You may have noticed that many commercial vehicles are now electric vehicles — think delivery trucks, telecom minivans, utility maintenance trucks, etc. a fleet of electric vehicles throughout the night.
Here’s why Pelikan Mobility has created a platform and leasing solution that addresses this challenge caused by the transition to electric vehicles for commercial fleets. The French startup has raised a €4 million round (about $4.4 million at today’s exchange rate) from Pale Blue Dot, Frst, Seedcamp and others.
Both commercial fleet operation and financing are designed for traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. If you want to go beyond a handful of EVs, you need to think about charging, range, and your daily operations.
“We have developed a software solution to optimize fleet operations with electric vehicles. It’s not necessarily the fleets that are all electric – they’re generally not there yet. Diesel fleet operators are the ones starting to put electric vehicles in their fleets. And we help them optimize the use of the vehicles according to their capabilities,” co-founder and CEO Vincent Schachter told me.
After registering your entire fleet in Pelikan Mobility and uploading historical data, the company can automatically create various optimization scenarios that take into account charging times, diesel and EV charging rates, range, parking space and more.
Pelikan Mobility goes beyond day-to-day optimization as it also considers the total costs associated with each vehicle — capital costs are just as important as operational costs for commercial fleets. EVs tend to cost more when you buy one, for example. But they are generally cheaper to run.
“These are long-term but very accurate scenarios. As we have absorbed fleet operational data, we can create a digital twin. In these long-term scenarios, we even simulate daily routes with different vehicle designs, different charging station scenarios and so on,” Schachter said.
And this software platform unlocks new possibilities on the leasing front. Many companies lease their business vehicles, and Pelikan Mobility believes that pricing is broken for commercial EVs.
“Leasing is designed for private cars with internal combustion engines. Leasing contracts — even for commercial vehicles, even for electric vehicles — expire very quickly. These are 3 to 5 year contracts and the whole business is built around the resale value of the vehicles,” said Schachter.
“Why do lessors want short contracts? Because automakers want to sell more models and consumers want the latest model,” he added. But this is not necessarily true for commercial vehicles. That’s why Pelikan Mobility believes that longer lease plans make more sense.
“The good news is that electric vehicles last longer than diesel vehicles. They are longer-lived assets,” Schachter said. And longer contracts mean the risks associated with resale value are lower.
The company expects to begin offering its first lease plans this summer. It will also need to raise a debt fund for this new venture as Pelikan Mobility plans to target large customers.
Right now, the startup has seven customers. And when you add up these customers’ commercial fleets, Pelikan Mobility currently tracks just under 100,000 vehicles on its platform. It’s a software-meets-financing play that could potentially ease the transition to electric vehicles for fleet managers.
