User Guide
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Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment User Guide
User Guide
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Use the EV Suitability Assessment Add-In to determine if your non-electric vehicle could be replaced by an EV. This Marketplace Add-In uses telematics data from existing fleet vehicles, procurement information and EV cost estimates to determine if your current fleet vehicles could be replaced with EVs.
User Guide
August 2024
The Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA) is a Geotab Marketplace Add-In intended to help fleet managers identify a variety of suitable Electric Vehicles (EV) to replace their current non-electric fleet vehicles. To perform the analysis, the EVSA Add-In utilizes your fleet telematics data to get an accurate view of the fleet’s drive cycle.
✱ NOTE: Vehicles should have at least one month of data collected in MyGeotab for a suitable recommendation. Fleets with seasonal drive cycles should run the EV Suitability Assessment using data collected over long periods of time.
The EVSA analyzes the driving data for fleet vehicles and recommends an EV replacement that meets the criteria in the table below.
Condition | Description |
Range Capability | The EV replacement fulfills the daily driving range requirement of the current fleet vehicle without the need to charge en-route during the day. If the EV cannot meet the range requirement, the EV is not recommended as a replacement. |
Charging Viability | The EV replacement dwells long enough in designated charging zones that it can be sufficiently charged for the next set of trips without having to charge en-route during the day. |
Lifetime Cost | The lifetime cost for the EV replacement must be less than or equal to the cost of the equivalent non-Electric Vehicle. Lifetime cost considers EV incentives and the funds that an organization has allocated to reduce emissions, if applicable. |
✱ NOTE: The range analysis considers degraded real-world range of the EVs — defined as the expected EV range in cold weather conditions when battery efficiency is diminished and the heating system remains on.
The EV Suitability Assessment Add-In supports the following vehicle types:
The EV Suitability Assessment is officially available in the following countries:
Support in the countries listed above includes the user interface language, the units of measurement, currency, local vehicle model availability, and default costs.
✱ NOTE: If the user resides in a country that is not supported, the EVSA will not restrict the EV model selection to the user’s local market. The user must also review and update the default costs to match their locale.
To install the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA) Add-In, follow the steps below:
1 | Log in to MyGeotab as an Administrator. |
2 | From the main menu, select Marketplace. From the Marketplace, search for EVSA on the search box. |
3 | From the EV Suitability Assessment page on the Marketplace, click Install now. |
4 | In the popup window, review the End User License Agreement, then select the I agree checkbox. |
5 | Click Install now. |
6 | The EVSA Add-In is now available through the main menu in MyGeotab. To initiate the setup, select EVSA from the main menu. |
The EVSA Add-In creates a Service Account to communicate with MyGeotab. The Service Account retrieves trip data required by the Add-In to run the stability analysis. The Service Account name in the database is: GEOTAB-EVSA-ADDIN. To complete the installation, click the Create Service Account button to allow the creation of the service account.
! IMPORTANT: The user installing the Add-In must have the authorization to create user accounts; otherwise, the installation fails. The Service Account has access to the same vehicles and groups as the user who creates the account. To ensure all users have access to the EVSA Add-In, an Administrator with access to all groups and vehicles in the database should install the Add-In.
! IMPORTANT: If the Service Account is deleted, the EV Suitability Assessment stops working for all the MyGeotab users on the database. Before the EVSA Add-In is used again, the user is prompted to re-install the Service Account.
To start a new assessment, follow the steps below:
1 | From the MyGeotab main menu, navigate to Sustainability > EV Suitability Assessment. |
2 | From the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment page, click + New assessment. |
3 | Select the desired country from the list to open the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment. |
The Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment is divided into four sections: Vehicles to Assess, EV Models, Charging Locations, and Preferences.
Under Vehicles to Assess, select the vehicles you want to include in your assessment. By default, all the vehicles are listed, and none are selected. Use filters to refine the vehicle list and select the set of vehicles you are interested in assessing.
You may use the following tools and filters to refine the list of vehicles you wish to select for the assessment:
1 | Once you have filtered your vehicle list to find your vehicles of interest, select the checkbox in the page header to select all vehicles listed in the current page. Alternatively, select the checkbox for individual vehicles or click the black arrow next to the checkbox to select all filtered vehicles across all pages rather than the ones listed on the current page only. |
2 | If needed, open the Selected vehicles dropdown to review the list of selected vehicles. |
3 | From the Selected vehicles side panel, you can exclude vehicles from the assessment by clicking the trashcan icon next to their name. After reviewing, click Done. |
In the EV models step, review the electric vehicles that will be considered as replacement candidates for your selected vehicles. All EV models are selected by default. You can refine the list of EVs using the Powertrain, Vehicle Type, or Vehicle Size filters.
After selecting the EV models, click Continue.
Select the locations where you plan to install chargers. The assessment will perform a charging viability analysis by checking whether the fleet vehicles stop long enough in the selected locations to fulfill their charging needs.
1 | Under Charging Locations, select the option that matches your planned deployment:
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2 | If you selected Workplace Locations or Workplace Locations and Drivers’ Homes, you can select the Geotab zones that outline the workplace locations where you plan to install a charging infrastructure. ✱ NOTE: If you do not have existing zones created for the desired locations, please create them in the Zones page before proceeding. Refer to the Product Guide for more information. |
3 | If needed, search for a zone by name or use the zone type filter to narrow down the list. To select a zones, select the checkmark next to its name. |
In this step, you can modify the report preferences related to the procurement model, default costs, and analysis period.
Under Procurement, select whether you intend to purchase or lease the EVs. Then, from the dropdown menu, select the expected vehicle retention period.
Under Non-EV Costs, review the Average fuel price and update it if necessary.
Click on Non-EV Cost Estimates review and modify the estimated costs related to non-electric vehicles used in the assessment. On this page, you can modify cost and fuel economy values related to the generic Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles used for cost comparisons with electric vehicles.
You can select multiple vehicles from the list and select Bulk edit to change values for all selected vehicles.
Under EV Costs, review the Average electricity price and update it if necessary.
Click EV Models Cost Estimates to review and modify the estimated costs related to the electric vehicle models used in the assessment.
You can select multiple vehicles from the list and select Bulk edit to change values for all selected vehicles.
Use the filters if you need to narrow down your selection before using Bulk edit. You can filter by the EV make or model, vehicle type, powertrain, or vehicle size.
Under Analysis Period, select the desired number of months from the dropdown menu to provide telematics data for the assessment. To accurately evaluate duty cycle and usage patterns for fleet vehicles, the assessment requires telematics data from the existing fleet vehicles.
Click Finish button to submit the assessment for evaluation.
✱ NOTE: Vehicles should have at least one month of data collected in MyGeotab for a suitable recommendation. Fleets with seasonal drive cycles should run the EV Suitability Assessment using data collected over longer periods of time.
The assessment recommendation report provides detailed summaries for the recommended electric vehicles. To open a specific assessment, click the assessment’s tile from the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment page.
Each assessment is divided into three sections: Summary, Recommended EV replacements, and Fleet vehicles without EV fit. Select the tab corresponding to each section to view details.
Under the Summary tab, you can find several charts that summarize the assessment results.
The chart under Recommendation Summary provides a quick overview of the assessment recommendations. The chart displays the number of vehicles assessed and the number of recommended vehicles based on vehicle type: Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), and vehicles recommended for replacement by new non-electric vehicles.
✱ NOTE: For each vehicle selected in the assessment creation phase, an EV is recommended if the following conditions are true:
The chart under Lifetime Replacement Cost compares the lifetime costs of two scenarios:
The total cost is composed of the following categories: Procurement, Maintenance, Fuel, Electricity, and Other.
✱ NOTE: The Other category includes the following costs: vehicle registration and taxes, insurance, and low emission zone changes. The term Lifetime is based on the number of years selected on the Preferences page.
The chart under Annual Fuel and Electricity compares the annual energy costs or fuel volume of two scenarios: Recommended EVs and Replacement Candidates.
When Cost is selected, the cost for each scenario is computed as described below:
When Fuel Volume is selected, the amounts for each scenario are computed as described below:
! IMPORTANT: The EVSA attempts to use the actual fuel consumption from the vehicle when possible. If a vehicle does not report fuel consumption through the GO device, then a default fuel efficiency value is used for that vehicle.
The chart under Annual CO2 Tailpipe Emissions compares the annual carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions between two scenarios:
✱ NOTE: Battery Electric Vehicles are not considered because they do not emit carbon dioxide.
The table under Recommended EV replacements lists all vehicles that have a suitable EV recommendation, either a BEV or PHEV. For each vehicle, the table displays the following data:
Click View details after the last row to open more information about Range Assurance and Lifetime Cost.
The Monthly Range Assurance chart gives Fleet Managers the ability to understand, based on the current Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle’s driving activity, the range capability of the recommended Electric Vehicle throughout the year.
The chart shows, for every calendar month, the following data points:
If the assessed fleet vehicle does not report trip data for 12 calendar months, then the EVSA will replay trips from other months to cover the entire year. The months that have trip data filled from trips occurring in other months are labeled as Assumed Data on the chart.
The accompanying Monthly en-route charging events chart tracks the number of times the recommended EV would need to charge en-route before being able to return to a charge-capable location.
✱ NOTE: By default, an EV is considered the best fit when the no en-route charging events are required in any calendar month. The user may change this behavior by specifying the number of acceptable en-route charging events per month using the En-route charging setting under Preferences.
The table under Fleet vehicles without EV fit lists all the vehicles that do not have a suitable EV recommendation, if the following conditions are true:
To modify the preferences for a specific assessment:
1 | Open the assessment. |
2 | Click Preferences. |
3 | From the side panel, modify the report preferences and customize it to suit your requirements. |
With the Prioritize BEV over PHEV option, the EV Suitability Assessment recommends a BEV over a PHEV when both options result in positive lifetime cost saving, even if the BEV option has lower lifetime cost savings compared to the PHEV.
EV Premium refers to the additional lifetime amount that you are willing to spend for an EV compared to a new equivalent non-EV. If lifetime savings are not a primary factor in your decision, you have the option to instruct the EVSA to recommend EVs, even when the EV lifetime cost savings is negative when compared to a new equivalent non-EV.
For example, if the lifetime cost of an EV is $ 4000 more than a new equivalent non-EV, the EV is not recommended by default. If an EV Premium value of $4000 or more is entered, then the EV is recommended for that vehicle.
By default, the EVSA does not recommend vehicles that cannot perform their longest driven daily route on a single charge of a full battery. The En-Route Charging option allows you to specify the number of days per month when it is acceptable for a vehicle to have to stop and recharge during operational hours.
For example, if a vehicle listed in the Fleet vehicles without EV fit table has positive EV lifetime savings, but the En-Route charging count is 3, it means that an EV was not recommended for that vehicle because the EV is projected to require an en-route charge for three days in a calendar month.
The table below provides more information about the warnings and exceptions that the EV Suitability Assessment may encounter while processing fleet data. The warnings and exceptions can be reviewed in the detailed recommendation table — if raised for any fleet vehicle.
Warning/Exception | Description |
No data from vehicle | MyGeotab API did not return trip data within the assessment time frame. In this case, the vehicle is considered to have no suitable EV fit. |
Not enough data | Less than 3 weeks have passed since the vehicle device activated to the report end time. In this case, the assessment is run, and a warning is raised. |
No fuel data | The vehicle does not support fuel consumption. In this case, the assessment is run using a default fuel efficiency value for the vehicle and a warning is raised. |
VIN missing | The vehicle Make/Model/Year is not available because the VIN is missing in MyGeotab. In this case, the assessment is run, and a warning is raised. |
Unidentified vehicle | The vehicle Make/Model/Year is not available because the VIN cannot be decoded by the MyGeotab VIN decoder. In this case, the assessment is run, and a warning is raised. |
For more information about the Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment Add-In, please see the EVSA FAQ.