At Intersolar & Energy Storage North America (IESNA) Flagship 2026, a panel of fleet electrification practitioners set aside the product pitches and got practical about why the transition is hard, and where fleets can start.
Craig DaCosta of Geotab pointed to the biggest obstacle: the belief that electrification is too complex to begin.
His team’s analysis of medium and heavy-duty trucks across the contiguous U.S. suggests otherwise: “Over a quarter of heavy-duty trucks actually travel less than 150 miles before returning home to depot, and about 40% travel less than 250 miles.” Those routes come with long dwell times at the depot, a profile DaCosta called “really perfect for electrification.”
The takeaway is that fleet electrification is a systems transformation, not a single decision, and the smartest first step is a data-driven one. Start with the vehicles the numbers say are ready, build infrastructure from there, and avoid overbuilding for worst-case scenarios.
One fleet cut its estimated peak load in half just by planning for the 90th percentile instead.“Fleets often overestimate how much their vehicles are driving and underestimate how much they’re dwelling. That leads to a really high vehicle-to-port ratio and immediate overbuild,” he explained.
Check out the complete session recap, including the 18-to-36-month reality of DC fast charging, how smart charging can get fleets rolling before utility upgrades arrive, and what happens when vehicles show up before the chargers, here.
