COMPANY car drivers are willing to convert to alternatively fuelled vehicles if costs are similar to petrol cars, according to a Lease Plan survey. The company questioned 100 company car drivers with 66% saying they would consider driving an alternatively fuelled vehicle - compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas or electric - subject to the cost implications.

Shell Gas has already produced figures which claim that vehicles averaging 15,000 miles a year can cut running costs by 15-20% - equating to a 2p a mile saving for cars and vans over their diesel equivalents.

The research reveals that just 8% of company car drivers would not drive an alternatively fuelled vehicle, whatever the cost comparison, usually citing reduced performance as the reason. A quarter of drivers were undecided.