Engaging with businesses and an effective communication strategy are among the key drivers of increasing electric vehicle uptake, a pioneering project in Nottingham has found.

The two-year ULEV Experience programme, supported by Nottingham City Council’s Go Ultra Low City funding and delivered through the Workplace Travel Service and a consortium led by Cenex, with partners from DriveElectric, Energy Saving Trust, RideWise, CleanTech Business and Automotive Comms, ran from April 2018 to March 2020.

The project has released a report – which can be downloaded here – detailing what it has achieved and the lessons learned, with the aim of other cities around the UK being able to benefit from this knowledge and implement their own solutions to address air quality challenges.

Sally Langford, deputy leader of Nottingham City Council and portfolio holder energy, environment and democratic services, said: “Working in partnership, the ULEV Experience, which is funded by Nottingham City Council’s Workplace Travel Service, has been very successful in supporting businesses to understand, trial and implement ultra-low emission vehicles.

“By encouraging and supporting local businesses and organisations to make the switch to ULEVs and more sustainable transport, it is hoped that it will help reduce carbon and nitrogen dioxide impacts which transport can significantly contribute to.

“This can not only improve air quality but will also support Nottingham City Council’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2028.”

Among the project’s achievements were:

• A total of 23 events, attended by 619 delegates, were delivered. The events included clinics, ride and drives, EV roadshows, business and public engagement events and an evening business networking reception.

• A total of 34 fleet reviews were delivered; 4,385 vehicles were reviewed with 673 replacement ULEVs identified, representing a potential annual saving of 1,008 tonnes of carbon emissions and total cost of ownership savings of £269,491 from the replacement vehicles.

• A total of 75 low emission vehicle loans were delivered across 41 organisations. Those companies engaged with the ULEV Experience subsequently ordered 29 electric vehicles from DriveElectric, with a large number of companies stating that they would be looking to order electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles at their next replacement cycle.

• £600,000 of workplace travel grants were delivered, supporting 60 businesses, public and voluntary sector organisations to install both electric vehicle charging points and active travel infrastructure.

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