Fleet Charging Study 2026

Target group (company and respondent profile):

• Industry sector
• Company size (number of employees in Germany)
• Number of sites (Germany and internationally)
• Site description (production, warehousing, offices, parking, energy infrastructure, solar, etc.)
• Type of parking facilities (multi-storey, underground, open-air)
• Owner or tenant of the site
• States (Bundesländer) where sites are located
• Respondent’s role in the company
• Respondent’s scope of responsibility (single site, multiple countries, group)

Fleet profile:

• Fleet size by vehicle category (passenger cars, vans, light/medium/heavy trucks)
• Vehicle use cases (transport/logistics, field service, company cars, etc.)
• Transport types (urban/last-mile delivery, regional, long-haul, special transports, etc.)
• Fuel cards in use

Electrification status:

• Engagement with fleet electrification (yes/no)
• Non-electrifiers:
  • Reasons for not pursuing electrification
• Electrifiers (all topics below were only asked of companies already working on electrification):
  • Current stage of fleet electrification
  • Information sources used when exploring charging solutions
  • Biggest challenges in fleet electrification
  • Specific challenges around charging infrastructure
  • Subjective assessment: easier or harder than expected
  • Bidirectional charging: relevance and use case
  • Planning horizon: short-term vs. long-term thinking
  • Investment approach for charging infrastructure (invest now, step by step, hold back)
  • Current share of EVs by vehicle category
  • Target EV share in 3 years by vehicle category
  • Electrification goals (cost reduction, regulation, sustainability, image, talent attraction)

Charging use cases:

• Charging locations by vehicle category (depot, at customer sites, on the road, at home)
• Charging for guests, employees and delivery partners at the company site
• Billing of charging costs to delivery partners

Depot charging:

• Charging solutions in use (wallboxes, AC chargers, DC chargers)
• Number of charge points currently installed (AC/DC)
• Planned charge points over the next 3 years (AC/DC)
• Key criteria for choosing the charging solution (load management, interfaces, bidirectional charging, solar integration, etc.)
• Key criteria for choosing the solution provider
• Spontaneous and aided awareness of charging hardware manufacturers
• Charging hardware brands currently in use
• Where the charging solution was purchased
• Charging software / backend / charge management provider in use
• Ownership of the charging infrastructure
• Operational model (managed in-house, outsourced, via landlord)
• Procurement model (direct purchase, subsidies, other financing)
• Openness to leasing charging hardware
• Use and planned rollout of charge management software
• How fleet management and charge management work together
• Integration of charge management software with other IT systems (FMS, EMS, ERP)
• Desired data handover from charge management to other systems
• Fleet management functions desired within the charge management system (scheduling, routing, reporting, cost center allocation)

On-the-road charging:

• Division of responsibility between back office and driver (trip planning, routing, charge planning)
• Charge cards and apps in use by provider type
• Specific charge cards and apps in use
• Preferred charge card / app
• Company guidelines for driver use of charge cards / apps
• Key criteria for choosing a charging service
• How companies approach choosing a charging service (negotiation, comparison, pragmatism)
• Truck fleets only:
  • Acceptance of pricing models (premium for higher power, reservations, dynamic pricing)
  • awareness and use of the eTrucker app

Home charging:

• Requirements for home charging solutions (authentication, solar integration, billing, interfaces, bidirectional charging, etc.)

Driver perspective (electric trucks):

(This section was only asked of drivers with hands-on e-truck experience. Note: sample size below 30, so results are indicative only.)

• Depot charging:
  • How charging slots at the depot are assigned
  • Problems experienced when charging at the depot

• On-the-road charging:
  • How drivers plan charging stops on a trip
  • Price awareness when choosing a charge card
  • On-the-road charging experience (availability, reliability, charging speed, facilities, space for trucks)
  • Response when a planned charging stop is occupied
  • Willingness to reserve charge points in advance
  • Charging at customer sites and how sessions are initiated

• General experience:
  • E-truck brands with most driving experience
  • Open question: what works well, what needs to improve?

Many departments are involved in the switch to EVs in companies. In addition to fleet managers, the survey therefore also asked managing directors, buyers, HR managers, etc. who are involved in and/or have a say in the electrification.

Companies that are not yet considering the electrification of their fleets were asked about their reasons, but then excluded from the survey.

The study is aimed primarily at manufacturers, operators and charging service providers in the public charging infrastructure sector, as well as retailers and employers.

The survey provides a precise picture of current user behaviour, user pain points and user needs. This enables charging technology manufacturers, operators and service providers to prioritise their investments and align them with quotations that lead to the highest demand, the highest customer loyalty and thus the highest sales.

Many exciting findings only become apparent when the results are evaluated separately according to important customer groups. This allows providers to target their offers to different user segments in a differentiated way. Thanks to the high sample size, subscribers to the study can split the results in the interactive dashboard as they wish and analyse them in detail.

Since 2018, USCALE has been systematically surveying EV drivers about their expectations and experiences at all touchpoints of the e-mobile customer journey. You can find an overview of all USCALE focus studies HERE.

We show extracts from other studies in the LinkedIn articles by USCALE and Axel Sprenger, our company founder.

If you have any questions, please contact us at contact@uscale.digital.