{"id":12585,"date":"2021-10-21T17:06:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T15:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=12585"},"modified":"2021-10-21T17:07:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T15:07:19","slug":"wireless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/10\/21\/wireless\/","title":{"rendered":"Wireless Charging Could Cut EV Fleet Costs in Half"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo: Witricity<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n

Untethered from the cord, vehicles have more time to charge, and can do so at lower power, such as at the dock being loaded, at the depot being cleaned or prepped, or while parked<\/b><\/p>\n

WiTricity<\/a>, a company that provides wireless charging systems, on Sept. 22 released results of a study that evaluated the relative total cost of ownership (TCO) of adopting and running an electric vehicle (EV) fleet for last-mile parcel delivery when those vehicles were equipped with wireless charging instead of plug-in charging.<\/p>\n

The study found that when using wireless charging technology, last-mile EV fleets saved up to 50% in TCO.<\/p>\n

In a standard plug-in model, EVs are taken out of service to charge: a driver moves the EV to the charger, plugs in, and there the EV remains until sufficiently charged. In contrast, wireless charging lets fleets adapt their charging model to existing business workflows by bringing the charge to the EVs where they are: at the dock being loaded, at the depot being cleaned or prepped, or while parked. Untethered from the cord, vehicles have more time to charge, and can do so at lower power.<\/p>\n

The outcome: lower costs by flattening the curve on \u201cdemand charges,\u201d the compensation paid to the utility for maintaining the grid with sufficient capacity to energize a customer\u2019s needs at peak draw. Given that electric utility charges are one of the top three components of the lifetime cost of an EV (the other two are vehicle miles traveled and vehicle purchase price), the result is a reduction in the overall TCO of going electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith businesses and government agencies upgrading their last-mile fleets to be electric \u2014 from delivery vans to mail trucks \u2014 there are clear, major benefits of being able to charge those wirelessly,\u201d said Alex Gruzen, WiTricity CEO. \u201cOur analysis shows that WiTricity\u2019s technology introduces great flexibility with significantly lower costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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WiTricity compared the use of 50kW plug-in charging to 24kW wireless charging with the fleet running two 8-hour shifts, leaving four hours per shift for charging and depot operations. The study found that wireless charging in place of plug-in charging:<\/p>\n