Making business sense of electric vehicles

The EV20 Plugged-In Fleets report aims to guide a fleet decision maker through fleet specific considerations such as whole life cost modelling, tax frameworks and financial solutions, that are necessary to successfully purchase or lease electric fleet vehicles.

Published by the Energy Saving Trust, the Climate Group, Cenex, Transport for London and TNT, it argues EVs can be commercially viable in business fleets and attempts to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits, while providing practical guidance for fleet managers looking to introduce them.

Companies that run ultra-low carbon vehicles can benefit from reduced refuelling costs, zero rate company car tax and capital allowance concessions, as well as 100% discounts for road tax and the congestion charge in London.

But the report says that by analysing the duty cycles of fleet vehicles and the activity of each vehicle over a day, it’s possible to cluster vehicles together and define a unique duty cycle for a typical cluster of vehicles.

In establishing this, it suggests a fleet will be on the way to understanding whether an EV solution is feasible.

And, when combined with wholelife costs, this approach will enable a fleet manager to determine whether a certain technology meets the financial and operational performance required for the fleet.

To download the report click here.