Ford Pro and Atlanta-based energy provider Southern Company wrapped up a six-month pilot program earlier this year designed to explore how managed charging can support electric commercial fleet operations while keeping the grid resilient.

The test confirmed that fleets can successfully shift charging into lower-cost periods, respond to grid signals in real time, and stay fully operational. These insights could help commercial fleets manage electrification at scale, inform future EV customer programs, and improve overall energy reliability.

The Electric Fleet Pilot at a Glance

Southern Company tapped into its more than 200 Ford F-150 Lightning trucks and 150-plus Level 2 AC Ford Pro Chargers across subsidiaries. With Ford Pro Intelligence monitoring and analyzing vehicle and charger data, Southern Company gained visibility into charging behavior, energy use, and site-level demand.

The diverse fleet, which spans multiple states, served as a real-world testbed. The program demonstrated how a large enterprise fleet could balance energy loads, manage demand, and still ensure that drivers had access to charging when and where they needed it.

Energy Savings in Action 

According to Ford Pro, the results showed measurable benefits, including:

• Shifting nearly a quarter of energy for fleet charging into lower-cost windows.

• Cutting energy costs by nearly a third.

• Temporarily lowering site demand by more than one megawatt of responsive load reduction.

Even during demand response events, Southern Company’s fleet stayed fully operational. Ford Pro’s charging software allowed the company to schedule pauses at peak times without disrupting drivers.

During one test, Southern Company reduced total charging demand by 0.5 megawatts (500 kW) during a 30-minute period, averaging about 10 kW of savings per charger. Three separate tests at different times of day reinforced the program’s potential for energy savings and grid efficiency.

“Ford Pro’s energy management algorithm was able to throttle chargers to avoid windows of peak grid demand, shifting charging within the drivers’ existing charging window while still ensuring that drivers got the energy they expected out of a charging session,” explained Tom Canada, fleet electrification project manager for Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power. “The insights gleaned from this pilot represent valuable learnings that can be applied to help us manage our electric vehicle fleets more efficiently and help us better advise customers who may approach our electric utilities for advice about managed charging for their fleets.”

By combining data straight from Ford vehicles and chargers with its software, Ford Pro is providing tools that could help companies like Southern Company improve EV fleet efficiency while also supporting grid reliability.

The pilot ran from December 2024 through May 2025.