Client Testimonial: Expert Fleet Director DJ Johnson on the Benefits of ReimburseEV™
DJ Johnson has been working in the fleet and logistics industry for two decades. He is the current Director of Fleet DOT Facilities and Equipment at Tilson and the former Director of Fleet Management at Ericsson, where he was responsible for the take-home vehicle fleet electrification efforts. We interviewed DJ about his experience working with MoveEV to implement a home charging reimbursement program. Watch the video below or scroll down to read the full interview.
Fleet Expert DJ Johnson on the benefits on ReimburseEV for electric vehicle (EV) fleets
Kate Harrison: When did you first realize that home charging reimbursement was going to be something you needed to support the electric vehicles in your fleet?
DJ Johnson: When I was Fleet Director at my previous employer, which was a major telecommunications provider, we had a very aggressive sustainability goal. Our objective was to transition over 500 pieces of equipment to EV by 2027. When we identified the charging problem, we had 25 vehicles on the ground, and we had 200 vehicles on order.
Kate Harrison: What drew you to ReimburseEV as the solution?
DJ Johnson: We had already had the understanding that the infrastructure wasn't available for us to do public charging and home charging was the only solution. The draw to the solution was convenience, time saved, and availability.
Kate Harrison: Did you consider other home charging reimbursement options first?
DJ Johnson: Going into this process we did evaluate different options. We looked at flat fees, we'd looked at allowances, but at the end of the day, we had to come up with a decision that was going to be fair to the employee and the only way that we really felt that was by doing reimbursement. ReimburseEV was the way to go. The solution provided a one-stop shop for all telematics integration with Geotab as well as the customer service that we needed to support the field during this transition from start to finish.
Kate Harrison: What was the process like once you made the decision?
DJ Johnson: The rollout took less than three months, which was much sooner than we anticipated. Working with the MoveEV team was awesome. I can say so many positive things. They made this transition so smooth. From our first meeting, it just felt right. Everything that we asked for, they made happen. The interaction day-to-day and you know, we're bouncing ideas off each other. Ultimately, we came up with a solution that worked for us as a company that at this point is just was awesome. It was awesome.
Kate Harrison: What did your drivers think?
DJ Johnson: After the implementation of the program, we rolled it out to our drivers and of course we received a lot of feedback initially like “oh, you know, what is this? and am I gonna get paid properly?” and so on and so on. But once we went through a couple of trials, honestly it was really a very smooth transaction. And the feedback we received was really good. And that's what we were looking for as a company because we wanted something that was going to be very user friendly for the drivers because at the end of the day, they were the ones that were going to use this solution.
Kate Harrison: What was the admin experience like?
DJ Johnson: The admin side saved me so much time, so much headache. You name it, it saved it. Because you got to remember this is something new to everybody and for MoveEV to take the customer service side away from me…I told them, “You can have it!” When you're dealing with the field and you're dealing with people when it comes to reimbursement and money, there's going to be questions. They handled every single concern or issue. They saved me so much time and so much headache.
Kate Harrison: What were some of the headaches you were dealing with when you were calculating the reimbursement yourself?
DJ Johnson: When considering reimbursement in the home charging space, there's so many things that you have to look out for. You have to remember everybody has different electric bills throughout the United States. Everybody has different [electric utility] companies that they pay. You have to understand kilowatt hours, taxes — every bill looks different. So, there's so many different things that you have to understand about a bill before you can even determine what you're going to reimburse for. MoveEV, they stepped in and took that away from my team because that's what they do.
Kate Harrison: Any final thoughts you want to share?
DJ Johnson: If you're looking for a company that offers great customer service, knowledge, telematics and, of course, EV reimbursement, give MoveEV a call!