By Fleet Management Weekly Staff
December 4, 2024
As sustainability initiatives and government regulations lead many companies to electrify their fleets, organizations like Inspiration Mobility Group are quickly becoming critical partners in the electrification process. Inspiration’s EV-first fleet management company (eFMC) helps fleets identify which ICE vehicles are ready to electrify and then leases the EV models best suited. At the same time, Inspiration’s energy business works with fleets to set up the optimal charging solutions for those EVs, navigating the tricky road of charging infrastructure to ensure they’re always ready to go.
The aptly named ‘Electrification Accelerator’ has recently branched out even further with a new offering, opening its own multi-fleet commercial EV charging hubs. With some of its biggest clients, Inspiration is designing and building high-speed charging stations that provide reliable ways for customers and other fleets to power up. The construction, ownership, and operation of these PowerUp Points facilitate the transition to electric transportation through charging-as-a-service (CaaS).
A Different Approach to Building Infrastructure
“In addition to our eFMC, which offers EV leasing, fleet management services and electrification planning to businesses, we also have an energy business where we build, own, and operate commercial-grade high-speed charging infrastructure,” says the Founder and CEO of Inspiration, Josh Green. “Because the cycles to build something take a long time, that side of the business has changed dramatically in the last year.”
Inspiration recently unveiled a 12-port charging site in Kansas City, with the potential to expand to 18 ports. The site officially opened in October. The company plans to launch another PowerUp Point in Pittsburgh by year’s end and has several other sites in development. While its sites may sound similar to the high-speed, multi-fleet charging depots under development by companies like EV Realty, Voltera and others, which are designed to be used by multiple businesses simultaneously, Inspiration begins not with the site itself, but with the customer.
“Most of the other developers of multi-fleet charging depots are what I would characterize as real estate-first players,” says Green. “It’s no different than a real estate developer who picks a good spot of land for a shopping center or a hotel. They find a good site in terms of its grid location, highway proximity, and other factors. Based on their conviction about the characteristics of the site, they usually start development well before they have a specific customer signed up and tend to build larger sites than we do. In contrast, we almost always start with a contracted customer and then overbuild to bring other fleets into the mix.”
Inspiration’s partner in Kansas City is a company called WHC Worldwide | zTrip, which is the largest taxi operator in the country. The company has over 3000 taxis in over 30 cities. As Inspiration grows the energy side of its business, it’s attracting more and more fleets like WHC Worldwide, who are realizing the limitations of traditional FMCs.
Where Traditional FMCs Fall Short
“This year, we’ve seen a massive change in momentum with Fortune 500 companies and the biggest mega-fleets,” says Green. “I attribute it to the fact that they’ve had some fits and starts and stubbed their toes enough with the legacy FMCs.
“They realize they need an expert to do this well, comply with advanced clean fleets in California, and get all the right incentives. They need an expert because their legacy FMC is often learning on the job at the same time they are.”
As an eFMC, Inspiration can leverage its expertise in electrification to help transitioning fleets meet their diverse charging needs. Interest has skyrocketed in the last couple of years as many fleets recognize that their legacy FMC isn’t capable of seamlessly managing electrification, in particular for complex fleets with different asset types and multiple locations. Part of the reason is a lack of familiarity with the process, but an equally significant reason is that electrification upends the traditional ways that FMCs make money.
“We don’t have to worry about profitability based on legacy ways of doing business,” says Green. “FMCs aren’t used to paying for the privilege of public fueling, much less setting up the reliable, commercial-grade, dedicated charging fleets need. They’re used to fueling infrastructure being a widely available public good and making money off of fuel cards.
“That’s one simple difference between us and traditional FMCs: we don’t have to backfill all of that profitability. We can be transparent and strategic, but we can also be better priced and offer a better value to our customers.”
Even so, many fleets are reluctant to add another FMC. Bringing on another player instead of relying on an existing partner can seem counterintuitive when the end goal is to cut costs. Yet if fleets try to get the best charging solution while remaining with their existing FMC, they end up having to partner with multiple other vendors: charging hardware companies, finance companies, software developers, electrical contractors, engineering firms and others.
“There’s this misunderstanding that adding an eFMC somehow increases complexity and cost when it’s the opposite,” says Green. “The off-the-shelf solution that most FMCs are pushing is not the best path for most fleets and isn’t applicable to all vehicles, leaving fleet managers with the headache of identifying, vetting, contracting with, and managing a wide range of new vendors to fill the gaps.”
The Many Benefits of Electrification
Fleets often see sustainability as a lofty goal at odds with the desire to cut costs and increase profitability. As Green sees it, electrification benefits fleets in every area.
“I once said that we will know EVs have arrived when the fleet manager comes to the idea on their own that, in certain places, EVs are the better choice,” says Green. “Because they achieve traditional fleet objectives like increased safety, lower cost, and more reliability. However, many people think of sustainability as something forced onto them instead of something that will help them meet 40% of their goals. Sustainability and traditional fleet objectives are not mutually exclusive – when done right, EVs are the best solution to achieve those goals, whether your subset is 4% or 50%.”
The Best Path to Decarbonization
While many companies look for other ways to lower their carbon footprint, Green argues that electrifying fleets is often the best path to decarbonization. It makes sense as a priority because electrification saves money and reduces emissions quickly and permanently.
This is especially true as electric vehicles are growing increasingly prevalent and capable. EVs are now hitting the resale market with an expanding list of options, including newer models like refuse trucks.
“We’ve seen electric sedans and compact SUVs, but now we’re seeing how a refuse truck can do the job,” says Green. “We’re seeing the emissions it produces and how an EV can be incorporated into an existing fleet.”
The charging infrastructure is evolving as well. As more charging stations are built, the infrastructure becomes more reliable. Tesla superchargers have been opened to non-Tesla vehicles, and the reliability of that network is much higher than the alternative.
“Options are coming to market that will make this just as simple as using a fuel card,” says Green. “You’ve got availability now without having to download many apps. It’s much simpler, which is what all fleet managers want for their drivers. Trying to integrate all that data into an existing system that isn’t built for that is a bit of a beast.”
Building For The Future
Another benefit often overlooked in the electrification process is access to limitless data. While telematics and data analytics are standard tools for helping fleets cut costs, Inspiration is using data in a new way to help fleets electrify. Unlike traditional FMCs that outsource much of the electrification process to other vendors, Inspiration has all that data at its fingertips.
“Data silos don’t exist for us,” says Green. “We can capture every piece of data a car, charger, or driver produces. We might not be using all that data right now, but it allows us to quickly respond to customer requests and run analytics, and we can easily do something more with it in the future. We can see it all and do many things that our competitors don’t, like sustainability reporting and energy reporting. So, we can implement things much more quickly than traditional systems.
“For example, we had the idea about charging alerts for drivers. The time between when we came up with the idea and when we rolled it out was probably a month. Because we had the data available, it was just a couple of toggle switches and some magic from our tech team. We can push something out fairly quickly if we need it.”
Inspiration is focused on the future in more ways than one. While the status quo hamstrings many traditional FMCs, Inspiration leads with a culture of inquisitiveness and innovation.
