Charging a van fleet at the depot

When a business plans its first electric vans, the question is usually how many fast chargers it needs. For a depot fleet the better question is how much energy each van uses in a day, and how long it is parked. The answer is nearly always less power than expected, spread over more hours.

Start with the routes

An electric van uses roughly 0.25 kWh per kilometre, more in winter and with heavy loads. A van that covers 140 km a day needs about 35 kWh back each night. If it is parked from 20:00 to 05:00, that is nine hours, or under 4 kW on average. A 22 kW charger would fill it in under two hours and then sit idle.

The connection is the real limit

The difference between 94 kW and 528 kW in that table is the difference between charging inside your current grid connection and paying for a new one. Dynamic load management closes the gap. A meter on the main supply tells the chargers how much capacity is free, second by second, and they share it.

Your building always comes first. When ovens, cooling or lighting need more, the chargers slow down; when the site is quiet, they speed up.

Smart charging in practice

• Departure times: vans leaving at 05:00 charge before those leaving at 08:00.
• Priorities: a van with a long route tomorrow gets more than one with a short one.
• Tariff windows: where your tariff has cheaper night hours, charging moves into them.
• Solar and storage: daytime top-ups and early evening charging run on the roof and the battery first.

Details that save time later

• Dig once. Lay ducts for the chargers you will need in five years while the ground is open for the first ones.
• Place chargers where vans park naturally, on the driver's side when reversing in, with cables that reach without stretching.
• Decide early how drivers who charge at home are refunded, and at what price per kWh.
• Choose chargers and software that speak an open protocol such as OCPP, so you can change one without replacing the other.