Why fleet charging is different from public charging
Public DC fast chargers are designed to minimize dwell time for many transient users. Fleet chargers are different: they serve a fixed set of vehicles on a predictable schedule, which means charging behavior is planned rather than opportunistic. This fundamentally changes the procurement calculus.
A logistics company running 20 delivery vans might need to fully charge each vehicle overnight or during a 2-hour midday break. A taxi fleet might need 80% charge in 20 minutes between shifts. The same charger hardware cannot optimally serve both use cases — which is why power sizing, number of guns, and load management features matter more than raw charging speed.
Step 1: Calculate your daily energy requirement
Before selecting hardware, size the system:
- Daily kWh needed = (Fleet size) x (Average km per vehicle per day) x (Energy consumption kWh/100km) / (Charging efficiency ~85%)
- Example: 15 vans x 150km x 22kWh/100km / 0.85 = 5,823 kWh/day
If each vehicle charges once daily, you need to deliver 5,823 kWh in your available charging window. With 6 hours of overnight charging, that's roughly 970 kW of aggregate charging capacity — which could mean four 240kW dual-gun stations, or six 160kW single-gun units, depending on your vehicle mix.
Step 2: Match connector type to your fleet
Connector selection is largely determined by your vehicle brands:
- CCS2 — Mandatory in EU; most European EVs; dominant in commercial segment
- GB/T — Required for all EVs sold in China; relevant for Chinese-manufactured fleet vehicles
- CHAdeMO — Legacy Japanese standard; still common in some Nissan and Mitsubishi fleet applications
- Type 2 AC backup — Essential alongside any DC station for vehicles that can accept only AC charging
Dual-gun chargers with CCS2 + GB/T or CCS2 + CHAdeMO configurations are available for mixed fleets transitioning between vehicle brands.
Step 3: OCPP compatibility
Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) is the industry standard for charger network management. OCPP 1.6J remains the most widely deployed version globally; OCPP 2.0.1 adds ISO 15118 Plug & Charge and improved security features that are increasingly required in EU and UK tenders.
When evaluating suppliers, ask:
- Does the charger ship with OCPP 1.6J and 2.0.1 both enabled?
- Is the charger pre-configured for your preferred CPO (Charge Point Operator) backend, or does it support open-backend options like Chargy, ChargeLab, or your own server?
- What is the firmware update mechanism — OTA or physical access required?
Step 4: Total cost of ownership
Hardware purchase price typically represents only 40-50% of a charger's 10-year total cost of ownership. The remaining costs include:
- Installation — Electrical infrastructure upgrade, trenching, permits: $3,000-15,000 per unit depending on site
- Network fees — Monthly backend subscription: $0-50/month per charger depending on provider
- Maintenance — Annual service contract: typically 5-8% of hardware price per year
- Uptime risk — A charger that is offline 10% of the time represents lost revenue and potential SLA penalties
SUNFULL fleet solutions
Our fleet-optimized product line includes:
- 60-180kW DC Fast Chargers — Modular design for incremental capacity expansion; dual CCS2 or CCS2+GB/T configurations
- Load management — Integrated dynamic load balancing reduces grid connection costs by up to 30%
- OCPP 1.6J / 2.0.1 — Pre-configured and tested with 12 leading CPO platforms
- Warranty — 3-year comprehensive warranty extendable to 5 years
Our solutions engineering team provides full site assessment, charging simulation modeling, and ROI calculations as part of the pre-sales process.
