Operating electric vehicles is no longer a choice and will soon become a necessity. The Government has made its position on the future of road transport clear by removing company car tax for electric vehicles (EVs).

Fleets that don’t get on board now will quickly find themselves on the back foot, with the sale of conventionally fuelled vehicles possible ending within two lifecycles.

Speaking exclusively at Fleet Live, the UK’s largest fleet event, Gary McRae, former Dundee City Council corporate fleet manager, will explain how the city became a pioneer with plug-in vehicles.

He has since joined Urban Foresight, the specialist consultancy that helped implement the city's EV strategy, and is now working on a charging solution for residents without off-street parking.

The demonstrator project will see up to 18 charging hubs installed in Dundee and Plymouth. These hubs will be mainly fitted in residential and public streets with on-street parking, featuring thee-six chargers per hub.

Fleet Live takes place at the NEC in Birmingham on October 8 and 9. For more information and to register for your complimentary place, please visit the dedicated website here.

McRae will be joined on stage by Fraser Crichton, the council's new corporate fleet operations manager. He has been at the forefront of implementing electric vehicles and infrastructure in Dundee as well as surrounding local authorities and has presented at many conferences where he has articulated his knowledge and expertise in the practicalities of electric vehicle adoption.

Simon King, Mitie procurement director, will also present an in depth case study on Mitie’s journey to switching a large proportion of its car and van fleet to EV.

Mitie has committed to moving 20% of its small van and car fleet to electric by the end of 2020 and, as members of EV100, will transition its entire fleet of 5,300 vehicles to electric by 2030.

By the end of 2020, Mitie will also have installed 800 new charging points at both its offices and client locations, as well as employee’s homes.

King said: “We are incredibly proud to be leading the way in transitioning our fleet to electric vehicles. We want to encourage more companies to follow suit, which is why supporting initiatives such as EV100 are increasingly important. We are keen to support likeminded companies who also want to reap the same rewards and limit their impact on climate change.”

Alongside the move to electrification, mobility, safety and driver wellbeing will be key subjects at this year's Fleet Live.

The two-day event gives fleet decision-makers of all levels of experience a chance to listen, learn and share their thoughts and actions on the topics currently influencing the fleet sector.

It's free to attend and takes place at the Birmingham NEC on October 8 and 9.

Visitors will be able to take part in seminars and theatre sessions, hearing from 26 expert speakers on the key issues in fleet.

Speakers at the seminars will be experts in their fields, either fleet decision-makers or representatives of specialist industry bodies and organisations. There will be no sales pitches.

There will also be more than 100 exhibitors at the event, ranging from vehicle manufacturers and leasing companies to telematics and data suppliers.

The new Tomorrow’s Fleet Zone will allow visitors to Fleet Live to experience the future of fleet management first-hand. It will feature a purpose-built street of the future, ‘Electric Avenue’, entering the world of the autonomous vehicle, innovative electric vehicle charging solutions, mobility apps, and other future products and services. Visitors will have the opportunity to touch and see some of these and ask questions from the experts behind the technologies. 

Last year's event had record-breaking attendance figures with more than 2,000 visits across the two days. To find out more about Fleet Live 2018, click here.

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