Fleet professionals know: When it comes to establishing and operating an electrified fleet, attention to detail is vital. Does it make sense for a company to install its own charging infrastructure on site? Which electric models suit the driving profiles of the users? And how can I convince my team of the benefits of electric mobility, considering they have been driving vehicles with combustion engines for years? As regards the last point, straightforward charging at home is a key factor, among others.

Sebastian Lehmensieck, Key Account Manager at LOGPAY, can only confirm this: “In conversations with fleet managers, you continually hear that this is a real headache. On the one hand, the aim is naturally to make it as easy as possible for users in order to increase acceptance. On the other hand, the administrative effort involved in billing can be significant.” Drivers are frequently left with no option but to carefully go through their private electricity bill and pick out the charging costs that relate to business use. As for fleet managers, they were just as frequently confronted with a wide array of document formats: “One driver would submit their invoice by email, another would create an Excel list, and yet another would send a Word document with a table”, explains Lehmensieck’s colleague Danny Zänkert, likewise a Key Account Manager at LOGPAY.

Well LOGPAY thought so anyway: Finding a simple solution that works for all sides is definitely worth the effort. And that solution goes by the name Home Charging Service. The central idea behind the smart service is the automatic and standardised transmission of charging data to the company’s fleet management. Sebastian Lehmensieck describes the process: “Company car users simply need a wall box from the Volkswagen Group with integrated MID-approved electricity metre, which can be installed by Volkswagen subsidiary Elli. Charging is then possible at home using the familiar Charge&Fuel Card – the second component of the system. And that’s where the effort also ends for the user, since the charging data goes to fleet management in a harmonised CSV file.

The Home Charging Services package is designed to offer companies a choice between a basic and a comfort version. Danny Zänkert explains the differences: “In the basic package, fleet management reimburses users the costs based on the data supplied. The comfort package goes a step further: LOGPAY makes an advance payment in this case and transfers the electricity costs incurred to the company car user.” Company car drivers have to register once in the Elli FleetDriver portal for this purpose. Zänkert adds that this would save a considerable amount of work, primarily for medium to large sized fleets as it would ultimately eliminate countless individual transfers having to be made. Instead, LOGPAY regularly issues a collective invoice to the company, accompanied of course by a detailed breakdown of the charging data. However, regardless of which option best suits the company, the fact is: managing lots of small documents is now a thing of the past. “We think that this will really encourage acceptance on the part of users, while fleet management will have more time for important strategic tasks”, sums up LOGPAY expert Sebastian Lehmensieck