Driving towards a sustainable UK fleet
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Other factors that are currently limiting progress on EVs in some territories are a lack of charging infrastructure alongside the many governments not yet incentivising businesses to embrace sustainability in the same way as in the UK & I , where there are tax breaks around EV initiatives . Plus , according to Willescroft , in some countries such as South Africa , coal is still being burned to create the electricity needed for EVs .
“ In which case , you ' re not really achieving much by electrifying your fleet ,” he points out . “ There ' s an awful lot of factors that make fleet decarbonisation complicated , and there ’ s no doubt the easier markets right now are the UK & I and Europe .”
“ We ' ve got a really clear fleet strategy in UK & I ,” he says . “ It ' s been approved across the region and it ' s also something our customers really care about . It ' s the right thing to do as a business ; it ' s the responsible thing , and customers want us to do it .”
He adds that legislation around sustainability is also getting stronger all the time . “ You won ' t be able to buy a new diesel or petrol vehicle after 2030 in the UK , so it ' s a perfect storm of reasons to do it anyway .”
Yet , despite this , Willescroft admits that rampant fuel inflation across all markets and a year-on-year increase in the cost of vehicles “ have produced a tension between cost and the speed at which we can roll out our net-zero strategy in the UK ”.
As well as government tax incentives , the company is striving to get as close to cost-neutral as possible . “ We buy a lot of vehicles , so we leverage this with OEMs and manufacturers ,” says Willescroft . “ We also make sure we ’ re looking at the total cost of ownership of vehicles , rather than just the lease price .
“ This helps us be more creative in terms of what we can provide but , ultimately , however you cut it , there ' ll be a net increase in fleet costs . You can ' t really escape that .”
42 April 2023