A collaboration between diversified industrial ABB and Amazonis likely to increase electric vehicle (EV) adoption among transportation companies and fleet operators.

That’s the key takeaway from the recently announced collaboration between ABB and Amazon’s cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). ABB will bring its know-how in energy management and charging technology to AWS’ cloud technology, software, and analytics capability to create “a cloud-based digital solution for the real-time fleet management of EVs,” according to the press release.

The new solution will roll out in the back half of 2021 and use advanced data analytics and machine learning to optimize EV fleet performance. For example, it will enable fleet operators to manage the charging of their fleet in accord with optimizing routes for EVs.

Given the reality that an all-EV fleet will probably contain a range of vehicles, it’s likely that fleet operators will be looking for software to help them centrally manage a diverse set of EVs with different charging characteristics.

The ABB and AWS solution is intended to give fleet owners greater confidence in making the switch. For examples of how transportation companies are warming to EVs, consider that UPS has ordered 10,000 purpose-built EVs. Meanwhile, FedEx is committed to only buying EVs for its FedEx Express parcel pickup and delivery fleet by 2030. Management plans to have its entire parcel pickup and delivery fleet running on zero-emission EVs by 2040.

All told, the transition to EVs is real among fleet operators, and the ABB and AWS solution is likely to help accelerate it.