More than one in three (35.3%) fleet cars and vans added to Epyx’s 1link Service Network during August were fully electric, the company has reported.

EVs are now the single largest form of power chosen by 1link Service Network fleet users

It’s a new record for electric vehicles among the Epyx figures, up from 25.6% a year ago, and means EVs are now the single largest form of power chosen by 1link Service Network fleet users.

Hybrids were also up, now accounting for 17.6% of new fleet cars and van registrations against 14.8% in August 2023.

Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles fell correspondingly, with petrol representing just 29.9% of registrations in August against 39.90% a year ago, and diesel at 17.3% compared to 19.7%.

Epyx said the data from 1link Service Network, used by fleets running more than four million vehicles, provides a unique view of progress towards electrification among fleets, including for van users.

While latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that fully electric cars accounted for 22.6% of all new car registrations in August but the figure includes private drivers as well as fleets, and the percentage among fleets will be far higher.

And SMMT figures for LCVs show electric accounted for only 5.5% of commercial vehicles up to 4.25 tonnes in August.

Tim Meadows, CCO at Epyx, went on: “Data covering fleet registrations is available from a variety of credible sources, notably the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), but our information shows something slightly different – the vehicles added by fleets to our platform, which is almost uniformly used by major leasing fleets to manage their SMR.

“Essentially, when a leasing company buys a vehicle and delivers it to the customer, part of their process is to register it to 1link Service Network, ready for when it needs future servicing, repairs or other maintenance.

“What our figures show for August is that more EVs have been added to the platform as a proportion than in any month so far. It almost certainly means that more fleet end users who leased a new vehicle last month chose electric than ever before.”

Meadows said the figures were interesting given widespread antipathy in the mainstream media towards EVs.

“From some of the coverage, you might think that electrification is failing and it would only be accurate to acknowledge that there are apparent issues around customer enthusiasm for both retail [car] sales and electric vans.

“However, what we have been seeing over a long period of time on 1link Service Network is very rapid adoption for EVs as a general fleet category.

“It’s worth noting that in January 2020, EVs represented just 2.09% of registrations added to the platform but last month was the single largest form of power chosen by the fleets using 1link Service Network.”