AkzoNobel cuts fleet emissions in half in 18 months

Decorative paints and performance coatings specialist AkzoNobel has managed to cut its car fleet emissions by 47% over the past 18 months with help from Arval UK.

The reduction, which includes new cars on order, will see average CO2 car emissions fall from 133g/km to 70g/km.

Operating a fleet of 359 cars and 266 vans, it launched a carbon cutting fleet strategy last year to contribute towards a global target of halving corporate CO2 by 2030, as well as meeting growing driver demands for electrified vehicles offered through its company car scheme.

AkzoNobel’s UK fleet manager, Karl Allward, said: “We knew that we needed to increasingly electrify the fleet in order to meet sustainability and colleague satisfaction objectives.

“However, we wanted to make this a relatively natural process over time, rather than suddenly stipulating that drivers should drive certain types of cars and vans.”

Ben Edwards, consultant at Arval UK, helped integrate a range of electrified vehicles on to the AkzoNobel choice list.

He said: “There was an aspiration to offer a strong selection of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids to drivers, alongside existing petrol and diesel options. This was not necessarily easy.

“The issue was that lease costs tend to be low for petrol and diesel cars while running costs are higher, whereas EVs and plug-in vehicles are more expensive to lease although comparatively economical to operate.”

Edwards recommended adopting a wholelife cost approach, which has the advantage of providing an accurate overall view of fleet running costs, including servicing, maintenance, national insurance and business fuel.

“This was a method that was adopted across the whole AkzoNobel fleet in order to create new car choice lists,” said Edwards.

The reaction from drivers to changes in the car choice lists has been strong. Already, the AkzoNobel car fleet has 30 EVs, 52 hybrids and 40 plug-in hybrids, as well as an order bank of 138 vehicles, of which more than 90% are electrified.

Around the same time, AkzoNobel took three electric vans on a trial basis using Arval’s Flex-EV, its electric mid-term rental product, with the objective of assessing how well they met operational requirements in real world conditions, including using telematics to collect relevant data.

Allward said: “We will be looking to add electric vans into lower stress roles in the short-medium term, before looking to full electrification of the fleet towards the end of the decade.

“As with the car fleet, we believe it is best to make this a gradual process in order to minimise any operational impact.”

AkzoNobel is a multinational business that creates decorative paints and performance coatings for industrial and retail customers worldwide, owning brands including Dulux, Cuprinol, Sadolin and Polyfilla.

In the UK, its fleets is managed from Altrincham, Greater Manchester. Arval UK and its global partner, Element, provide fleet services to the company in 34 countries, managing almost 4,000 vehicles in total.