TALK. TALK. TALK.
S Curve Strategies speaks annually at conferences across the U.S. on transportation electrification best practices. Here are some highlights from 2019.
At North America Smart Energy Week in Salt Lake City, the crowd’s ah-ha moment came when we shared the scale at which electric vehicle (EV) charging will need to take place to meet the demand on electric Class 8 trucks. These vehicles will be on U.S. roads in four years and will require substation upgrades or new substations altogether which will take four years to build. This is what we mean by the fact that utilities must begin infrastructure planning today.
“For fleet electrification to happen utilities must begin infrastructure planning today. ”
In Portland, S Curve Strategies discussed that billions are being spent on utility EV charging programs across the country. . EV charging programs are unique and challenging to utilities due to the high amount of customer touchpoints needed for a single site installation.
The five ways utilities can masterfully create a positive customer experience to set themselves up for a successful EV program: 1) companywide employee EV training, 2) develop a nimble sales team, 3) create a uniform sales protocol, 4) develop a desktop review process of each installation site, and 5) improve the car-buying process.
In Boston, we did a deep dive into the utility commercial customers’ psyche and the barriers to moving quickly to “Yes!” when it comes to EV charging installation programs for the workplace.
These barriers include: 1) customer find EV charging programs a big commitment and their internal approvals can take months, 2) a continuous outreach effort is needed to help the customer move forward, 3) local permitting processes are often not in place to streamline the effort, and 3) utilities’ own internal approvals and interconnection can take months.
Workplace, multifamily and fleet customers find very different benefits from EV charging programs. To catch their attention you have to speak their language and hit the high notes.
San Diego, S Curve Strategies talked about the importance of segmenting the customer message to get the word out about your utility EV charging infrastructure programs. What catches the ear of a workplace is talk of becoming a leader in sustainability, incentives to attract employees and high-value employee benefits. Multifamily communities want to hear about how you will increase their net operating income and attract new tenants. Commercial fleets want to focus on total cost of ownership for their fleet electrification and how a utility’s demand charges will impact them.
At Sustain Southern California’s 10th Annual Energy Infrastructure: Innovating Toward Sustainability Conference we discussed how The ZEV Mandate is being adopted by states across the U.S. and the benefits in can bring. While 48 models of EVs are available in the U.S. from automakers, automakers don’t sell them in all states because they need to focus that inventory on the states with ZEV Mandate policies that require automakers to sell lower emission vehicles.
In these states automakers are required to produce a number of zero-emission EVs (ZEVs) and plug-in hybrids each year, based on the total number of cars sold in California by that automaker. Those with higher overall sales of all vehicles are required to make more ZEVs.