Mike Nugent Shares Hitachi ZeroCarbon's Green Mission

As Chief Revenue Officer at Hitachi ZeroCarbon, Mike Nugent is pivotal in advancing the company's mission to accelerate the global transition to zero-carbon solutions. Hitachi ZeroCarbon is dedicated to driving innovation in the vehicle electrification and decarbonisation markets, creating a platform for sustainable growth in a rapidly evolving landscape.

With a strong background in digital business strategy, Mike has consistently focused on reinventing business operations and leveraging emerging technologies to mitigate humanity's impact on the planet. His expertise positions him at the forefront of efforts to address the pressing challenges of climate change.

A critical aspect of Mike's work involves breaking down the barriers that hinder the adoption of decarbonisation technologies. He actively works to stimulate demand for fleet electrification solutions, guiding customers through the practical implementation of these technologies. Mike's efforts help transform electrification from a theoretical concept into actionable, real-world practices.

Hitachi ZeroCarbon acknowledges the scale of its ambitions for a zero-carbon world and the significant challenges ahead. The company remains steadfast in its commitment to delivering solutions enabling businesses to transition towards a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Mike shares how fleet managers are actually in the energy business.

How has the role of fleet managers evolved to incorporate energy management strategies in the era of EVs?

As fleets decarbonise and embrace electrification, managers, engineers and maintenance teams will discover that a different approach to fleet and vehicle management is required. With diesel vehicles, of course, route optimisation and fuel management are involved, but they are not on the same level. 

Through electrification, fleet managers will find themselves in the business of fleet optimisation and energy—needing to understand how their operations interact with various tariffs, grid balancing and how to preserve assets like EV batteries so they retain residual value.

If you manage a fleet of 50 large eHGVs, having each vehicle charge overnight may not be necessary based on their planned routes and existing battery capacity. It could strain the grid connection at the depot, degrade batteries unnecessarily and impose greater costs if the charging time is not optimum. 

Fleet operators and owners realise that they need to upskill or bring in new talent to help them manage and balance their fleet requirements against energy requirements and opportunities.

We help fleet operators and owners manage the transition to an electrified fleet and understand how to implement the right energy management strategy for their business. 

What challenges do fleet managers face in balancing vehicle charging schedules with peak energy demand and costs? 

Whether they run diesel or electrified vehicles, fleet managers will still face the same delivery or service challenges. Ultimately, the car must consistently deliver its services at the right place and time. However, several new considerations exist for balancing charging with energy demand and costs.

First and foremost, managers will always need to ensure that the vehicle has enough charge to be operational or make it to the next station without delay. This means they need insight into the current state of charge, health and capacity of the EV batteries within the depot to decide which vehicle is suitable for which route. S

ome vehicles may require more charge than others, so it's important to understand when there's peak energy demand and cost so they can avoid charging multiple vehicles at the same time and losing revenue.

Then, the nature of EV charging infrastructure needs consideration. While it's improving, it's still nascent, there may be limited space at stations and charging currently takes more time than re-fuelling.

Different regions may have restrictions on grid capacity and usage, which can cause further delays in operations. This means drivers may arrive at a station outside of peak energy demand but fall foul of dynamic pricing or delays, which results in higher costs. 

Overcoming the challenges requires a degree of flexibility and resilience. Fleet managers must think holistically about the charging ecosystem. They need to combine strategic planning, technology innovation and collaboration with energy providers to build an efficient energy management system. 

How are fleet managers leveraging data analytics and telematics to optimise energy consumption in their electric fleets? 

As fleet managers increasingly enter the energy business through electrification, data analytics needs to be the cornerstone of their energy consumption and optimisation approach. In our industry, digital transformation is turning each fleet vehicle into its form of 'iPhone with wheels'. Unlike ever before, fleet managers are being provided with real-time data to see into the live performance of their assets and energy consumption patterns. 

Fleet managers can have complete visibility and control over key assets, like charge points and the EV battery, understanding its state of charge, degradation and need for repair or replacement - all factors that can materially impact energy usage. Importantly, they can assess energy consumption per mile and how this may relate to different driving habits and behaviours.

With real-time data, fleet managers can amend routes based on which roads may require increased acceleration or experience heavy idling to mitigate the impact this can have on charging patterns and costs.

In what ways are fleet managers collaborating with utility providers to address power needs and charging infrastructure? 

Fleet operators work with DNOs to assess the existing grid's capacity and upgrade the existing network connection to cater for the increased energy demand or ensure vehicle charging does not exceed network limits. If fleet operators install renewable generation like solar PV at depots, collaboration and licenses with DNOs are necessary to ensure the local electricity network can manage the increase in local generation. 

Energy companies offer fleet managers incentives to participate in demand response programs or flexibility services. These services allow charging to be temporarily paused or adjusted during grid peak times, helping maintain grid stability and lower costs.

Fleet managers can use this information to create charging schedules that maximise cost savings. 

For future-proofing and planning, fleets and DNOs can share data to optimise charging infrastructure and energy use. The collaboration focuses on long-term planning for infrastructure scalability as fleets grow and technology advances. 

How are fleet managers integrating energy storage solutions and smart charging technologies to enhance the efficiency of their electric fleets? 

Many fleet managers do not realise that the transition to EVs generates several options to build smart energy storage solutions and, in turn, unlock new revenue streams. For example, if you manage a bus fleet running on EV batteries, the asset does not need to be discarded at the end of its life cycle.

As long as it is managed carefully, it can be repurposed for static energy storage in the depot from energy imported at off-peak times or from on-site renewable sources like solar PV. It is accessible to vehicles and depots. The energy store can help offset tariff fluctuations or demands on the grid, provide resilience to ensure energy supply and keep fleets running efficiently. 

Similarly, fleet managers will find that as demand for infrastructure grows, they can transform their depot into shared charging stations with other companies that need charging but at different times of day to the incumbent, maximising the utilisation of their sunk infrastructure costs. This is not only beneficial to their own fleet, but it becomes a new asset and revenue stream while ensuring greater access to charging energy.

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