As commercial fleets of various sizes gradually continue their shift towards alternative power solutions, specifically battery-electric charging and the related infrastructure, a critical and costly issue remains.
Enter Siemens Smart Infrastructure and its new Depot360 Home Charging Reimbursement software, introduced last week at the 2025 ACT Expo.
As the name suggests, the software makes life easier for operators not only by managing reimbursements to drivers who charge their assigned fleet vehicle at home but also improving overall operational efficiency.
[Related: Siemens Depot360 aims to simplify fleet electrification]
How it works
In conversation with Clean Trucking at the event, Alan White, global head of emerging transportation platforms, explained that in North America, particularly in the U.S., the transition to zero-emissions commercial trucking is "not only environmental sustainability, but it's really about economic sustainability. How do we make sure that as [fleets] make this transition, there's an economically viable path to even more profitability than what they had when they were working with internal combustion trucks or vans or buses."
Siemens Depot360's new AI-driven software combines critical systems like telematics, charging, routing, and energy pricing to accurately identify and measure home charging sessions.
Here's one example:
A fleet driver is assigned to a light-duty BEV who then takes that vehicle home at the end of the work day, and proceeds to charge it overnight. Depot360's Home Charging Reimbursement software measures that home charging session based on the vehicle's location, instead of measurements from the charger. This approach allows for the fleet operator to accurately reimburse the driver for their home charging sessions. The tech also helps to reduce capital investments and operational costs, which are already high in this industry.
[Related: Siemens' Depot360, Unibuss tackle EV bus winter operations]
The challenges with charging fleet vehicles at home.Siemens
"There are two things we're doing here," White continued. "Number one, we're showing that over the long term, once you get operational efficiency in place around electrification, you can really start to become more profitable in your approach, whether that's over a three, five, or a 10-year period. The other thing that's important is a lot of this requires financing. And if you look at the financing for infrastructure, the financing for vehicles, as importantly as you need some sort of mechanism to create transparency as to how you're becoming operationally efficient.
Implementing Siemens Home Charging Reimbursement software saves fleets time and money.Siemens
"One of the benefits of Depot360 is to be able to not only provide that economic viability over the long term, but really make sure that when it comes to financing elements, you have a way to create data transparency, which shows how you're becoming operational efficient, whether it's something as standard, weekly or monthly or annual reports around what you've done to save money, what you've done to increase your efficiency, what you've done to make sure that people can focus on the same things."
Another key system aspect is the human customer support available 24/7 with expertise in driver onboarding, manage driver queries, provide periodic analytics, and troubleshooting.
"We're not focusing on amenities like workplace. We're not focusing on amenity-based charging like retail. We're focusing on the operations that are logistics and skill," White stressed.
Real world implementation
The software is already being put to work in the real world by Siemens Smart Infrastructure, part of Siemens Corporation Supply Chain Management. So far, the fleet is successfully managing 11,000 vehicles in the U.S., including passenger vehicles, trucks and cargo vans, bucket trucks and tractor trailers.
The goal is to deploy the entire home charging reimbursement software to all vehicles under fleet management by 2030.
AI's role
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new normal and Siemens embraces it by utilizing data collection from home charging sessions which then fuels the algorithms of the Depot360 AI platform, enabling optimization across fleet charging applications.
For example, if a fleet charges vehicles at different locations, such as private homes or public chargers, the platform can predict the ideal charging mix for those locations. It can also make suggestions to help reduce charging expenses.
"We can start and modulate the charge based on what the cost is first thing, make sure that the state of charge is where it should be by the time drivers get up in the morning for work."
Depot360 is part of the Siemens Xcelerator open digital platform that's designed to accelerate businesses' digital transition by providing critical elements like hardware and software solutions, an ecosystem of partners, and a marketplace where customers can purchase products and connect with other partner businesses.
