Fewer barriers are standing between businesses and zero emissions fleets, according to the latest analysis of the monthly electric vehicle (EV) barometer from Europcar Mobility Group UK.
It terms of potential barriers, the survey found that only employer/employee resistance has become more of an issue between the first half of 2024 and 2025 – rising slightly from 12.8% to 13.4%.
In the first half of 2024, an average of 12% of businesses said none of these issues held them back from going electric – a figure which rose to 21% this year.
All other barriers have seen slight drops, with concerns around charging infrastructure being a barrier for 31% of businesses in the first half of 2025, compared to 40% in 2024.
In addition, the choice of models fell as a barrier from 19% to 14%, while a lack of knowledge fell from 22% to 17%, and concerns about charging infrastructure dropped from 35% to 31%.
Tom Middleditch, Head of Electric Mobility and Sustainability spokesperson at Europcar, said:
“It is always encouraging to see sentiment moving in the right direction amongst business drivers, but the shift is marginal.
“There is still a long way to go before businesses will feel confident to make the switch to EVs. More government support will be vital for getting businesses and employers on side in the coming years as we approach the end of the line for new petrol and diesel vehicles.
“The UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate is pushing manufacturers to increase the proportion of electric vehicles they produce within the next few years, which should help further reduce the vehicle availability barrier. That could be why our latest barometer shows such promising results, so it will be interesting to see if the impact can be seen more clearly later in the year.
“However, the ZEV Mandate changes could mean there is less urgency for fleets to make the switch as they have more time. Further hindering the switch is the need for reassurance that driving electric will not impact business productivity – drivers and businesses need to know suitable chargers are available where and when they need them and need to have their questions answered on the practicalities of zero emissions driving for work.
“Europcar has made a significant commitment to electric motoring in the last two years and, despite the lack of government support, we have no intention of taking our foot off the pedal.”
Image from Shutterstock
