WASHINGTON – The Electrification Coalition and FleetAnswers have announced a collaborative partnership to provide online resources on plug-in electric vehicle deployment to U.S. commercial fleet operators. Resources will include information on best practices in vehicle deployment and case studies from early-adopter companies. The content will be available in the Alternative Fuel section on the FleetAnswers website.

With more than 16 million public and private fleet vehicles on the road in the United States, the concentration of buying power associated with fleet operators and fleet management companies represents a significant opportunity to drive deployment of the electric drive vehicle industry. Initial case studies developed by the Coalition and FleetAnswers highlight early lessons in plug-in vehicle operations from FedEx Express and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), two of the largest fleets in their respective industries.

One key to the partnership is the information that will be provided by industry leaders in the electrification space.

"The transportation sector accounts for 70 percent of the total oil consumed by the United States – a dependence that threatens our national and economic security. Imagine if we can transform transportation to instead be flexible about its energy source. Transportation electrification can do this," said Dennis Beal, FedEx Express vice president of Global Vehicles. "We share our knowledge and experience in this case study to help pave the way. As a member of the Electrification Coalition and an organization with more than 45,000 vehicles of various types, FedEx Express believes that the lessons we have learned can help other organizations make informed decisions on how electric vehicles can be a part of fleet mix." FedEx's early fleet adoption of electric vehicles is the subject of a case study that is part of the Electrification Coalition/FleetAnswers partnership.

"For PG&E, a critical element of deploying electric vehicles is to demonstrate a positive return on investment," said Dave Meisel, director of fleet services for PG&E, which is also sharing critical information on the economics of electric vehicles in a case study for the Electrification Coalition/FleetAnswers partnership. "At PG&E, we have worked to capture the value of plug-in electric vehicles across a wide range of activities, which helps to make the economics work today."