Key to claim from analytical firm Geotab is the low average daily miles driven by UK fleets
The UK is the most suited market in Europe to the mass-adoption of EVs, especially fleets, new data that analysed 1.3 million vehicles across seven countries has revealed.
As part of its Taking Charge: On the Road to an EV Future report, analytical firm Geotab claims 66% of combustion-powered UK-based fleet vehicles could be swapped for an electric alternative, without impacting on daily usability and while saving businesses thousands of pounds in costs.
Key to this claim is the amount of miles driven by UK business motorists. Over a 12-month period, tracked vehicles averaged 52 miles a day, “well within the limits of current EV technology” Aaron Jones, Geotab’s AVP sales and business development told Autocar.
“Of the [vehicles we tracked], 49% never drove more than 250 miles in a day during the period of the study,” he added. “That data indicates that that’s not going to be a problem to mass adoption. And then, if you do suddenly need to drive more than 250 miles, that’s manageable.”
Commercial EVs currently on the market offer a breadth of ranges. For example, at the larger end, a loaded Ford E-Transit has a range of 101 miles and a Mercedes-Benz eSprinter 83 miles, whereas the smaller Citroen e-Berlingo Van can eek out as much as 211 miles.
For those firms requiring larger vans, these ranges would be more problematic for countries such as France, Jones said, with vehicles travelling an average of 80 miles. This means drivers would have to plan daytime charging stops, therefore impacting current business operations and requiring more work to transition.
This left France as the least suited market for EVs, with just 20% of vehicles identified as being able to be swapped for an EV. Behind the UK was Spain (43%), Germany (35%) and Italy (28%). The UK was also found to be better equipped than other western powerhouses such as Canada (50%) and the United States (38%).
“The idea that the UK is not ready for mass EV adoption is a fallacy,” said David Savage, Geotab’s vice president for the UK and Ireland, adding that this is contrary to increasing industry and media pessimism around EV adoption.
“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.”
That doubling down could save firms as much as £13,279 over a seven-year period in ownership costs, claims the report, and if those 66% of identified ICE vehicles were swapped it would reduce CO2 emissions by 19 million metric tons over the same period.
What makes the UK’s top spot more interesting is the lack of incentives currently offered here compared to other European countries. Within the report, France, Germany, Italy and Spain all offer EV purchase incentives.
“The UK could support businesses with greater incentives,” said Jones. “The Nordic countries are very much leading in that regard [with big VAT cuts]; companies are heavily incentivised to make that transition.
“Incentivising businesses to put money into a charging infrastructure is equally as important.”
However, Jones admitted that transition to electric vehicles right now will not be the right move for all firms – but data could be the key to helping them understand this
“Insight that can come from data will be invaluable,” said Jones. “There are large fleets in the UK that adopted to EVs early. They said ‘we’re just going to get EVs’ then they’ve had loads of problems; that’s where the personism comes from.
“So we’re always advising fleet managers and procurement officers, our customers and our non-customers to take a data driven approach to gaining that insight.”
