Efficiency for Large Fleets: An Analysis of How Industrial Customers Use Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Abstract

This paper presents methods and results which allow an analysis of relevant driving parameters of hybrid and electric vehicles. In order to gain crucial insights into how industrial customers use hybrid and electric vehicles, the paper investigates the following parameters: information about odometer, charging processes and battery charging levels. The data used for this purpose was provided by the Canadian fleet management company Geotab Inc. They were evaluated by means of ‘Google BigQuery’ and the statistics programme ‘IBM SPSS Statistics’. It turned out that correlations between ‘charging time’ and ‘battery charging level’ exist, as well as between ‘battery level’ and ‘distance per day’. One of the main questions in the present study asks whether long charging times of car batteries lead to decreased average battery charging levels. As a result of this study, the longer a hybrid vehicle is charged per day, the lower sink its average battery charging level. The findings of this research help managers of car fleets to enhance their existing fleet management for establishing more efficient fleets with respect to ecological and economical aspects. Our research is particularly significant as this will save money across such fleets worldwide, and at the same time, preserve the environment as much as possible. Keywords: fleet management, electric and hybrid vehicles, big data, battery charging DOI : 10.7176/ISDE/10-3-03 Publication date :March 31 st 2019