Beverage firm transitions fleet to electric with Kia

Halewood Artisanal Spirits has taken delivery of 25 Kia e-Niro’s from Bolton Kia to help transitions its fleet to electric.

Halewood chose the e-Niro ‘2’ Long Range, which was introduced in March this year and offers up to 282-miles (WLTP combined) or 382-miles (WLTP city) range from a single charge of its 64kWh battery, Kia said.

Kia said the e-Niro model benefits from the 201bhp (150kW) electric motor and with a starting price of £34,945, qualifies for the Government plug-in car grant.

The ‘2’ Long Range also offers space for five occupants and 451 litres of cargo capacity.

The company aims for 90% of its fleet to have transitioned to electric power this month - an order for a further six e-Niro and three of Kia’s latest electric car, the EV6, has been placed bringing the total number of e-Niro's to 31.

The EV6 electric cars, which are capable of 10-80% charge in 18 minutes, will be used by the firm’s senior management.

To support its switch to electric cars, Halewood has committed to installing workplace chargers at each of its UK facilities.

Iain Wilson, fleet manager at Halewood Artisanal Spirits, said: “Our previous fleet was made up of diesel and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and we’d monitored the EV market for quite some time before taking the plunge.

“The Kia e-Niro addressed all our concerns about EVs convincingly, thanks to its excellent practicality, range and charging speeds.

“We know that our fleet can cope with the car’s range, especially once we have chargers at all of our UK facilities, which will really make a big difference to the ease of adoption.

“There are many reasons why fleets should at least look to go electric. There are significant savings to be had including the cost of electricity versus fuel, lower SMR costs and of course significant tax savings for our company car drivers too.”

Kia said Halewood’s drivers will also be provided comprehensive driver training and information on home charging and energy deals available with off-peak EV tariffs.

> Interested in comparing electric vehicle data? Check out our EV tool.

> Interested in ensuring the efficient use of EVs. Check out our dedicated editorial sections: Insight & policy | EV news | Charging & infrastructure | Costs & incentives | Benefit-in-kind | EV case studies | EV road tests