Electric vehicles: Why is it so expensive to change?

Do you want to switch to an electric vehicle but are not sure yet? We can help you make the transition easier than you think

By December 2023, all municipalities in Spain with more than 50,000 inhabitants must have Low Emission Zones (ZBE). This presents a challenge for all logistics companies that carry out daily distribution work in the country's cities. Many of their vehicles will become obsolete and their routes will have to be modified, they will have to adapt their fleet and migrate to more efficient vehicles such as electric vehicles.

“If low-emission zones are going to be mandatory and logistics are being sought to become increasingly sustainable... why aren't companies yet adopting electric vehicles for their operation?”

The answer is “the costs”. At first glance you may think that the purchase price of the new vehicle is much higher, but the main reason that prevents the adoption of these vehicles is the cost of changing the way you manage your company's daily operations. Making management changes is always complicated, especially when we have been doing things the same way for many years.

When companies decide to switch to an electric fleet, their distribution routes can no longer be the same. Why? For the autonomy of electric vehicles and their refueling. The routes must be adapted to the new limitations that these cars have together with those of the business. A new restriction added to the already complex route planning that makes many electrification projects dismissed a priori.

Another important point is the charging time of the batteries. Unfortunately, it is not possible to charge the vehicle at the same speed as the liters of diesel flow. You'll think of Tesla SuperChargers, but something little known about EVs is that they have a very limited amount of the number of fast charges they can do over their lifetime. For example, a Tesla Model 3 can only do 200 fast charges over its entire battery life. Therefore, planning charging times will be just as important as another variable to consider.

In situations of maximum availability, 24-hour shifts or continuous work, it will be more difficult to fit this type of vehicle (with current technology), but the vast majority of companies will be able to overcome these limitations and manage them perfectly, as long as it is done in an intelligent way.

A route optimizer may be the solution to this problem. With SmartMonkey you can plan your routes in seconds, incorporating vehicle mileage restrictions and working hours in order to obtain the most efficient routes adapted to electric vehicles (and other fuels). In addition, the optimizer will tell you when you can use fewer vehicles to achieve the same deliveries, and thus make your operation even more sustainable.

A success story is the Palliative Care Team (C2P2) at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. This equipment has electric vehicles and combustion vehicles. Because of their operations, they visit patients more than 200 km from the hospital, but the large volume is concentrated in a relatively short radius of ~50 km. Being able to limit routes according to the vehicle's range is allowing them to avoid being “strapped” or to greatly limit the use of electric vehicles when in doubt, with the increase in CO2 emissions. One less problem to consider. Now we plan routes in minutes with total confidence and from the hospital's control center they can track operations in real time.

Let us help you with the change: try Routalkey for free for 10 days and you'll see how you can improve your operations by introducing electric vehicles to your fleet (and drivers will thank you).