Founder and editorial director of Transport + Energy Alec Peachey has opened this year’s Fleet Electrification Forum with a call to continue pressing ahead with the transition.
Peachey highlighted the critical role that fleets are taking in the transition to electric and decarbonised vehicles in the UK.
He said: “When I stood here last year, I spoke about the importance of maintaining momentum behind fleet electrification despite political uncertainty.
“A year on, political uncertainty remains. But one thing has become even clearer: fleets are continuing to lead the transition.”
He added that organisations across the public and private sectors are “pressing ahead because they recognise the business case”, have their own decarbonisation commitments, and “understand the importance of improving air quality and reducing emissions”.
“Significant investments have already been made,” he added, “and fleet electrification is no longer a question of if, but how quickly we can deliver it”.
Alec concluded that the Forum reflected the progress to-date and while some were “just beginning their transition”, others had already electrified large parts of their fleet.
He said: “Every journey is different, but there is enormous value in sharing experience, learning from one another, and working collaboratively to overcome the remaining challenges.”
Following Alec’s opening speech, Chris Heron, Secretary General of E-Mobility Europe, offered a European snapshot of the industry, and the issue of enabling fleet electrification to occur at speed and scale.
He said it was important to focus on the enablers for electric vehicles, and to ensure incentives continue to be a driver for electrification. Such policies provided certainty for businesses in investment into electric vehicles.
Heron said: “It is in the countries with the incentives in place where we are seeing penetration first. These enablers are a key driving factor”.
One example of such a market was Denmark, which, through incentives, was now at more than 80% electrification and “starting to challenge Norway” as a leader across Europe.
But he added that where incentives weren’t in place, in countries such as Italy and Spain, that, despite growth in the battery-electric vehicle market, progress was slower.
If the EU chose to slow down the transition, it would “mean accepting China’s dominance”, and a continuing dependence on oil across Europe.
He said that “in a transition like this it is okay to recalibrate” but not to change direction entirely.
