Product Talk: Why charging alone won’t power heavy-duty fleet electrification
This month, Ida Mortensen, PMM, sits down with Kasper Thybo, Product Director, and Alex Maciuca, Solution Roll-out Manager, to examine one of the most complex and demanding frontiers in EV charging: electric heavy-duty fleets.
- Heavy-duty fleet operators run on razor-thin margins and depend entirely on predictability — EV charging has to meet that bar.
- Booking, reliability, and uptime aren't nice-to-haves for fleets. They're the business case.
- Spirii's approach is to plug into existing operations rather than replace them — working with the systems operators already trust.
- Understanding the truck driver, not just the truck, is what sets Spirii apart.
”If you're not on time,
you're not in business”
To understand what heavy-duty fleet operators need from EV charging, you first have to understand how they think.
“Any business running a fleet is obsessed with Total Cost of Ownership, Kasper explains. Low margins, tight schedules, expensive vehicles - there’s no room for surprises.”
Alex, who works directly with fleet operators deploying charging infrastructure, puts it even more bluntly : “Your customers depend on predictability. If you're nout on time, you're not in business. That pressure doesn’t disappear when a fleet goes electric - it intensifies. The truck might be different, but the business hasn’t changed.”
EV charging has to meet that same standard: reliable operations and high uptime are non-negotiable.
The numbers are compelling and so is the opportunity!
The economic case for fleet electrification is strong. Lower energy costs, fewer moving parts, regulatory tailwinds, and real savings operators can model before they even sign a contract.
"When fleet operators look at the numbers, the savings from switching to EV are hard to ignore," says Alex. "The data speaks for itself and it's genuinely exciting.”
The opportunity is clear. What operators need now is the confidence to act on it. That means bridging the gap between a familiar, mature diesel industry and a new EV charging landscape that's still taking shape.
"With fossil fuels, operators know every part of the playbook," Kasper says. "Our job is to make EV charging feel just as certain and frankly, even more reliable.
"That's exactly the space Spirii operates in: turning a compelling business case into something operators can feel in their day-to-day".
"It's not just about showing the numbers," Alex adds. "It's about making the whole experience so solid that the decision becomes obvious. That's where the real conversation starts."
Charging isn't the point. Delivering is.
One of the biggest mindset shifts in working with heavy-duty fleets is understanding what operators actually care about.
"EV charging isn't the most important thing to a fleet operator," Kasper says. "Reaching the delivery point is. Charging is just what has to happen in between - reliably, predictably, every time".
That's why booking has emerged as one of the most powerful features Spirii can offer fleet customers. Being able to reserve a charger in advance removes one of the biggest unknowns in an electric route.
"Booking is a real differentiator," Kasper says. "It's one of those features that sounds simple but completely changes the conversation with fleet operators.”
The charging industry's fragmentation makes this even more critical. Operators are navigating multiple networks, roaming agreements, and varying reliability standards often across different countries and corridors.
"Geography drives decision-making," Kasper explains. "Logistics companies choose electric routes based on the infrastructure that exists. If the network isn't visible and dependable, they'll stick to diesel routes."
The driver is the missing piece
“Changing driver behavior is not easy," she says. "So instead of asking drivers to adapt to EV charging, we need to make EV charging adapt to them.
That means acknowledging that a truck driver's needs are fundamentally different from a passenger car driver's. Different stop patterns, different time pressures, different relationships with their vehicle. Spirii's focus on driver-friendly experiences and on understanding what happens at ground level is part of what makes the difference.
"We're close to the driver," Kasper says. "That bottom-up understanding is something we take seriously. It shapes everything from how we design features to how we support operators in the field."
Built for the way fleets actually work
When fleet operators move to Spirii, they're not just getting an EV charging platform, they're getting a platform ecosystem designed around the specific demands of their business.
"Booking is probably the feature that lands hardest," Alex says. "When a driver knows a charger is reserved for them, that removes one of the biggest unknowns in an electric route. It turns charging from a risk into a plan.”
That predictability flows through the whole platform. Fleet managers get a clear, centralised view of their chargers and drivers, making it easy to monitor, manage, and act when something needs attention.
"We want fleet operators to feel in control," Kasper says. "Simple, intuitive management is a big part of that. It shouldn't take a dedicated team to run your charging infrastructure."
But beyond the product, Kasper and Alex are quick to point to something that doesn't show up in a software feature list: the people behind it.
"We back everything up with real service, by real people" Alex explains. "Service level agreements, driver support, roll-out assistance, partner support - the whole package. When something goes wrong at 3am on a delivery route, there's someone to call."
That people-first philosophy is core to how Spirii approaches fleet customers not as accounts to onboard, but as operations to support.
"The technology only gets you so far," Kasper says. "What keeps operators loyal is knowing that Spirii shows up. Every time."
Reliability wins the future of fleet electrification
For heavy-duty fleets, the shift to electric isn’t a question of if - it’s a question of when infrastructure and confidence catch up.
“The frontrunners are already moving,” Alex says. “And when they move, others follow. Our job is to make sure that when operators are ready, we’re the partner that makes it work.”
At the core of that shift is trust.
“Reliability is everything in this space,” Kasper says. “If you earn it - through uptime, through booking, through being there when something goes wrong - you become part of how they operate. That’s where you want to be.”
Looking ahead, both Kasper and Alex see something bigger taking shape. As platforms mature and data becomes richer, EV charging won’t just be a cost to manage - it will become a lever to optimise operations.
“TCO is what keeps fleet operators up at night, that’s not going to change. What is changing is our ability to give them real visibility and control - smarter charging, better planning, less waste. That’s where the industry is headed, and it’s what we’re building toward.
Because in fleet operations, every delivery matters. And every single charge has to work", says Kasper.
Explore market insights and operate your charging business effectively with our resources.
Related articles
.webp)
As the year is winding down, we’re looking back at a standout year where eMobility stepped out of its teenage growth spurt and moved closer to full maturity.
Welcome back to Product Talks - our series exploring how Spirii’s technology evolves to power the next generation of EV charging. This time, we’re diving into something fundamental to how our platform ecosystem works: APIs. Ida Mortensen, Product Marketing Manager, sat down with Peter Holmelin, Engineering Manager, and Peter Scotwin, Tech Lead, to explore how Spirii’s APIs are shaping a more open, flexible ecosystem - one that enables true co-creation and innovation alongside our partners and clients. “APIs at Spirii aren’t just about exchanging data,” says Peter H. “They’re about creating real possibilities - letting others take control and innovate on top of our platform.”
Welcome back to Product Talks – our monthly series where we sit down with the people shaping the future of EV charging. This time, we’re looking at how Spirii’s Network Operations Centre (NOC) is enhancing operations with AI-powered predictive maintenance – in partnership with Lumina, a Danish start-up bringing advanced machine learning into the EV ecosystem. We sat down with Valdemar from Spirii’s NOC and Mikkel from Lumina** to explore how AI is transforming charger network operations - making them smarter, more efficient, and easier to scale. Rather than replacing people, AI amplifies what operators teams can do - ultimately ensuring drivers get the seamless charging experience they expect, every time.