Earlier this year, Southern Company and Ford Pro, the commercial division of Ford Motor Company, embarked on a 6-month pilot program to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with managed charging for commercial fleet operations, and its potential impact on the electric grid.
In Southern Company's longstanding tradition of embracing innovative solutions that not only enhance operational efficiency but also benefit customers, the pilot demonstrated how the company can shift fleet charging into lower cost periods, respond to grid signals and maintain operational readiness. These learnings can help develop a framework to assist commercial customers with electrification at scale, inform future EV customer programs and bolster energy reliability.
Pilot Logistics
With a diverse fleet spanning multiple states, Southern Company fleet operations provided an excellent testbed to demonstrate how a large enterprise fleet can leverage managed charging capabilities to responsibly manage energy demands while ensuring that fleet drivers still have access to charging when and where they need it.
The pilot leveraged more than 200 existing Ford F-150® Lightning® trucks and over 150 Level 2 AC Ford Pro Chargers at Southern Company subsidiaries. Ford Pro Intelligence monitored and analyzed data from vehicles and chargers, giving the company visibility into charging patterns and energy use.
During the pilot, Ford Pro managed strategic demand response tests on three occasions at different times of the day and for varying lengths of time, leveraging its charging software to schedule charging pauses at specified times of high demand and peak pricing.
Pilot Outcomes - Energy Insights for Future Grid and Customer Benefits
Operational continuity was maintained throughout the pilot, demonstrating that dynamic fleet charging has the ability to respond to utility signals while protecting business-critical uptime. Total charging demand was reduced by 0.5 megawatts (500 kW) during a 30-minute demand response event, averaging roughly 10 kW of savings per charger.
"Ford Pro's energy management algorithm was able to throttle chargers to avoid windows of peak grid demand, shifting charging within the drivers' existing charging window while still ensuring that drivers got the energy they expected out of a charging session," explained Tom Canada, fleet electrification project manager for Georgia Power.
"Ultimately, the insights gleaned from this pilot represent valuable learnings that can not only be applied to help us manage our electric vehicle fleets more efficiently, but they can potentially help us better advise customers who may approach us for advice about managed charging for their fleets."
By utilizing data and energy insights from this pilot and through the Ford Pro collaboration, Southern Company is empowered to envision future potential for EV charging efficiency and savings for both EV fleet customers and grid reliability for all.
