Pembina Institute looks at examples for charging MHDVs in use today as alternatives to owning costly infrastructure

Fleet operators in British Columbia looking to electrify are open to adopting shared and subscription-based charging arrangements as an alternative to building their own infrastructure, according to a new report from the Pembina Institute.

The Calgary-based non-profit Canadian clean energy advocacy organization interviewed 16 fleet operators in B.C., including municipal, government, and private fleets, and found all of them were willing to adopt at least one shared or “as-a-service” charging model, with 70 per cent saying they were “very likely” to do so.

The report, titled Innovative Charging, examines alternatives to the two most common charging setups: private depot charging, which requires fleets to shoulder high upfront costs, and public station charging.

Alternative models

Researchers identified several emerging models:

• A charging point operator-led hub is like a public charging station, only multiple fleets share a site with dedicated access to chargers.
• A multi-fleet cooperation has several fleets contributing to the overall funding of the charging facility with joint ownership. 
• A business-fleet collaboration involves one large business footing the bill for charging infrastructure for its fleet partners, with little or no expense to the fleet operators.
• A peer-to-peer arrangement has fleets rent out their own idle chargers to others.
• As-a-service options include charging-as-a-service, where fleets would hire a charging station operator for installation and charger management; truck-as-as-service, where fleets would receive a charged truck from an OEM; and battery-as-a-service, where fleet operators swap batteries on a pay-per-use basis.

The most popular options among those surveyed were the charging-hub model and peer-to-peer sharing, with 80 per cent of respondents expressing interest in either. Sixty per cent said they’d consider a charging-as-a-service arrangement, particularly among private fleet owners.

Cost was the single biggest factor driving interest, the report found. 

Roughly seven in 10 respondents said they’d be willing to sign on to shared charging if membership fees came in at half of what they currently spend on fuel.

Location matters

Fleet operators pointed to existing commercial truck parking lots and retail sites as ideal spots for shared chargers, while some flagged a need for new charging locations near Highway 1 in Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley.

Many operators also said they’d be comfortable having two vehicles share a single charger per day — a sign, researchers said, that utilization rates could improve significantly if shared models catch on. 

But some respondents cautioned that charging stations need to be designed with enough space and power capacity to accommodate heavier trucks without extending downtime.

Policy concerns

Policy uncertainty emerged as a significant concern for respondents. 

Forty per cent said they would support EV adoption targets and are concerned about rollbacks of provincial and federal electric vehicle mandates and targets. The uncertainty is leaving B.C. fleet operators unsure about long-term planning.

Many called for financial incentives that specifically support shared charging models, noting that existing programs, including Ottawa’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program (ZEVIP), are largely designed for publicly accessible chargers rather than the restricted-access setups shared models rely on.

Nearly all respondents said greater awareness of these alternative charging options would make them more likely to adopt one.

The report’s authors caution that the findings are based on a small sample drawn from a single province known for stronger EV adoption rates and supportive policies, and that fleets in other regions — or those running heavier, long-haul trucks — may have different views.

The research was funded with support from BC Hydro.