Ought to the Firm Vans Go Electrical? Is determined by When You Cost

The Southern Firm didn’t want this pilot to promote it on EVs. The agency—which operates Alabama Energy, Georgia Energy, and Mississippi Energy, in addition to different subsidiaries throughout six southern and midwestern states—has been utilizing Ford electrical automobiles since 2023. Its fleet now consists of greater than 200 F-150 Lightning vehicles and 150 Ford Professional chargers. The corporate at one level aimed to impress half of its fleet by 2030; it now says it’s not pursuing that objective, however will proceed to transition its automobiles.¹

Now it wished to see if it may use Ford Professional’s charging software program to ramp down its automobiles’ and chargers’ power consumption in periods of excessive demand. (Ford Professional is the business fleet arm of the US automaker.) Such “managed charging” packages save fleet house owners cash by scheduling charging for occasions when utilities are charging much less for electrical energy, and put much less stress on the electrical grid. Southern Firm is especially conscious of that final level: With the AI growth, knowledge facilities are flooding into the US southeast.

“We’re attempting to determine how we are able to save each kilowatt-hour that’s on the market to be saved, as a result of we’ll have a extra constrained system sooner or later,” says Lea Clanton, who directs enterprise improvement and innovation for Southern Firm New Ventures.

Mockingly, the experiment’s most enjoyable moments got here when the 2 firms labored collectively to close down all their chargers. By turning off the chargers for half-hour—one thing that is perhaps abruptly essential throughout highly regarded or chilly days, or throughout an emergency—Southern Firm and Ford say they have been in a position to cut back the demand on the grid by 0.5 megawatts, instantly releasing up an quantity of electrical energy equal to what’s wanted to energy between 200 and 450 properties for a yr.

In the future, EV fleets like these operated by the Southern Firm may use this type of software program to economize and electrical energy. However Clanton says the utility agency wants extra info earlier than it’s able to hook its EVs as much as smarter chargers. It wants to ensure that its drivers—particularly these responding to electrical energy emergencies—at all times have cost when the surprising occurs.

“If we have been to undertake one thing extra everlasting, we would wish to take a while to higher perceive the place our drivers should be, how typically they cost, and ensure that it’s not going to impression our supply of fresh, secure, dependable, inexpensive power to clients in any respect, 24 hours a day,” says Clanton.

¹Replace, September 4 at 3 pm: This story was up to date to appropriate particulars round Southern Firm’s efforts to impress its fleet.