Technology company Siemens has launched a new Charging-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution in the UK, providing the design, installation, management and financing of electric charging infrastructure as well as fleet and energy management solutions for fleet businesses. Depot360 aims to accelerate the EV transition by reducing barriers to electrify fleets. It enables all fleet businesses, from bus operators to haulage companies, to outsource the deployment and maintenance of charging infrastructure to a single supplier at no upfront cost. The service is provided to businesses under a predictable monthly payment plan.
Siemens aims for its end-to-end approach to reduce cost, resource and skills barriers to deploying EV charging infrastructure – enabling fleet operators to expedite their electrification efforts amid expectations for the ban on petrol and diesel cars to be restored to 2030 under the new Labour government.
The Depot360 portfolio can be tailored to support the needs of fleet operators, including van and HGVs for logistics, and municipal transit and private bus depots.
The initial offerings from the Depot360 portfolio comprise Depot360 CaaS and Depot360 Managed Services. The service is part of Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform that enables organisations to accelerate their digital transformation.
Siemens Depot360 CaaS
Depot360 CaaS provides customers with consultation and financing to support on depot design, construction, commissioning and management. Routed in intelligent planning, all requirements are addressed including fleet size and scope, grid connection, charging infrastructure, depot and energy management software and ongoing maintenance.
Siemens Depot360 Managed Services
Depot360 Managed Services optimises charging, fleet and energy infrastructure through the provision of data-informed management and preventative maintenance. By integrating with telematics, this allows operators to guarantee that all vehicles will meet the required state of charge to complete their pre-defined routes, minimising vehicle downtime and maximising fleet availability.
The core of the Managed Services is Depot360’s energy management and optimisation platform, Depot360 AI. Using this platform, an expert team from the Siemens 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) can continuously leverage fleet-centric algorithms to monitor and manage the charging infrastructure’s performance. This enables them to identify and proactively solve issues based on data-driven decisions to improve and upgrade fleet operations, and ultimately provide full transparency into operations. The Managed Services solution is also available as a standalone offering for existing Siemens and non-Siemens charging infrastructure.
Depot360 was officially launched in the UK at Siemens’ Transform 2024 event. Taking place at Manchester Central, it saw more than 4,000 industry leaders, tech experts and policymakers convene to explore the future of digital and sustainable transformation.
Bernard Magee, managing director for eMobility at Siemens said: “Depot360 addresses the two main barriers to fleet organisations in achieving electrification: the upfront investment costs and the time and skills to project manage the installation and ongoing maintenance and optimisation of charging infrastructure and operations.
“We recognise as a key provider of infrastructure that we need to take a transformational, collaborative approach to business models in order to make electrification as accessible as possible. Speaking to fleet leaders at our Transform 2024 conference, it’s clear to see how Charging-as-a-service models like this will be a cornerstone in the delivery of a near-universal electrified transport mix – which we collectively need to deliver within the next decade.”
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