Commercial EVs are no longer a sustainability story — for the right duty cycles they now beat diesel on total cost of ownership. The challenge is figuring out which of your routes qualify.
The first step is pulling 90 days of telematics data and bucketing routes by daily distance. Anything under 180 km/day with a return-to-base pattern is an EV candidate. Longer, variable routes typically aren't — yet.
Pilot structure that works: pick 5-10 vehicles on the highest-confidence routes, instrument them heavily, and run them for 90 days. You'll learn more about charging logistics, driver range anxiety, and real-world kWh/km than any vendor presentation can teach you.
One trap worth flagging: charger installation often takes longer than the vehicles. Start that conversation with your landlord and electricity provider on day one, not when the vehicles arrive.
At the 90-day mark, compare actual operating cost against your diesel baseline. If it holds, expand in tranches of 20-30% of the fleet per quarter — that cadence gives your operations team time to build charging behavior into the daily routine.
