertation I had more recently completed.
Much has changed in the EV industry since I left government service, and nothing written here should be taken as a criticism of the great work done by countless people over many years to advance EV adoption around the world. Working groups that started with a dozen people are now major annual conferences with thousands of attendees. Billions of dollars have been invested by public and private institutions to advance EV technologies on a global scale. Automakers that had shunned EVs for years now have great products on the market, as prices are starting to come down. People generally understand now that electric vehicles need to plug into a charging station.
Yet, fleet electrification is today as it was back then: a stakeholder management challenge. The technology is important but incidental to the task at hand. If we want fleet electrification to succeed at scale, we must start treating stakeholder engagement as the centerpiece of every deployment—not as a set of subtasks on a Gantt chart. Given that you’ve taken the time to read this far — okay, maybe you skimmed a bit — you are likely part of this ecosystem that must be aligned to survive.
Our collective success depends on our mutual actions. We need to empower ourselves and others. We need to act with prudence, compassion, and resolve. We need to have the foresight to anticipate how disparate actors might respond to our collective effort to finally decarbonize the transportation sector. Most importantly, we need to not act alone. So, I’ll end with the same question that I hope you will ask of others involved in this work:
What can we do together today that will accelerate the transition to a clean transportation future?
Coming Soon
Stay tuned for the following essays that dig into the technical nuances of fleet electrification:
EVs Gone Wild: Tips & Pitfalls in Procuring EVs for Your Fleet
”The good news was the vehicle went forward when you put it in Reverse.”
How Do I Charge This Thing? Avoiding Calamity in EV Infrastructure (and Software)
”…so it turns out most charging station providers may be defrauding their customers.”
Umm…This is Expensive: Business Models that Work for Fleet Electrification
”Let’s order a hundred thousand Teslas. What can go wrong?”
Meanwhile, Remind Yourself of All the Great Insights of this Report:
Products & Services: What Can I Do to Put You in an EV Today?
Leased Property: The Case of Furley v. Roper (Coming Soon)
Public Policy: The 250lb Orangutan in the Room (Coming Soon)
…And the Rest: People You Don’t Know You Should Know (Coming Soon)