The Advantages of Field Service Software for Charging Infrastructure Maintenance Teams

Key Takeaways:

Here’s a quick overview of how field service software benefits EV charging infrastructure maintenance teams:

• EV charging station deployment is accelerating, with billions of dollars in federal funding paving the way for hundreds of thousands of new stations by 2030.
• Field service software can keep up with this pace of growth by eliminating inefficient paper and spreadsheet work order management.
• AI scheduling (SmartScheduler), geolocation tracking, and drag-and-drop emergency reassignment are features dispatchers will appreciate.
• Technicians have mobile access to schedules and job history, offline functionality, and configurable forms, even in remote or underground locations.
• Service managers receive step-by-step work order notifications and can configure KPI dashboards to monitor performance and meet commitments.
• Service managers gain step-by-step work order notifications and configurable KPI dashboards to track performance and meet commitments.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are expected to continue to be deployed throughout the United States. According to the World Economic Forum, as of November 2022, 53,000 charging stations have been installed across the country. The state of California has the highest number of charging stations, at a total of 15,182. This makes up roughly 29% of the total share in the U.S.

As the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law outlines, a large amount of funding will go toward building EV charging infrastructure. According to Mckinsey, a whopping $7.5 billion will be allotted to distribute 500,000 chargers across America by 2030.

Why is the need for EV charging stations increasing?

It’s fair to say most city drivers want to start going electric if they haven’t already. However, as the demand for electric vehicles increases, so will the need for public EV charging stations. People will want them to be located in convenient areas, and the pressure to have them functioning properly will be even greater. As more EV charging stations are deployed, companies that service and maintain charging infrastructure will need field service software to keep up with work order requests.

Field service management software will be the key to ensuring new field service installations run on schedule and guaranteeing superior quality of service.

How software makes work order management more efficient

There are various work orders that EV experts need to manage. Installing new charging stations in multiple locations across the United States will need field service software to optimize schedules and quickly dispatch technicians to job sites. There are also maintenance services on older charging infrastructure that will need to be scheduled recurrently.

Field service work order management on paper or Excel spreadsheets isn’t efficient enough, especially with the steady pace at which the electric vehicle market is rising. Electronic work orders, an intuitive field service mobile app for maintenance experts to be able to access essential information, and automation of business processes are required to improve field service productivity, profitability, and of course, service quality.

Benefits for the dispatcher

Field service software like Praxedo allows teams to allocate the right job to the right technician at the right time. The field service scheduling tool will always take the nature of the task (preventive or curative maintenance) and level of urgency, into account. Upon receiving a service call request, everything is analyzed by the FSM software in an instant.

Praxedo’s SmartScheduler

The SmartScheduler utilizes artificial intelligence to propose the best possible schedule. Praxedo will assign a task to the technician who is both available and has the correct level of field service management training. It will take into account the following essential criteria when optimizing the schedule:

• Distances from point A to point B
• The distribution of the workload
• Technician skills

Having the FSM software do the work and analyze the duration of the job, the exact location of all technicians, their expertise, availability of spare parts, and current traffic conditions, enables the field service dispatcher to make more informed decisions more rapidly.

Additionally, with geolocation functionality, the scheduler can monitor field technicians on a map in real time. Status updates such as “Available”, “Working”, and “On the way” are viewed as changes are made throughout the day. And in the event of an emergency, it is possible to modify or move a work order using the drag-and-drop feature, edit the master schedule, and assign a job to another technician with just a few clicks.

Benefits for the technician

From the technician’s perspective, useful information is always available from the field service mobile application. Schedules are accessed, the job history for each charging station is documented, and work order reports are filled onsite.

In some cases, technicians who maintain EV chargers will be forced to be out of range. The charging station may be located underground or in a secluded parking lot. With online/offline functionality, however, the technician can service the unit and record information on the field service mobile app, even without an internet connection. The data will remain secure and sync as soon as a connection is re-established.

Forms are intuitive and configurable, which means fields can be pre-defined to guide technicians to submit the correct information. As a result, their workdays become easier and can input data in a faster time frame while onsite. This also empowers them to be more autonomous on the job. They can manage their own schedules and spend less time doing administrative tasks.

Creating new work orders on the fly

A technician can create a new work order for a second terminal that is out of order at the site they just visited, for example. A report can be quickly selected from a checklist on the field technician mobile app and generated in PDF format. Once validated at the main office, it is automatically sent to the customer.

Benefits for the service manager at the office

Service managers can receive notifications at every step of a work order, from the opening of a ticket to its closing, making the team as a whole more responsive to customers’ needs.

Tracking business KPIs enables them to pinpoint the areas that need improvement. Configurable dashboards can display the data most relevant to the field service manager. Having visibility into the overall performance of field resources and office teams helps in respecting contractual commitments.

If you’d like to learn more about how the need for regular maintenance of EV charging stations is creating new business opportunities for service providers, download our ebook.

Conclusion

As EV charging infrastructure grows rapidly, installation and maintenance activities surge, and service providers tasked with keeping these chargers running smoothly will need more than spreadsheets to stay on top of it all. Field service software brings it all together: AI-powered dispatching in the office, mobile tools that work offline for techs in the field, and KPI dashboards for managers. That coordination sets providers apart from those that don’t scale in a market expanding at this rate.

Praxedo is designed for this, with SmartScheduler, offline mobile access, customizable forms, and real-time performance tracking. Request a demo to see how it supports your EV charging maintenance operations.

FAQs:

1. Why do EV charging maintenance teams need field service software?

With the rapid growth of charging station deployment, software plays a crucial role in optimizing schedules, dispatching technicians promptly, and handling the increasing number of installation and maintenance work orders.

2. How does field service software help dispatch EV charging technicians?

It automatically routes the appropriate technician according to the urgency of the task, location, skills, and workload, and provides real-time geolocation and drag-and-drop rescheduling in case of emergencies.

3. What is SmartScheduler and how does it work?

SmartScheduler is Praxedo’s AI scheduling tool that suggests the optimal schedule, taking into account travel distances, workload distribution, technician skills, availability, and traffic.

4. How does offline functionality help EV charging technicians?

Charging stations are frequently located underground or in remote lots, and offline mode allows technicians to record work securely and automatically sync data when they reconnect.

5. Can technicians create work orders on-site?

Yes, a technician can create a new work order for a faulty terminal on the spot, choose a report from a checklist, and send it to the customer once it is validated.

6. How does field service software help EV charging service managers?

It offers detailed work order notifications and customisable KPI dashboards, enabling managers to track performance and ensure contractual obligations are met.