Abbott Laboratories to switch fleet to all-electric

Healthcare company, Abbott Laboratories is on target to transition its 475-strong UK car fleet to all-electric vehicles (EV) during 2023.

Arval, who has worked with Abbott on a solus basis for more than 10 years supplying cars on a 48-month lease contract hire, will help the company make the switch.

Les Muggeridge (pictured), UK human resources director at Abbott Laboratories, said: “We’ve set ourselves an objective of becoming all-EV next year, something that has been made possible in part by Arval working with us to revise our policy to enable us to remove internal combustion engines (ICE) plug-in hybrid models at the earliest opportunity.

“The only potential stumbling block is supply, which is a tricky area for everyone at the moment, but otherwise we are very much on target.”

The company said it has tried to make the switch to EV adoption "as easy as possible” for employees and drivers can choose almost any model currently available in the UK, as long as it has a minimum 170-mile range.

Christina Harbour, fleet, risk, and finance projects manager at Abbott, said: “Drivers are also allowed to add their own contribution to cars of up to 20% and many have chosen to do this, especially in relation to a new 90 car Tesla opportunity that Arval has been able to secure. This is especially attractive because the cars are price protected.

“Additionally, we’ve worked with Arval to make charging as easy as possible, with the cost of installing home charging included in the monthly lease payments, which is quite an innovation. There are also extensive charging facilities available at almost all our UK sites.”

Muggeridge added that Abbott had fewer than 100 drivers operating any kind of ICE vehicle.

He added: “There’s just something of a hardcore left now. Some are waiting for EVs on order and there are only a handful who are keen to stay with their petrol or diesel car.

“However, we have been helping to make the transition easier with a training course highlighting the advantages of EVs and this has worked very well in terms of changing attitudes.”

> 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

> EVs by range

> EVs by their efficiency

> Rapid charging EVs

> EVs by price: lowest to highest