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Ford’s commercial vehicle division, Ford Pro, has teamed up with energy giant Southern Company on a 6-month pilot. The partnership is focused on helping businesses to electrify their fleets.
It seems like a wise approach from Ford: target businesses on the financial savings from vehicles that are more efficient to operate — electric vehicles. I’ve been meaning to write an article for a couple months on the challenges Ford faces trying to increase its EV sales. But this is one side of the business where I think it can more easily jack up EV purchases, so it’s logical to me that this is where Ford’s been putting a lot of its “electric attention” in recent months. Getting a partner like Southern Company on board is only going to help that messaging and work.
“Responding to rising fuel costs and the potential for lower total cost of ownership, businesses across the southeastern U.S. are increasingly turning to electric vehicles, with more than 100,000 registered across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi,” Ford writes. “Recognizing the need to support them during this transition, Atlanta-based energy provider Southern Company is collaborating with Ford Pro™ on a six-month pilot program to study the operational benefits and requirements of electrification for businesses.”
Southern Company is going hardcore on this, and going to work to create electrification plans for businesses. Clearly, the company sees some potential there for its own business. “Using insights from the pilot, Southern Company, whose subsidiaries serve more than 587,000 business customers, will develop an electrification blueprint for all businesses throughout its service areas. The pilot program will focus on optimizing depot charging practices (including electricity use and costs), maximizing vehicle uptime, and minimizing total cost of ownership.”
Naturally, to really have a great experience operating a more efficient electric fleet, a business needs more than electric cars, chargers, and a plan. Good software programs are also important, and that’s where Ford comes in again. “To that end, the pilot will leverage Ford Pro Intelligence and Ford Pro Charging Software to collect and analyze connected vehicle data from more than 200 F-150® Lightning® trucks and charging data from over 150 Ford Pro Chargers, including Level 2 AC and Level 3 DC charging stations, at Southern Company subsidiaries. Data insights can help Southern Company system fleet operators schedule energy transfers to reduce electricity consumption during peak demand periods (known as demand response curtails).
“This pilot will create a flexible, scalable electric fleet management model that can be readily adopted by others,” Ananya Gupta, Senior Product Manager at Ford, says. “At the conclusion of the program, organizations will have a blueprint to successfully navigate the transition to electric vehicles and unlock all their associated benefits.”
It looks like a great pilot program that will result in faster and better electrification. I imagine we’ll hear more about it in 2025 and have some positive results to report back.
Featured image courtesy of Ford.
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