NEOFLEET is an innovative solution enabling companies to optimize both their vehicle charges and their costs. The creation of this software stems from a real case: our own. As a result, we have been recognized as “Laureate of the Year” by the renowned FLEET magazine and LINK2FLEET.
NETiKA, IT solutions provider, decided in 2016 to replace its fleet of 32 Diesel vehicles with 32 Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) and Electric cars (EV).
BMW already offered a range of electrified cars and was therefore the most logical choice to support our approach.
The idea of replacing the entire fleet and arranging for our employees to recharge at the office was a first, both for them and for us.
It was simply “logical” from our point of view.
An SME with a large parking lot and a large roof area offered the possibility of recharging vehicles while employees were at work, and of optimizing this recharging with environmentally friendly photovoltaic production.
This would avoid wasting a lot of time waiting at a public charger, and save us from paying more for electricity from a third party.
But with Plug-in Hybrids, there was also a risk that the cost price per kilometer of these cars (running on a combination of electricity and fuel) would far exceed the cost price of a diesel car.
Until then, a 110 hp Diesel car had an average fuel consumption of 6 liters /100km.
On the other hand, a car with 2 engines with a combined power of +/- 220 hp was likely to consume much more, especially if the driver enjoyed using the “Sport” button, which could cause the only combustion engine to consume more than 10 liters of fuel /100 km.
We then decided to offer this upgrade to our employees, asking them to respect our desire for a ZEN driving style (offered by electricity), and to confirm this by signing a new CAR POLICY limiting everyone’s fuel consumption to normal use.
But we had to keep track of this “energy cost”, now made up of multiple sources: office refills, private refills, public refills and refueling at service stations, each with different unit prices.
This would also have other impacts, such as on the overall loss ratio of our fleet. Since it’s no secret that a 220hp car is more “prone” to accidents than a 110hp car.
Fewer accidents could mean lower annual insurance premiums, which would also reduce the cost of our future fleet.
And in addition to accidents, like any employer who relies on the work performance of its employees on their way to customers, we wanted to limit the risk of speeding, or even the loss of their driver’s license.
Despite these ambitions, NETiKA was not helped by its electricity meter, which offered limited power, insufficient to recharge everyone at the same time.
The chargers we were offered were for private use, even if some of them, such as those from POWERDALE, were said to be “intelligent and communicating”, making it possible to manage power distribution (LOAD BALANCING). But they were the most expensive and didn’t come with a cable attached to the terminal, which we felt was a failing.
Imagine an employee having to take a cable out of his trunk (dirty and still wet from the day before), unwind it, plug it in, and give instructions to the terminal; all in the rain…
Finding no solution to our equation, we decided to write NEOFLEET.
It would be a SOFTWARE solution taking all these aspects into account, and would control an electrical panel (requiring no maintenance), which itself would manage the charging stations (now simple and inexpensive).
Our internal specifications included the following aspects:
- Enable employees who have parked their cars to remain outside for a minimum amount of time, and to communicate their needs on a tablet at reception, or via their smartphone
- Take into account available network power
- Take into account the sunshine forecast to get the most out of it
- Organize recharging according to individual priorities (sedentary employee vs. salesperson or technician, PHEV vs. EV, possibility of recharging privately (or not)…)
- Manage (and communicate with drivers) to rotate/swap cars to a limited number of charging stations
- Enable recharging reservations for fast-charging needs
- Reimburse – without administrative overload – the recharges that our employees carry out privately
- Collect information from all recharging sources and oil companies, so that we have all the data we need to calculate the total energy cost of each one
- Offer fleet management tools to make it easier to keep track of a car
- …
As for the cost, this configuration allowed us to reduce the price of the recharging infrastructure, since the chargers no longer had to be equipped with intelligence or a display/keypad It also solved the problem of the limited lifespan of these chargers (composed of electronics located outdoors), and cancelled out all maintenance costs.
Operational since 2017 at NETiKA, this solution was awarded “Laureate of the Year” in 2017 and 2018 by FLEET Magazine and LINK2FLEET
In August 2019, 3 years later, POWERDALE in turn announced a product called CLUSTER, which would be based on the same principle of “intelligence placed outside charging stations” …
As one of NEOFLEET’s strengths is that it is an open “multi-brand / multi-supplier of fuel and electricity” system, it pilots both types of charging station:
- intelligent charging stations (ALFEN, SCHNEIDER, EVBox, ABB, Mennekes, SMAPPEE, POWERDALE…)
- simple charging stations (low-cost stainless steel Totems, CLUSTERS…)