Fleet electrification has become a core strategy as organisations take steps to reduce their environmental impact. The Fleet World EV Survey, in collaboration with E.ON and sponsored by Mazda, Ogilvie Fleet and Webfleet, asked decision-makers about their experiences and how their plans are taking shape – here are 10 key points from the results.

1. Larger businesses are leading on net zero

Although the Government has pushed back on some of its net zero carbon policies, businesses are not changing course. Almost three-quarters of respondents (73.2%) said they already have a decarbonisation strategy in place or under development.

However, the results highlight a divide between the large (over 250 employees) and small (1-50 employee) business. Small businesses were almost four times more likely to have no electric vehicles on fleet (48.1%) than large ones (12.8%) and less than half as likely to have a net zero strategy.

2. Electrifying cars is easier than vans

Vehicle manufacturers now face the first zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, starting this year and adjusted annually, requiring a progressively higher share of new registrations to be electric. For 2024, the targets are 22% for cars and 10% for vans, with large fines for non-compliance.

Fleets operate the newest vehicles on the road, so they will be at the forefront of that transition. For cars, recent BVRLA data shows 48% of new business contract hire car deliveries, 59% of finance lease and 91% of salary sacrifice volume is already electric. Vans have stagnated – year-to-date, only 5.5% of registrations are battery-powered, according to the SMMT.

Among the fleets who responded to our survey:

• 100% of car-only fleets have electric vehicles, but… 12.5% of van-only fleets include them.
• 98% of mixed (car and van) include electric cars, however… 51% of them have electric vans.

3. Carbon reduction is the key motivator

Most fleets said they were aware of the need to reduce CO2 emissions. This was the most common motivating factor, at 79.7% of all responses – significantly higher than fuel costs (49.2%) and corporate image (43.8%) in second and third place.

Again, demands differ among the smallest organisations, who are more likely to be focused on reducing their tax and fuel costs than larger businesses.

4. Cars and vans are charged differently

One of the big operational differences with electric vehicles is that they can be ‘refuelled’ almost anywhere with a power supply. Our survey highlighted the importance of home charging for fleets with electric cars, backed up by access to public charge points.

By comparison, the majority of fleets operating vans have installed workplace chargers to support them. Only half have made these available to other drivers.

AND IN THE FUTURE…

Asked about catering for future charging needs, almost two-thirds (61.7%) of respondents said they expect drivers will charge away from the workplace – such as at home, or using public networks. Although half (47.7%) reimburse drivers for home charging at the HMRC-approved advisory electric rate (AER), almost a quarter (22.7%) set their own per-mile rate, while one in six (15.9%) have an automated solution for this.

5. Fleet manager expertise is crucial

Most respondents (92.1%) said they have procured their own charge points, and fleet managers are often responsible for this – regardless of the business size. Charging speed is a priority when selecting workplace charge points, but the majority of fleets said they wanted to take advantage of vehicle downtime as an opportunity to top up.

6. Fleets are seeking specialist support

Deploying electric (and PHEV) vehicles introduces some new responsibilities for fleet operators, most of whom wouldn’t have had on-site fuel stations. Only half of respondents (50.9%) said they have enough workplace charge points, while 40.5% said the installation process is a challenge.

Organisations that have installed their own charge points are more likely to be seeking support from specialists (such as energy companies and charge point suppliers) than their leasing company or vehicle manufacturers.

Most fleets (82.1%) with charge points are paying for them up-front, instead of through a loan or lease. Financial support is still available, including a 100% first-year allowance (available until 2025) for charge points, Benefit-in-Kind exemptions for installing home charging equipment and grant funding for workplace units.

7. Fleets recognise that data is important

Electric vehicle adoption relies on proven results, and almost three- quarters of fleets (71.2%) said they are recording data about how vehicles are charged. This was even higher among organisations with a net zero target (79.1%) or those with vans (82.3%).

Cost of charging was the most common information collected by fleets (80.5% of respondents), compared to just over half (54.9%) that are tracking the carbon footprint of plugging in.

Fleets operating vans were also more likely to be using charging data to identify opportunities to deploy more EVs or charge points than the overall average.=

8. Public charge points are still problematic

Reflecting on their experiences with electric vehicles, fleets tended to report that they had cut costs and reduced their carbon footprint by making the switch. Unfortunately, there were trends among the negative points reported too – especially the ease and availability of public charging.

Overall, people agreed that they had cut costs/CO2 but charging problems are an issue. Asked to reflect, lack of public charge points and their ease of use are perceived to be big issues. This highlights a need for seamless solutions – such as contactless payments, or roaming apps – which enable drivers to quickly plug in and pay.

9. Fleets understand the bigger picture

Electric vehicles are not a ‘silver bullet’ for decarbonisation, and our survey showed organisations are making wider changes to their energy system too. Impressively, around 40% of respondents told us they are already using smart tariffs (which incentivise the least carbon-intensive energy sources)

or renewable energy instead.

On-site storage is also high on the wish list, including for small businesses.

10. Vehicle cost is still important

Most fleets see the electric vehicle transition as inevitable, with 81.0% expecting to add more cars and vans in the coming years and 36.5% going as far as laying groundwork for additional charge points to cater for them.

Across the board, affordability was rated as the most influential factor behind fleets’ electrification strategies – list prices and interest rates have both increased during the last two years. However, fleets that don’t expect their share to grow were more likely to be influenced by unclear real-world data, charging costs and availability of public charge points than those expected to deploy additional vehicles.