Electric cars are likely to become a mass market product in the near future. As a business manager, it is time to anticipate the shift to electric vehicles. Imagine you are the fleet manager of a company that owns about 100 vehicles for their employees. In 1 year time, all of them should be replaced. Your manager is ‘green-oriented’ and wants you to come up with a business plan on how to reduce the carbon impact of your fleet operations.

In this scenario, you as a knowledgeable person on electric cars should come up with advice that comprehends the various aspects of switching to electric cars. There are many challenges and opportunities in switching to electric. Imagine questions on how to install the right amount of charging infrastructure, which range the vehicles should have and of course one of the most important aspects how do the economics work out? In this assignment, you will take a look at how electrification changes the automotive industry and how this affects the performance of your fleet. Additionally, you will be asked to explore advanced business models such as smart charging and vehicle-2-grid and how your company could profit from those.

Assignment criteria

Include the following topics in your essay:

Expectations: Start off with describing the biggest barriers and opportunities you think the switch to electric vehicles within your fleet would bring. Would you choose battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or hydrogen electric?

Charging infrastructure: Describe which type of charging infrastructure would be needed at the office, at the employee’s homes, and on the road. Which actors would you need to involve?

Economics: Come up with a back-of-the-envelope total cost of ownership calculation in which you take into account at least 5 aspects of the total cost of ownership that are discussed in the lectures.

Fleet operations: How are you as a fleet operator influenced by the switch to electric? Elaborate on how to manage your pool and the costs of driving.

Advanced business: How can your company profit from new technologies such as smart charging or vehicle-2-grid? Could this provide your company with additional revenue streams or does it allow for better utilization of your solar panels? Explain.

Looking back: Can you now look back at the first point on ‘Expectations’ and see how much of it has been met by your business plan? What aspects are still to be met and how can this be overcome?

Please write your responses to these questions in a brief essay that is 750-1000 words.

Include headings for different topics you’re addressing (charging infrastructure, economics, advanced business, etc.).

Provide, where applicable, quantitative characteristics of your business plan and provide calculations of how these characteristics were obtained.