Electric fleet operators face a complexity that diesel fueling never required: managing charging windows, time-of-use pricing, demand charges, and battery degradation simultaneously. BetterFleet CEO Dan Hilson told FreightWaves that his company's platform is designed to close the gap between plugging in and paying the lowest possible rate.
Rethinking the Plug-in Habit
In California, time-of-use pricing creates a penalty window from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., which often coincides with drivers returning to the depot. According to Hilson, a driver who plugs in out of habit may lock in the highest electricity prices of the day. BetterFleet's software instead schedules charging to begin after rates drop, even if the truck is plugged in earlier.
"The driver comes back and he just knows to plug in when he gets back to the depot. Well, hey, you're probably plugging in right during peak pricing for that electricity." — Dan Hilson, CEO of BetterFleet
Demand Charges: The Hidden Cost
Beyond time-of-use rates, demand charges pose a severe risk. Hilson explained that utilities set a power threshold; if a fleet's instantaneous draw spikes past it even briefly, "your entire energy bill resets for that year." BetterFleet's platform throttles charging to stay below demand thresholds while scheduling most energy draw during off-peak windows, generating what Hilson called "enormous savings" even for customers using multiple charger brands at one site.
The Case Against Megawatt Charging
BetterFleet pushes back against the industry's focus on megawatt-level charging for depot operations. Hilson questioned the logic: "I don't know that I'm completely sold on MW charging for back to base charging scenarios. If you're saying we're just going to run it out at a MW, but we need a second one just in case, that's two megawatts if they ever run at the same time."
The alternative: a dense network of slower chargers managed by software. Fifteen 7-kilowatt chargers instead of a single megawatt unit provide redundancy; if a few fail, operations continue. Staggered charging avoids a single moment of peak demand.
Battery Longevity and Maintenance
BetterFleet's platform also monitors battery degradation at the vehicle level, flagging units aging faster than expected and identifying when maintenance is — and is not — warranted. "With EVs, you want to have less maintenance costs," Hilson said. "That means you need to be saying when not to maintain."
Implications for Fleet Operators
For logistics managers running 30 or more electric trucks, the operational difference from diesel is profound. Diesel fleets optimized around simple fueling stops; electric fleets must integrate route data, battery state, weather forecasts, and grid prices — all of which BetterFleet's machine learning handles. The payoff: lower total energy costs, reduced demand charges, and extended battery life. Operators evaluating EV adoption should prioritize software that treats charging as an enterprise-wide project rather than a set of standalone decisions.
Sources:
