There are over 1.3 million electric vehicles (EVs) on US roads and at Samsara we've already seen broader adoption of EVs for commercial use with our customers in the public and private sectors. In addition to the well-understood environmental benefits of EVs, the cost saving opportunities are becoming increasingly important, perhaps more now than ever before.

But without the right data, crafting an electrification strategy and getting executive buy-in can be challenging. To learn more, last month we partnered with Wakefield Research to ask over 300 U.S. fleet managers how they are thinking about electric vehicle adoption. Today, we’re excited to announce the results along with new resources available to you: our Fleet Electrification Report and EV Consulting services, to help you build the business case and confidence you need to electrify your fleet.

Read on to learn more about these features and some early success stories from our customers.

How US fleet managers are thinking about electrification 

Fleet managers are in agreement on the future of EVs. In our survey, 90% said EVs were the inevitable future of commercial fleets.

But in order for EV adoption to take flight, there needs to be more focus put on EV efficiency benefits.When asked what would encourage their organization to purchase electric vehicles, 44% of fleet managers said reducing fuel spend, 44% said reducing maintenance costs, and 37% said reducing their environmental footprint. 

With efficiency and cost savings top of mind for everyone these days, it’s no surprise that 88% of fleet owners said that now is the time to invest in efficiency improvements — ahead of a possible economic downturn. 

Interestingly, EV ownership could be an indication of a recession resilient fleet. 96% of fleet owners with EVs feel prepared to weather a recession. That’s more than 20% higher than those who don’t have EVs (coming in at 72%). Along the same lines, 85% of EV owners say traditional vehicles cost more than EVs to maintain.

Meanwhile, fleet managers need data to make clear decisions when managing their fleet - with 92% saying their confidence in running their fleet is directly related to how much information they can monitor across all their vehicles.

The message is clear: EV fleet management tools that provide data transparency and efficiency metrics are more important now than ever.  Access to the right data from your fleet operations can surface invaluable insights necessary to inform your electrification strategy and address suitability concerns to help you make electrification decisions confidently and holistically. That’s where Samsara can help. 

Introducing the fleet electrification report 

Our new report provides a consolidated analysis of the light-duty vehicles in your fleet that are the best candidates to be replaced with EVs. 

The report provides transparency into your data, so you can gather the right insights and proof you need to reassure your stakeholders that an electric vehicle can do the job just as efficiently—if not more so—than a traditional vehicle.

How the Fleet Electrification Report works

To help you gather the necessary data and build an electrification plan, the Fleet Electrification Report compares the vehicles across your fleet and grades them on suitability characterizing them by: okay, good, or excellent candidates for electrification. 

Samsara uses 6 major criteria for your light-duty vehicles to determine whether or not a vehicle is a good candidate for electrification:  

• Vehicle age

• Avg. fuel efficiency

• Average daily range

• Max range

• Est. Annual fuel savings

• Est. Annual emissions saved

The mileage and efficiency data pinpoint vehicles with the highest operational costs, making them the best fit for electrification while the daily range and max range data ensures that your vehicles could travel the distance required on a single charge. 

The report also provides estimated annual fuel and emission savings to help visualize the efficiency and cost savings you could unlock by transitioning your most suitable vehicles to EVs.

Using fleet data to inform your strategy and secure buy-in 

Transparency into fleet data is one of the many reasons customers partner with Samsara. With the data Samsara provides, you can get a complete view into your operations and surface inefficiencies to improve on, as well as identify opportunities to reduce costs.

With 46% of fleets looking for data on fleet suitability to speed up adoption of EVs and 40% of fleets seeking data to drive internal leadership buy-in to electrify, it’s clear that insights on EV suitability is top of mind. 

Now, with just a few clicks, you have the data at your fingertips to build the business case for EVs and generate internal confidence to take the leap.

Taking the leap together 

Supporting customers to make efficiency improvements has always been a priority, and electric vehicles play an enormous role in that unlocked potential. We know that electrification can be a complex decision and our goal with our new EV offerings is to ensure that you have all of the data and support you need to make electrification decisions that will impact both the environment and your bottom line. 

In working closely with our customers, we recognized the power that one-on-one data analysis has. In fact, our survey found that more than one third of fleets are looking for one-on-one consultation and coaching on how to get started with EVs. That’s why we’re excited to partner with our customers with larger fleets to individually assess which vehicles are prime candidates for electrification so they can reduce total cost of ownership and maximize ROI with EVs. 

In crafting our consulting approach, we landed on a four-step ‘DARE’ approach to help break down the electrification process for our customers:  

• Determine total cost of ownership breakeven point

• Assess infrastructure and operational readiness

• Research legislative policies and EV supply

• Explore internal support and leadership buy-in 

These services proved invaluable to customers like the City of Fort Lauderdale and the City of Boston, who benefited from in-depth analyses of their fleet data. “Anytime you can point to the data to tell you what works and doesn’t work, that’s a huge opportunity,” said Nancy Gassman, Assistant Public Works Director, Sustainability for the City of Fort Lauderdale. “When you uncovered that 46% of our fleet could qualify for savings with EV, that has been very powerful.” 

“This analysis is very useful and is something we will use to plan EV transitions moving forward,” said Matthew Bradley, Superintendent of Automotive Maintenance at the City of Boston’s Public Works Department. “I use the data from this report to speak to the different stakeholders within the City.” 

Once you’ve built the business case for electric vehicles and made the decision to electrify, Samsara’s EV fleet management features can help you manage your electric fleet. Features such as real-time charging status and alerts to EV charge station map overlays, and most recently our EV battery health report will ensure that you can run your mixed fleet effectively while reaping the economic and sustainability benefits of your EV investment.   

If you’re an existing customer with light-duty vehicles, you can go to your dashboard to view your Electrification Report and uncover your fleet’s suitability today. Contact your enterprise customer success manager for more information on our EV consulting service. If you’re not yet a Samsara customer, and are interested in trying Samsara for the first time, request a free trial today. 

Download our latest guide on how to build your electrification strategy to kickstart your transition to electric vehicles.