With less than a decade to decarbonize, you may be considering where to start and how to prepare your fleet. Hitachi ZeroCarbon has launched a powerful, end-to-end suite of EV fleet solutions, designed to accelerate the transition to zero-emission transport and remove the complexity from fleet electrification. With pressure rising on electrification, our integrated solutions provide operators with the tools, insights, and support you need to future-proof your fleets, reduce emissions, and meet regulatory and sustainability targets.
In this blog, we talk to Hitachi ZeroCarbon’s Chief Revenue Officer, Mike Nugent, about the tangible impact we’re making for our customers, and how we’re helping to reshape the industry for a cleaner, more efficient future.
What is the impact of having an all-in-one electric fleet management platform?
Mike: “A purpose-built approach to electrification streamlines the process of decarbonizing fleets and deploying charging infrastructure. Our all-in-one platform is a hardware-agnostic software solution that makes fleet decarbonization efficient and seamless. This means fleet managers can be free to make the best hardware and vehicle choices to transform their fleets without worrying about operational disruption or downtime caused by interoperability challenges between vehicles and charging infrastructure.
“Having an all-in-one solution can also help fleet managers to understand the needs and requirements of electrification by providing complete visibility into the health and performance of their fleet, including charge trends, route planning, energy usage, and maintenance. When reviewed through modular, siloed systems, this can take a huge amount of time to figure out. Instead, our unified platform simplifies operations, provides real-time transparency of fleet operations and reduces costs, making the shift to electric easier.”
What makes this platform stand out from the crowd?
“Now that fleets are in a race to decarbonize and meet government targets, managers are facing huge pressure to navigate new regulatory and sustainability requirements.
“We designed our all-in-one platform to remove the headache from the transition, ease the burden on fleet managers, and provide a holistic, comprehensive solution that encompasses everything from charge, battery management and access to financing through partners. While other providers might specialize in unlocking one step of the fleet electrification process, we do it all and have the technology heritage and expertise that operators can trust.
“Our platform is grounded in telematics too. This means we are equipping fleet operators with the data-driven insights to not only make their fleet electrification a success but support long-term optimized performance and operations. We are giving them the tools to find efficiencies, cut costs and maximize the residual value of key assets – like their vehicle batteries.”
What challenges does the platform help to solve?
“Fleet operators often think electrification is a one-size fits all approach. However, this is not the case. We provide a one-stop-shop for strategy and support, and support organizations no matter what stage of electrification they find themselves in. We have the skills, knowledge and experience to become a trusted partner to organizations who need to decarbonize quickly, may have encountered issues before, or looking to understand what value they can get from the EV transition.
“Businesses often tell us that their biggest barriers to the EV transition are:
- Infrastructure readiness
- High upfront costs
- Energy management
“But this is where we come into our own. Our solution suite provides a tailored and individualized approach to electrification. We can support on everything from grid balancing to tariff optimization, as well as site mapping, planning and strategy. We can also support with providing access to low-cost capital through partners to help kickstart fleet electrification.”
How does this all-in-one platform help customers?
“Not only does our platform accelerate fleet electrification, but it also helps our customers to unlock additional growth and revenue opportunities. For instance, it encourages fleets to reimagine what the traditional depot will look like in a decade’s time. No longer will it be a half-full parking lot or idle space, but through electrification, it will house shared charging stations, battery and energy storage, and create an eco-system that sees fleets work together to optimize their operations.
“Our platform is already delivering results for some of the UK’s most recognisable fleet operators, like First Bus. We have helped the bus operator to transform the delivery of mass urban transport, starting with how it manages its vehicles inside the depot and while en route. After an initial successful deployment of our solutions and services at its Glasgow depot, we now cover more than 500 electric buses across 11 depots. We are also jointly acquiring, monitoring and extending the operational life of more than 1000 EV batteries.
“Our platform provides telematics on each bus and electric charging point within the 11 depots to share live status information, enabling remote charging and insight into which vehicles are connected to which chargers, as well as bus charging durations. We’re also helping First Bus ensure power is used in the most efficient way, minimizing draw down on the grid at peak times, and balancing electricity costs. This means that each vehicle is charged sufficiently for its daily operations, and the bus interiors are pre-heated, ready for drivers and customers the moment the vehicles leave the depot.
“We have also helped First Bus to deliver zero carbon charging hubs at each depot for other fleets to use. This ensures that assets, like EV chargers, are not sitting idle when the First Bus fleet is away from the depot, while bringing in additional revenue.”
Ready to begin your transition?
If you’d like to hear more about how our all-in-one platform can help transition your fleet, get in touch with us to today and see we can support your journey to a zero-emission fleet.