Fleet operators are being urged to rethink how they approach electrification by placing home charging as a key part of their strategy.
Speaking at the Fleet Electrification Forum in a session titled In Conversation: The home charging gap in fleet electrification, myenergi Chief Commercial Officer Jack Fielder said many organisations continue to underestimate the role home charging can play in reducing total cost of ownership and that home charging can dramatically reduce costs while unlocking new revenue opportunities.
While acknowledging that public charging and depot charging will always have an important role, he encouraged fleets to look more closely at the opportunities available to drivers who are able to charge at home.
“I would urge all of you after this talk to think again about your electrification, and think, is there more of a role that home charging could play in that electrification?” he said.
Mr Fielder explained to Transport + Energy Content Manager James Evison that the cost difference between charging methods can be huge. He said charging at rapid public chargers could cost between 60p and 80p per kWh, while simply moving to home charging on a standard domestic tariff could halve those costs. Taking advantage of dedicated overnight EV tariffs could reduce them further still.
He also highlighted the opportunity for drivers to earn additional income through flexibility services such as myenergi’s Grid Pay proposition, which rewards customers for helping balance electricity demand on the grid.
The combined effect, he argued, creates a compelling commercial case for fleets.
“You’ve suddenly got yourself a position where there’s a 10 times cost difference between optimised charging at home and… en route public charging. That’s a huge gap, and that’s a huge commercial opportunity for fleet drivers,” he said. “Suddenly it’s just… it’s night and day, the economics of doing properly optimised EV driving versus ICE.”
Fielder pointed to myenergi’s work with Openreach, where home charging is being integrated with reimbursement systems and charging data to give fleet managers greater visibility of energy use while helping design incentives that encourage the right charging behaviour.
He said data is becoming increasingly important as fleets develop their electrification strategies and stressed that partnerships between charging providers, fleet operators, reimbursement platforms and energy suppliers are essential to making large-scale deployment work effectively.
Looking ahead, Mr Fielder predicted that grid flexibility services will continue to mature over the next few years, with vehicle-to-grid technology becoming a major focus during 2027 as fleet vehicles increasingly become valuable energy assets rather than simply modes of transport.
His advice to fleet operators was to rethink established practices rather than simply replacing diesel with electricity.
“When thinking about the electrification of your fleet… take a step back, think holistically about what it is you’re trying to do. Don’t necessarily just put yourself in the kind of the ICE world… just do the same thing, but with electricity.
“Take a step back and think about how you can truly optimise your logistics, your operations, your locations, and make the absolute most of the investment you’re putting into this electrification, and I’d like to think that home charging has a big part to play in that.”
(Picture – Transport+Energy)
