Shuttle Fleet Management
The global emphasis on sustainability will affect your hotel’s shuttle fleet of vehicles sooner than you think. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), for example, already is requiring businesses to phase in electric vehicles (EVs) beginning in 2024 or face considerable fines. Zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) must replace vehicles that run on an internal combustion engine (ICE).
The electrification of fleets extends to the federal government as well. By 2027, 100% of federal light-duty vehicle purchases must be ZEVs, following a Biden Administration executive order.
The EV mandate will affect all types of vehicles that comprise your fleet. This likely includes airport shuttles, vehicles designated for employee use, or even tour buses that transport groups on longer trips. Once you begin to replace these vehicles with EVs, you will need a plan to charge them.
Clients expect comfortable, uninterrupted transportation, whether for short-term transportation to the airport or longer tourist trips. Shuttle fleet management is a complex challenge that directly affects perception of your brand.
Stop-and-Go Vehicles
While EV mandates will affect all types of vehicles, stop-and-go shuttles are a high priority. The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. And ICE light-duty vehicles are responsible for 58% of emissions in the US transportation sector.
Meeting Shuttle Fleet Mandates
California already has issued mandates to convert airport shuttles. With deadlines looming, it’s imperative for hotels to start thinking immediately about accommodating an all-electric fleet.
Fleet ZEV Requirements in California
| Compliance Deadline | % Fleet that Must Be Zero Emission |
| December 31, 2027 | 33% |
| December 31, 2031 | 66% |
| December 31, 2035 | 100% |
Fueling EV Shuttles
A gas-powered shuttle needs just several minutes to refuel at a gas station. However, EV shuttles could require up to 13 hours of charge time for a single vehicle.
Airport and other stop-and-go shuttles typically have predictable routes. For these types of vehicles, Future Energy works with you to build on-site EV charging solutions so that you can charge your fleet vehicles overnight or between trips.
You also will need to coordinate shuttle fleet management with the EV charging needs of your guests. You can build your EV charging strategy around the use of your valet services. Your valets can rotate fleet vehicles through the EV chargers and coordinate with client needs.
Additionally, Future Energy offers EV charging solutions that include security cameras for parking enforcement. That way, you can ensure that your EV chargers are available only for use by legitimate hotel vehicles and guests of the hotel.
Understanding Hydrogen Vehicles
Another option to replace ICE vehicles is vehicles that run on hydrogen. Hydrogen is a zero-emission alternative fuel that can be used in a fuel cell to provide electricity. The market for hydrogen as a transportation fuel is emerging for buses, forklifts, heavy-duty trucks, and other fleet vehicles.
Long-Route Vehicles
Your hotel’s reputation rests upon providing positive experiences for guests. As you begin to implement EV charging for shuttle fleet management, you may be thinking just about the installation of EV chargers on your property. But does your hotel provide tour vehicles that take guests on longer excursions? They may not have enough charge to operate all day without returning to the hotel.
If an electric tour bus runs out of energy mid-route, that can damage your hotel’s reputation.
Clients who take your electrified buses on trips expect to get to their destination and return without incident. Proper planning ensures that your EV buses will have a place to charge along the route. You leave your clients satisfied with a pleasant experience from a quiet, efficient journey on an electric bus.
Reserving Spots to Charge en Route
One way to mitigate the risks faced by your EV fleet is to ensure there are always available, working EV chargers. Future Energy facilitates collaboration with the municipalities where your EV fleet vehicles travel. When the tour bus stops, you can plan ahead to make sure that your reserved spot has an EV charger available.
Performing an EV Impact Study
Future Energy has worked with thousands of clients throughout North America to analyze how EV charging stations fit with the goals of a company. Our proprietary EV Impact Study serves as a comprehensive blueprint for a broad range of challenges your hotel could face with its shuttle fleet management.
Furthermore, Future Energy customizes our EV Impact Study for your brand. Together, we lay out a road map for your entire enterprise as well as for individual franchises.
Building Your Own EV Charging Network
Your hotel may even consider the installation of its own EV chargers along commonly traveled routes. That way, your tour bus would have charging options under your full control, which minimizes risk.
Your remote EV charging locations would be part of a larger plan and complement your in-house EV chargers. EV chargers on your property would still be available to top off long-route vehicles or charge them overnight for the following day’s activities.
Fleet Management through Software
Your hotel can mitigate risk through logic and software, using Future Energy’s software solution called Interface. Interface allows you to monitor and measure all of the smart systems on your property. You can use Interface to optimize EV charging for your fleet proactively, which helps to minimize risk.
Route Optimization
Route optimization is especially critical when you seek to manage a fleet of electric vehicles. Unlike conventional routing for ICE vehicles, route optimization for EVs might not necessarily involve the shortest or least expensive distance from Point A to Point B.
Instead, route optimization for EVs means carefully determining routes that are most efficient in terms of energy. Risk mitigation means planning for the worst-case scenario.
Scheduled Charging
For shorter trips, your fleet vehicles can return to the hotel to charge. But longer trips require additional planning. For example, you can use Interface to proactively reserve EV charging stations along the route.
Additionally, EV charging stations sometimes show availability—or uptime—when actually they are out of order. Using Interface, you can monitor the health of your EV chargers and receive notifications when one of them needs servicing.
Monitoring from Anywhere
Interface has the capability to help with route optimization. It can integrate with GPS systems and push information to all fleet vehicles about the best routes to take, where they should charge, and for how long.
Interface also offers the ability to track the charge level of each vehicle in real-time. You can access the Interface dashboard on any device from anywhere.
As an open platform, Interface integrates with your business software through its custom API capabilities. Future Energy can develop customizations with virtually any business or fleet software.
Strategies for Shuttle Fleet Management
With the electrification of fleets on the horizon, shuttle fleet management will become a high priority for your hotel or hospitality business sooner rather than later. It’s imperative to use a subject matter expert as you think about installing EV chargers and ensuring you have adequate power to serve your specific use case. Contact Future Energy now for proactive planning and strategy development so that you can maximize your investment.
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