Flexible Power Systems (FPS) has successfully secured £2.7 million in external investment to propel the commercialisation of its electric vehicle (EV) and charger management platform, FPS Operate.
Originally designed for the John Lewis Partnership in the UK, FPS Operate has been expanded to cater to the needs of various commercial vehicle fleets. The platform integrates charge points, vehicles, building energy management, and logistics software systems to provide real-time data for automated vehicle-task matching, smart Charging, reporting, and uptime management, ultimately enhancing the return on investment (RoI) for ev fleets, says the company.
“Every day there are press stories about EV range variability or charge point failures disrupting commercial vehicle operations. ‘FPS Operate’ has been developed over the last 4 years to allow fleets to cope with this variability, dynamically and in real-time, to get-on with the day job”, said Michael Ayres, Managing Director, FPS
The financing for FPS’s venture includes equity investment and a £1.49 million innovation loan from Innovate UK, aimed at supporting the industrialisation of the FPS Operate platform and its application to an expanding range of commercial vehicle use cases. “Innovate UK innovation loans help to deliver growth and scale of businesses through innovation and we are pleased to make this funding available to a business with high growth potential in the Net Zero economy of the future”, said Scott O’Brien, Chief Investment Officer, Innovate UK.
“Many fleets are only now getting to grips with significant challenges like power availability, variable range and increased scheduling complexity that can come with an EV transition. We foresaw many of these issues several years ago and began investing in FPS Operate to provide fleet operators with the solution to address them. As the market matures, we have decided that the time is right to enter debt and equity markets to fund commercialisation”, said Allan Gray, Chief Financial Officer, FPS.
FPS Operate, designed specifically for commercial vehicle operations, is highly integrated with existing fleet management systems. The platform streamlines processes, offering benefits such as clarity with automated reporting and alerts, efficiency through automated vehicle task matching and smart charging, and resilience with remote monitoring of vehicle and Charger condition, ensuring maximum operational uptime and performance monitoring.
FPS Operate has already demonstrated success in van and transport refrigeration fleets, starting with the John Lewis Partnership and Waitrose. The platform is set to be deployed in truck fleets by Summer 2024.
“We have been working with FPS since 2020 on a range of electrification topics, from our van fleets to transport refrigeration unit hook-ups. Currently, nearly all of our commercial vehicle EVs and the majority of our transport refrigeration hook-ups are on their FPS Operate platform and FPS has become a key part of our transport decarbonisation journey”, said Justin Laney, Partner & General Manager Central Transport, John Lewis Partnership.
