How Ford aims to take the guesswork out of electrification for commercial fleets

To go electric or not, that is the question…for business owners who are trying to balance sustainability targets with sometimes-tricky cost propositions.

Enter a new tool from Ford’s commercial vehicle division, Ford Pro, aimed at helping fleet operators go beyond back-of-the-napkin math to figure out when it makes sense to add EVs into the mix. The automaker is rolling out E-Switch Assist, a complimentary, data-based assessment that compares the energy consumption of gas- and diesel-powered trucks and vans to estimates of how much energy comparable EVs would use.

The idea is to take out the guesswork and identify which vehicles are ready to be swapped out.

Ford, which introduced the tool in Europe, reported that it has already evaluated more than 38,000 vehicles—and determined that more than half are good candidates for electrification.

Nathan McDonald, Ford Pro’s cross-vehicle brand manager, told Tech Brew that the assessment is based on connected-vehicle data from in-vehicle modems and an algorithm: “This is a vehicle-by-vehicle, day-by-day assessment of whether or not that vehicle and how its energy is being used is a good fit for EV.”

Doing the math: Retail customers’ concerns about electrification have been well-documented amid an industrywide pullback on EV investments; they’re put off by EVs’ higher upfront costs and nervous about battery range and charging.

Business owners’ considerations are a bit different, as Wanda Young, who heads up global marketing and customer experience at Ford Pro, noted in a recent blog post.

“While personal buyers may prioritize an emotional connection to a brand and aesthetics, businesses, public agencies, and organizations focus on their operations and practical needs,” she said, “including total cost of ownership during the life cycle of the vehicle and performance to get the job done.”

She cited survey data indicating that only 6% of fleet managers and business owners have taken EVs into account when calculating total cost of ownership. Some could be leaving savings on the table, given that EVs tend to have lower fuel and maintenance costs. (Ford Pro reports that its electric E-Transit van has 48% lower scheduled maintenance costs over a five-year period, or 75,000 miles, compared to the gas-powered version.)

Commercial EV adoption decisions have “to be made on an availability and dollars and cents and [total cost of ownership] basis,” Andrew Blejde, co-founder and CTO of Synop, which helps businesses electrify their fleets, told us. “That’s really where EVs have to win to get that next wave of adoption for customers.”

Being realistic: It has become clear during the clean-energy transition that ICE and hybrid vehicles will be around for a while.

McDonald said that the Ford Pro team recognizes that EVs aren’t going to be a good fit for every one of their customers’ needs: “It’s really about certain percentages and certain use cases. And with this tool, we’re able to really home in and pick the exact vehicles” that it would make sense to convert.

E-Switch Assist takes into account cargo load, terrain, driver behavior, distance driven, vehicle efficiency, cabin heating load, and external climate, according to Ford. It also provides fleet operators with an estimate of how many times per day they’d need to charge an EV.

The tool is just one of several that Ford Pro has rolled out recently, including new charging software that helps enable employees to charge work vehicles at home and a new feature that helps with circuit load management. Ford Pro offers customers free charging consultations and recently introduced a $2,000 cash incentive to help offset charging infrastructure costs.

“It’s about simplifying electrification,” McDonald said, “and potentially lowering the total cost of ownership.”