How Ampcontrol Guarantees Energy, Not Just A Charging Timeslot

Fleet electrification is accelerating worldwide as operators recognize both the economic and operational advantages of switching from diesel to electric. Even before recent geopolitical disruptions, electric fleets were already delivering meaningful cost savings through lower fuel and maintenance expenses, along with improved energy efficiency. Now, skyrocketing fuel prices are intensifying that shift.

According to CNBC reporting on April 1, 2026, the average U.S. gasoline price has surged above $4 per gallon, climbing more than 30% since the Iran war 2026 began in late February. Diesel prices have risen even more sharply, jumping over 40% to exceed $5 per gallon, creating widespread cost pressure across transportation and logistics sectors. Against this backdrop, electrification is no longer just a sustainability initiative. It is increasingly a compelling financial strategy, offering fleets protection from fuel price volatility while enabling more predictable, long-term operating cost savings.

EVinfo.net Interviews Jonas Schlund, CPO and Founding Member at Ampcontrol

EVinfo.net was honored to hold an interview with Jonas Schlund, CPO and Founding Member at Ampcontrol.

Bill Pierce: Jonas, you made a comment on my post about fast chargers not delivering their rated power — drivers expecting 150kW and getting 32kW. You said Ampcontrol solves this by guaranteeing energy, not just a timeslot. What does that actually mean?

Jonas Schlund: Most charging software books time. You reserve a plug for 45 minutes and hope for the best. What you actually need is kilowatt-hours. Enough to complete your next route. Those are two very different things.

At Ampcotrol, we guarantee both: the timeslot and the energy amount within it. Before a driver even plugs in, the system has already calculated what power the charger can deliver, what’s available from the grid connection, what the solar and battery storage (BESS) at the site can contribute, and it commits to a number. If we book you 40 kWh between 6 and 7 AM, you get 40 kWh. No surprises on the screen.

Bill Pierce: That sounds like a scheduling system. How far ahead does this work, and how does it handle a fleet of, say, 50 trucks?

Jonas Schlund: We typically plan 48 to 72 hours in advance. The system pulls planned routes from the transport management system — departure times, destinations, payload — and works backwards to figure out exactly how much energy each vehicle needs and when it needs to be ready.

For a 50-vehicle depot, that means simultaneously optimizing 50 charging windows against a shared grid connection, often with a hard power cap. The goal is simple: every vehicle that leaves the depot has what it needs. No range anxiety. No dispatcher scrambling at 5 AM because three trucks are still at 40% state of charge.

And because reality never matches the plan perfectly, the system reoptimizes continuously in real time. A vehicle comes back earlier than expected? It gets slotted in. Grid power temporarily constrained? Load shifts dynamically across the fleet without anyone touching anything.

Bill Pierce: You mentioned solar and battery storage. Can you explain how those fit in?

Jonas Schlund: A modern fleet depot isn’t just grid + chargers anymore. You might have rooftop solar, a battery energy storage system, large cooling, maybe even a backup generator. Our energy management layer sees all of it as one coordinated resource.

So when the grid is cheap at 2 AM, we charge the battery. When solar peaks at noon, we use that first. When the grid connection is maxed out at the morning departure rush, the battery fills the gap. The charging schedule is built around all of this — not just around plug availability.

The result is lower energy costs, reduced peak demand charges, and in many cases a smaller grid connection than you’d otherwise need. That last point is significant: grid connection upgrades are expensive and slow. Smart energy management can defer or even eliminate that cost.

Bill Pierce: What about the human side — drivers, dispatchers? Does this work automatically, or does someone need to manage it?

Jonas Schlund: It’s designed to run without anyone touching it. The AutoScheduler creates bookings automatically based on route data. Drivers see their assigned charging window in the driver app — plug in, walk away, come back to a charged vehicle. Dispatchers get a live dashboard showing fleet readiness, any deviations, and alerts if something needs attention.

That said, people can always override. A driver can manually book a session. A dispatcher can reprioritize a vehicle. The system accommodates that and reoptimizes around it. Automation handles the 95% routine case; humans stay in control of the exceptions.

Bill Pierce: Fleet operators are under pressure on costs right now. Diesel prices swing around, and energy prices are volatile. How does Ampcontrol help with that?

Jonas Schlund: Energy cost is the new fuel cost for electric fleets. Unlike diesel, it’s actually manageable. You can time charging to cheap rate periods, use stored solar energy, and avoid demand charge spikes. A fleet that charges smartly can spend 30–40% less on energy than one that just plugs in whenever.

We also track this. Ampcontrol produces session-level GHG reports and energy-cost breakdowns so fleet managers can actually see the impact — per vehicle, per route, per depot. That matters for sustainability reporting, for internal cost allocation, and increasingly for customer contracts that require carbon transparency.

Bill Pierce: Where do you see the biggest gap in the market right now — what are fleet operators still getting wrong?

Jonas Schlund: The biggest mistake is treating charging as an infrastructure problem rather than a software problem. Operators spend months and significant capital getting chargers in the ground, then plug in a basic charging management system that does little more than start and stop sessions.

The value is in the intelligence layer: knowing what each vehicle needs, when, and delivering it reliably while managing energy costs. That’s a software problem. The charger is just the pipe.

Fleets that figure this out early have a real competitive edge. Lower operating costs, higher vehicle utilization, and a smaller carbon footprint. Those that don’t are essentially paying premium rates for dumb infrastructure.

Bill Pierce: Last question — what’s next for Ampcontrol?

Jonas Schlund: Two things in parallel. On the commercial side, we’re deep in deployment with some of the world’s largest logistics operators right now, scaling our software across 30 countries in the EU. That’s full enterprise rollouts at scale, mostly with solar and BESS. The EU market is moving fast, and we’re moving with it.

On the technical side, we’re pushing deeper into grid integration. Utilities need flexibility — the ability to call on fleet charging as a controllable load during grid stress events. We’re certified under IEEE 2030.5/CSIP, which is the standard that makes this possible in utility programs like PG&E’s FlexConnect in California. We’re already rolling out the first sites.

The vision is a fleet depot that doesn’t just take from the grid — it gives back. Vehicles and batteries as distributed grid assets. Good for the operator, good for the utility, good for the energy transition.

We regularly hold free webinars on the hot topics we see in the market and share learnings from our deployments in the field. Join us if these topics excite you!

Ampcontrol Optimizes Electric Fleet Charging Operations at Scale

Ampcontrol is an AI-powered software platform designed to optimize electric fleet charging operations at scale. Rather than manufacturing hardware, the company provides a cloud-based system and an optional local controller that connects directly to charging infrastructure, solar, battery, vehicles, and fleet management tools to intelligently control when and how EVs charge. By using real-time data and machine learning, Ampcontrol helps fleet operators reduce energy costs, minimize peak demand, and improve charger uptime while ensuring vehicles are ready for dispatch.

Its platform integrates seamlessly with existing systems through APIs, requires no additional hardware, and is already deployed across fleets in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. The result is a more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective approach to managing electric fleet charging in increasingly complex energy environments.

Learn more at ampcontrol.io.