With decreased public sector support for electrification in recent years, finding funding has become an increasing challenge. Significant grants and other funding opportunities still exist, but they are harder to find and more competitive to qualify for.
Fleets can easily miss out on available incentives due to lack of awareness or application complexity, and there is high value in sourcing outside expertise to help identify and capture federal, state, utility, and OEM incentives. Here’s how one fleet secured over $12M in EV fleet funding.
Projections Coming Up Short
One Midwestern fleet realized they would come up short on funding their electrification plan to meet aggressive climate objectives. The fleet aimed to reduce emissions by 80% by 2030. But optimizing and extending infrastructure for 50 vehicles with 80 chargers is expensive.
Fleet managers often face this type of funding gap because building a network means either investing in vehicles that there aren’t yet enough chargers for, or buying and installing chargers that won’t be needed until more vehicles are converted to EVs. Either way requires a significant up-front investment without an immediate return.
A grant can fill that gap, providing buffer funding for EV infrastructure that can then carry a fleet to ROI.
Figure 1: This fleet sought funding for an ambitious decarbonization plan that will reduce emissions by 80% by 2030.
Finding the Right Funding
Within weeks, Panasonic Smart Mobility Office helped this fleet identify grants and private/public partnerships for financial support. The Panasonic Smart Fleet Transition Solutions team completed the paperwork for the fleet's grant applications that would ultimately secure over $12m in total awards from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
For Stage 1, the fleet was awarded over $1m for planning and demonstration. Once that stage was completed, the team applied for Stage 2 funding, for implementing the entire plan of optimized vehicle and charger installation. For that stage, the company was awarded $11.7m.
The framework timeline takes 90 days to deliver:
- Custom incentive stack (federal, state, utility, OEM)
- Eligibility review and filing plan applications
- Total estimated funding potential
- Funding timeline and calendar
The right funding support provides a custom incentive stack, eligibility review, and filing plans. With the funding in place to make plans happen, teams can rally around a clear and supported path forward.