Fleet reality · UPDATED 2026-10-14

22 chargers. 36 expectations. One dispatch desk.

When charging capacity disappears, tomorrow’s route plan starts unraveling tonight.

We are supposed to have 36 indoor charging positions. Right now, we have 22, with no others available. That is 14 missing positions before we even talk about tomorrow’s routes. It has put a real strain on the team: get the vans charged, make sure drivers have a vehicle, then send them out to workloads that are already demanding.

The problem starts before loadout A vehicle can be parked, assigned, and technically available without being ready for the work ahead. Charging failures push uncertainty into the next shift. They create more coordination, more checking, and less room for another surprise. A route-completion metric cannot tell that whole story on its own.

Make the constraint visible My starting point is a dated readiness record: available charging positions, confirmed faults, vehicles still waiting, and the next shift’s planned departures. Document the gap and who owns the next action. Keep ticket references and operational effects together. If a van cannot be used, say why. If a departure is affected, record the actual time. Do not turn a charging-position count into a claim about electrical power, energy delivered, or fleet throughput; those require different measurements.

Plan for the work, not just the parking spot The Department of Energy’s fleet guidance describes planning charging around vehicle arrival, departure, and energy needs. That is useful background, although federal-fleet guidance does not establish our station’s requirements. In practice, an operational plan still needs a clear owner, approved vehicle checks, and a realistic fallback when equipment fails.

What I want management to hear We want to finish. We want drivers equipped for success. But teams need the tools to carry out the plan. Logging the constraint is how we move a discussion from “try harder” to “what needs to be repaired, reassigned, or changed?”

My lesson: tonight’s charging handoff is part of tomorrow’s dispatch. What is the one fleet constraint your morning plan keeps inheriting?