All Task Force Members,
To date, the full Task Force has met 2-3 times since Cleveland. There have been several breakout sessions. The primary participants of those breakouts have been limited to those who have offered to assist.
The group agreed to limit our scope initially to Class 7 & 8 BEV. Obtaining fleet data has been problematic. Many fleets do not wish to release their data, so it has been suggested that leadership of S.11 approach EV fleets and agree to provide anonymity to the fleet and merely receive the numbers. As you are aware, purely local operations as well as those upward to a 250-mile range daily are beginning to grow in numbers, while those to 600 miles and beyond are severely limited.
There are many existing TCO Calculators in existence. However, most are lacking key elements for a cradle-to-grave analysis. Therefore, we decided, in the short-term, to generate recommendations for factors to be included in any existing TCO Calculator that a fleet may choose to utilize and use those recommendations as a roadmap to work toward building our own TMC Calculator, while providing some short-term guidance to fleet operators.
We have also determined that most line-item costs/benefits will be measured within a given high-low range by unit of measure be it cost per mile, cost per kWh, etc. as cost/benefit factors will continually change as the technology progresses.
Key elements that are lacking include:
- Lack of residual value, negatively impacting the ability to borrow/purchase/amortize unless the residual is assumed to be zero. The vast majority of fleets cannot simply write the check to pay for the equipment and infrastructure.
- Additionally, the technology is changing so rapidly that financial institutions consider residuals and investment a poor risk.
- Unknown useful first life of equipment, second life if any, resale, disposal costs
- Infrastructure maintenance
- All of this in an industry where margins are razor thin in some cases and speculation and uncertainties may make the difference between being in business or losing everything.
Please let me know if you believe we are on the right course of action for what is best for TMC and its members?
We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans for further discussion on this document.
All the best,
David
David Black
Vice President, Fleet Sales
FlowBelow Aero, Inc.
106 E. Old Settlers Blvd
Bldg D/Suite 100
Round Rock, TX 78664
Mobile: (859)-494-8569
Fax: (512) 551-3750
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Eileen Lindberg
Director of Product Compliance
Cummins, Inc. - DBU CSSNA
New Hudson, MI
248-318-9203 (c)
eileen.k.lindberg@cummins.com------------------------------