E-mobility - Part 3: Spare parts management in electric fleets

Electromobility is finally picking up speed. In the private sector, but also for companies and municipalities, this opens up the opportunity to promote climate protection. In the previous blog articles, we looked at the specific challenges and benefits of electric fleets in the municipal environment. In the final part of this series of articles, we take a look at how this works in practice.

Missed the blog article? Catch up now and read Part 1 and Part 2.

Which steps are necessary on the way to climate neutrality in Germany will be decided in the capital. But in Berlin, climate protection laws are not only passed, they are also directly put into practice. After all, the Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR) has been committed to greater sustainability in its vehicle fleet for many years.

Fleet 75 percent electrified

Berlin's municipal cleaning service relies on innovative vehicle technology and drives through the streets of the capital on natural gas and electricity, among other things. BSR is also building an intelligent charging infrastructure on its properties.

At the end of 2020, the 1,700-vehicle fleet already recorded an e-quota of 75 percent for passenger cars and vans and easily meets the government's targets for the average CO2 fleet value for passenger cars: at 70 grams of CO2 per kilometer, the value is well below the required 120 grams of CO2.

The all-electric commercial vehicles include the following

  • sweepers
  • a wastebasket collection vehicle
  • a waste collection vehicle
  • a workshop van
  • transporters

Wind, weather and maintenance

Together with the superstructures and attachments of the individual vehicles, the fleet comprises a total of 2,700 so-called pieces of equipment. Each individual component requires regular maintenance. The large fleet with the very different vehicles therefore presented BSR with organizational challenges.

It is true that electric vehicles generally require less maintenance and repairs than conventional vehicles. But for special vehicles in municipalities that take on tough tasks and have to function reliably in all weather conditions, repairs are still necessary on an ongoing basis.

In order to become more efficient not only in the operation of the fleet, but also in maintenance, the Berlin municipal cleaning service uses the CATALOGcreator from Quanos Service Solutions. This makes it very easy to identify spare parts for the city cleaning service technicians in the 2D catalog. Among other things, BSR was thus able to significantly reduce incorrect orders for spare parts. This shortens downtimes and reduces costs.

Read the project report to find out which other advantages BSR benefits from and which problems the use of interactive spare parts catalogs solves:

Read the entire use case

All-in-one solution for complex vehicle fleets

The example from Berlin shows that companies and municipalities can benefit from the advantages of e-mobility and reduce their costs at the same time if they use modern software. Spare parts catalogs and comprehensive service information systems are an ideal solution for municipalities that want to electrify their vehicle fleets in the future. Relevant data for fleet managers and service technicians converge here - for cost- and time-saving repair and maintenance processes.

Quanos SIS.one, the all-in-one solution from Quanos, offers precisely these advantages for the fleet. All information from different manufacturers and on individual vehicles flows into the digital system and is available centrally in a service portal. It links relevant data across systems and enables efficient use in the preparation, planning and execution of maintenance.

Interactive spare parts catalogs and a service information system link all service information on special vehicles, superstructures and all associated spare parts. The search for the right components and low-cost alternative parts is thus completed in no time at all - and the same applies to ordering the required spare parts.

Operators of existing fleets and fleets that have already been electrified benefit from these advantages, as do companies and municipalities that are yet to convert to e-mobility.

In addition, a digital spare parts and service information system not only solves the current challenges of municipal fleets - it also lays the software foundation for the implementation of trends such as predictive maintenance or digital information twin.