Founder and editorial director of Transport + Energy Alec Peachey has opened the inaugural Fleet Electrification Forum with an impassioned call to action for the two sectors.
Stating how fleets have been “leading the way in the transition” to electric vehicles (EV), Peachey added how by the end of the first quarter of this year, one in four newly registered EVs are fleet.
But he said despite the many successes, including the “tens of thousands” of fleet EVs on the roads, “there is still a very long way to go”.
Explaining how there are still only 1.5 million EVs out of a total UK parc of 34 million, there are “many challenges” in the transition, including availability of used EVs, the installations of chargepoints – and their location – as well as bringing employees on the decarbonisaiton journey.
Peachey said though that with challenges “comes opportunities” and “new ways of working”, which formed the foundation stone of Transport + Energy: collaboration.
He said: “There is now the need to collaborate with colleagues in the workplace who fleet managers rarely chat with at the Christmas party, let alone engage deeply with on large-scale company projects and collaboration.
“Facilities and energy managers, sustainability managers, office and asset managers, financial officers, skills and training managers…there are many colleagues that fleet and transport managers now need to work with for the transition to be successful.
“Many companies are having to develop whole new ways of planning and strategising in order to fulfil their decarbonisation goals.
“But as we shall see today, you are all getting on with it and embracing the challenge. The reality is that we will get to the promised land it we continue on the upward trajectory that we are going on.”
Peachey concluded that we “must not take our foot of the accelerator” and “if anything, we need to put it to the floor”.
In addition, he said that all of the learnings from the event are due to be captured in T+E’s Fleet Electrification Manifesto, which will be published shortly.
He concluded: “With policy certainty, infrastructure expansion, and continued technological innovation, the UK fleet sector really is well on its way to full electrification.
“There is a forecast of 95% of new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030, and nearly all older and large fleet vehicles across the entire UK road transport fleet replaced by 2040.
“We are on the journey – and T+E are delighted to help support the sectors in the transition.”
