Allstar: why EV charging needs the same control fleets expect from fuel cards
Tom Rowlands of Corpay
Fuel card brand Allstar has highlighted the importance for fleets transitioning to electric vehicles of retaining control over their energy spend in the same way that fuel cards have made possible with traditional fuels.
“For commercial fleets, the shift to electric vehicles is changing more than the vehicles themselves,” said Tom Rowlands, managing director, Global EV Solutions at Corpay, which operates the Allstar brand.
“It is also changing how energy is accessed, paid for and managed. For years, commercial fleets have been able to operate within a relatively consistent fuel-purchasing model. Drivers refuel, transactions are captured through an established payment process, and fleet managers retain visibility over expenditure.
“As HGV, van and coach fleets electrify, that model becomes more fragmented. A vehicle may charge at its own depot, use another commercial site through a shared charging arrangement, or rely on the public network while on the road. The energy source may be consistent, but the way it is accessed, paid for and reported can vary significantly.
“The challenge for operators is therefore not simply building more charging infrastructure. It is making sure greater charging choice does not come at the expense of visibility, control or operational simplicity.”
For many commercial fleets, depot charging will continue to play a central role, says Tom.
“Operators with predictable duty cycles and vehicles returning to base can charge during periods when those vehicles would otherwise be standing idle, which makes the depot a logical foundation for electrification. Investment is continuing in this area…
“However, depot charging cannot solve every operational requirement. Available space, grid capacity, vehicle dwell times and route patterns vary considerably between fleets and locations. Some operators will be able to build substantial infrastructure at their own sites, while others will need additional charging options to support particular routes or parts of their operation. The answer is unlikely to be a single charging model that works everywhere but that fleets will need flexibility around the depot.”
Shared charging is one example of how the market is beginning to respond to that need, he argues.
“Commercial charging infrastructure will not necessarily be in continuous use by the fleet that owns or operates it, so where capacity is available, opening that infrastructure to other fleets could extend access while helping existing assets work harder.
“We are already seeing this idea being explored. The Association of Fleet Professionals’ shared charging initiative has expanded to 15 London boroughs, connecting fleets that need charging with privately owned facilities that have spare capacity.
“The value of shared charging is not that it replaces operators’ own depots, but that it creates another option where dedicated infrastructure may not be available or practical. Commercial fleet requirements are rarely uniform – what works for a van returning to the same depot every evening may not work for a vehicle covering long routes or operating between several sites. As electrification progresses, the ability to combine owned and shared infrastructure is likely to become increasingly important.”
The public charging network is also continuing to expand, but charger numbers alone do not tell the whole story for commercial operators, adds Tom.
“An HGV, coach or working van can have very different requirements from a private car. Location, vehicle access, charging speed, dwell time, availability and cost can all determine whether a charger is genuinely useful to a commercial fleet. Public charging will remain an important part of the mix, but operators will still need other options where vehicle access, route patterns or dwell times make public infrastructure less practical.”
The more charging options become available, the more important it becomes to think about how they are paid for and managed, he contends.
“A fleet using depot, shared and public charging could potentially face several payment mechanisms, different tariffs, multiple accounts and separate reporting systems. That creates complexity for drivers, but also for the teams responsible for managing fleet expenditure.
“The basic questions remain familiar: who purchased the energy, which vehicle was it for, where did the transaction take place, what did it cost and how is that expenditure reconciled? These are the same principles of control that have underpinned fuel card use for decades. Electrification changes where and how fleets buy energy, but it does not remove the need to manage that spend centrally. In many ways, it makes that discipline even more important.
“The aim should not be to force every fleet towards one charging environment. Different vehicles, routes and operating models will require different combinations of depot, shared and public charging. The priority should instead be making those environments easier to use together, with straightforward access for drivers and consistent visibility for the fleet behind the scenes.
“Commercial charging payment networks are beginning to develop around that need, giving fleets ways to access public and semi-private charging through more consistent payment and management processes. Allstar, for example, describes its Commercial Charging Payment Network as providing access to a growing network of public and semi-private charging locations through one integrated payment ecosystem.”
Tom concluded: “The broader direction of travel matters more than any individual solution. As charging infrastructure diversifies, drivers need simple access while fleet managers need clear payment data, cost visibility and manageable reporting.
“The energy transition should not require operators to sacrifice the control they have built around fuel purchasing. As commercial charging becomes more diverse, the challenge will be to make that complexity invisible to the fleet. Operators need more ways to charge, but they also need the payment, reporting and cost visibility behind those options to remain simple.”
