Good practice:

"Fleetalyzer” – Analyzing the potential of substitution of vehicles in fleets with electric cars

In general, a switch to electromobility is associated with great uncertainty for many fleet operators due to the complexity of actual ranges, the required charging infrastructure, the expected acquisition and follow-up costs.

With the software tool “Fleetalyzer” developed by the University of Kempten and its spinnoff monalysis GmbH it is possible to analyse the performance of a fleet. The tool “Fleetalyzer” was optimized and extended in a funded project called “E-MoMo: Electromobility on Business Trips”.

Based on the evaluation of driver logbooks and data loggers it was shown (with the help of the “Fleetalyzer”) that almost 80 percent of business trips are less than 30 kilometres long, that the daily mileage of the vehicles used is usually well below a distance of 80 kilometres, that the size of the fleet can be reduced with the help of suitable management solutions and that some of the trips can be shifted to other modes of transportation. The studies further showed that in most companies the potential for fleet reduction through the coordinated use of existing vehicles is not known. Public transport can also offer considerable potential for fleet reduction.

The application of the tool offers the possibility to individually analyse the technical, economic and environmental advantages of electric cars and public transport of municipal and company fleets.

The project was funded by the Hessian Ministry (budget: 400.000 €).
If a municipality/company wishes to learn more on the development and application costs of Fleetalyzer, they may contact the University of Kempten. The costs are individual and depend on the number of cars that should be analysed.

Following the project, numerous fleet analyses were carried out, and the results have prompted companies to rethink their fleet management. The companies assume that their fleets travel much longer distances than is the case in reality. Creating a new awareness is an important outcome, in addition to reducing emissions. The following statistics provide some quantitative data on CO2 reduction:
- CO2 before analysis: 123.61 tons
- CO2 after the analysis: 54.33 tons
- CO2 savings: 69.28 tons

The professional adjustment of fleets helps companies to focus on the environment and adapt to changing employee and customer requirements, as the criterion of sustainability is increasingly having an impact on both workplace choices and purchasing decisions.

By making adjustments to the fleet structure, there are opportunities to use electric cars without hesitation even in fleets that initially have a low substitution potential. This works best if electric vehicles are available in a sharing model and are thus charged at the company site.