Data-Driven Fleet Electrification Planning with Your Utility

Project Overview

Mountain fleets face extra hurdles when electrifying: cold temperatures cut battery range, few electric models offer all-wheel drive or high clearance, and operators like Vail Resorts run vehicles across more than one utility service territory. Vail Resorts’ Epic Mountain Express shuttle service, which runs mostly 15-passenger vans between Denver International Airport, Eagle County Regional Airport and mountain resorts, is a clear example. Its team has tried several alternative fuels over more than a decade without a lasting fit.

Vail Resorts has a goal of net zero emissions by 2030 and a 100% renewable electricity goal. With electricity largely addressed, remaining emissions are mostly on-site fuels: natural gas, propane, and diesel for snowcats. According to Vail Resorts, non-grooming fleet fuel is only about 4% of its total emissions, but vehicles are replaced on regular schedules, so the company wanted to understand what electrifying them would really require before those replacement decisions arrive.

Two studies are underway. At Breckenridge, Xcel Energy’s Fleet Electrification Advisory Program is reimbursing Vail Resorts for a Sawatch Labs analysis of the full resort fleet, including grooming equipment and snowmobiles. For Epic Mountain Express, whose vans travel daily between Xcel and Holy Cross territories, Holy Cross Energy partnered with Xcel and Vail Resorts to fund a similar study. Telematics devices log sub-minute GPS driving data, and data collection is planned across summer and a full winter to capture the coldest conditions.

Sawatch Labs, founded in 2017 in Denver, models each vehicle’s real energy needs by combining that driving data with ambient temperature, topography, passenger load and auxiliary loads such as heating. Each vehicle gets a suitability score (85 is passing), plus an economic comparison and an estimate of where and when it would charge. The software also forecasts monthly peak demand at each parking site and lets the fleet run scenarios such as time-of-use charging or managed charging to flatten peaks.

Early results are mixed and useful. One Epic Mountain Express van, observed for about 80 days and roughly 11,000 miles, scored 61: on an average day it would need about twice the energy a comparable battery holds, and refilling it would take about 4.8 hours on a DC fast charger, meaning hours of midday charging, so it is not a candidate yet. A similar van with lighter use scored 79, would need about 55.7 kWh of a 113 kWh usable battery each day, and could recharge on Level 2 in under an hour and a half, but more data and consistent parking are needed before recommending it.

The biggest early insight was operational, not technical. Because of federal driver-hour rules, drivers currently do a Denver airport run and then switch vehicles for an Eagle airport run in the same day, which leaves no room for a midday charging stop. Vail Resorts is already rethinking operations and planning to add charging conduit and capacity during other construction projects, even though suitable vehicles may be years away for some routes.

Lessons Learned

Talk to your utility early

Stefan Johnson’s main message was that any organization that might electrify its fleet should contact its utility as soon as possible. Fleet depots that use little power today could become a utility’s largest accounts, and transformer lead times are now very long. He described cases where a fleet asked for charging weeks before trucks arrived, only to learn it was a multi-year project.

Use real driving data, not assumptions

Sawatch Labs found that suitability studies based on annual or monthly mileage miss key factors like cold, terrain, passenger loads and parking patterns. Telematics data shows what each vehicle actually needs and where it sits overnight. The same analysis also tells you which vehicles are not ready, so you avoid a costly mismatch and know what battery size to watch for in the market.

Collect data through the hardest season

Sawatch Labs aims for at least 90 days of data, and a full year for fleets with strong seasonal swings like Vail’s. If the collection period must be short, schedule it during peak use or extreme temperatures. Several mountain operators are waiting on stretches of below-freezing days before drawing conclusions.

Favor slow overnight charging

Holy Cross Energy wants fleets to use Level 2 charging for vehicles that sit 8 to 12 hours overnight instead of relying on public DC fast chargers in the evening, when utility demand, cost and carbon intensity peak. Some on-route fast charging will still be needed, so shared infrastructure, such as chargers going in at Eagle County Regional Airport, should be planned with reliable fleet access in mind.

Pilot vehicles to win over skeptics

Both Vail Resorts and Holy Cross Energy found that hands-on pilots overcome mechanic and crew skepticism faster than arguments. Mechanics warmed to electric buses once familiar manufacturers like Gillig offered them, and Holy Cross is adding a second Ford F-150 Lightning after a good experience with its first. Local stories, like a Roaring Fork Valley construction company electrifying its whole fleet, help show this is a practical choice.

The assessment pays off even where EVs do not fit yet

A fleet study highlights the highest-emitting vehicles for other measures such as alternative fuels or idle reduction, supports grant applications, and gives an objective basis for conversations with leadership, the utility and the public. Fleet trips also count toward the emissions inventories of the communities where they start and end, so the benefits extend beyond the fleet owner.

Program Contacts

Stefan Johnson, Electric Transportation Specialist, Holy Cross Energy
Fritz Bratschie, Director of Sustainability, Vail Resorts
Mary Till, Director of Business Development, Sawatch Labs