Two-thirds of UK business and public sector vehicles ‘ready to go electric’

Connected transport firm Geotab has found two-thirds of vehicles operated by private and public sector organisations in the UK are ready to go electric.

Geotab’s  report, called ‘Taking Charge: On the Road to an EV Future,’ analysed driver data from 1.3 million vehicles across seven countries over 12 months. 

From the analysis, the UK was also singled out as by far the most ‘EV suitable’ market in Europe. That is despite having some of the poorest national EV incentives on offer compared to the other European countries in the report.

France, Germany, Italy and Spain all currently offer EV buyers up-front purchase incentives, whereas the UK government withdrew the Plug-in Car Grant in 2022.

Geotab found that 66% of light-duty vehicles (cars and vans) in the UK are ready to go electric and, crucially, save money for the organisations running them.

The 66% figure for the UK is based on a typical seven-year replacement cycle for a fleet vehicle. Expanding this period to 10 years would increase the percentage of fleet cars and vans in the UK ready to go electric to 73%, based on the fact that EVs have a longer usable lifespan than their petrol and diesel counterparts thanks to service, maintenance and repair (SMR) savings.

The report also found that fleets switching to EVs could reduce 2.2 billion gallons of fuel from conventional vehicles while avoiding approximately 19 million metric tons of CO2 emissions over the next seven years.

British private and public sector organisations could reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) per vehicle by £13,279 over a seven-year period, equating to a saving of £876,414 on a large fleet of 100 vehicles.

David Savage, Vice President for the UK and Ireland at Geotab, said:

“The idea that the UK is not ready for mass EV adoption is a fallacy. On the contrary, it’s time for British businesses to ‘double down’ on fleet electrification – not just for the good of the environment and our collective climate goals but for their bottom line.

“A visionary CEO of a business operating a vehicle fleet could effectively pay their own salary by going electric, thanks to EVs’ financial savings.”

Image from Geotab

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