EV chargers for fleets rely on software to operate. When the provider abandons the market, fleets have hard choices to make to prevent operational disruption.
On October 11, Enel X Way USA officially ceased operations in the U.S. and Canada following the company’s decision to wind down its electric mobility business. At the tie of the announcement, all commercial Enel X Way chargers would “lose all functionality in the absence of software continuity”
At the eleventh hour, Enel X Way announced it had appointed an advisory service to manage its affairs. The company arranged to ensure continuous operation of its chargers until a permanent solution is in place. Other companies have offered to take over the chargers for commercial customers.
Losing software support alone could’ve been devasting to fleet operations. EV chargers for fleets rely on software to monitor energy consumption, control access to chargers, schedule charging sessions, and maintain utilization data per vehicle or port.
Unlike internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, where refueling is simple and universal, EV fleets are deeply integrated with their charging systems. While fleets could still get power to their vehicles, a blackout could’ve severely hampered operations.
This disruption is, luckily, only theoretical for Enel X Way’s fleet customers. But the company still needs to make good on its promises.
So what now?
Jeremy Niles, vice president of marketing and channel development for Liberty Plugins, counsels that fleets have two immediate choices: Keep their Enel X chargers and migrate them to a new Charge Station Management Platform (CSMS) or tear the hardware out and replace it alongside the CSMS.
But migrating these chargers to a new CSMS isn’t as simple as flipping a switch.
“Only a few CSMS providers are capable of helping Enel X customers through the technically complex migration process,” Niles wrote to Automotive Fleet. “Although Enel X chargers are capable of standard OCPP communications, they don’t work with any CSMS out of the box.”
OCPP is Open Charge Point Protocol, an application protocol that manages communication between EVs and the CSMS. Liberty Plugins, a CSMS provider, offers a hardware solution to meter and control Level-2 charge heads and can act as a bridge between any non-networked (or previously networked) charger and a cloud CSMS.
However, a complete hardware replacement may not be necessary, said Maureen Gillespie, vice president of sales & key accounts for Inspiration Mobility. “In many cases, the functionality and data collected by ‘smart’ chargers like JuiceBox can be largely replicated with analytics from the onboard telematics in EVs,” she said.
Customers could save money and headaches by deploying cheaper and more reliable plug-and-charge chargers and use an existing telematics platform to get the needed information from chargers, she said, adding that it’s dependent on use case.
A Need for Best Practices in Choosing EV Providers
This case brings up the larger need for best practices in this brave new world of electrification. In the case of charging software, fleets should consider partnering with providers that advocate for open, interoperable systems, Gillespie said.
This process of vetting must expand to other parts of the EV supply chain too. The task is compounded by new terms and technicalities. Welcome to the evolving landscape of EVs in fleets!
EVs don’t have the benefit of a well-established fuel infrastructure, yet. The future of EV charging requires constant adaptation and planning. The closure of Enel X Way USA is a stark reminder of how quickly things can change in this nascent industry.
