By Tom Middleditch, head of electric mobility at Europcar Mobility Group
While the climate featured prominently in the Labour manifesto, reinstating the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles did not appear in the party’s list of ‘first steps’.
After the previous Conservative Government pushed back the deadline to 2035 less than 12 months ago, the wait to hear if and when Labour will undo the change puts further pressure on fleet managers who generally work on three or five-year fleet cycles.
Anyone trying to put together five-year plans will be grappling with uncertainty about the role electric vehicles will need to play.
Planning to cut carbon
Regardless of Government-imposed deadlines, businesses are trying to ‘do the right thing’. They are already looking to reduce their carbon emissions, to meet environmental objectives as well as tackle business costs.
Indeed, Europcar has seen numerous business customers rent more and more electric and hybrid vehicles because increasing the proportion of low and zero emissions vehicles on fleet goes a long way to reducing environmental impact.
Before former Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, changed the deadline, the market was readying itself and sales of electric and hybrid vehicles had been steadily increasing.
The Sunak announcement may have taken the wind out of the sails of change initially, but overall enthusiasm for lowering emissions didn’t fade for long.
Many businesses retained their environmental targets and continued working towards replacing their more polluting vehicles.
Reducing emissions, whether by driving newer and more efficient petrol and diesel vehicles or by switching to hybrid and electric alternatives, will make a difference to our environment and air quality; it will also cut fuel costs and vehicle downtime for repair.
When Rishi Sunak announced that the ban on new ICE vehicles would shift from 2030 to 2035, he did not remove the obligation on manufacturers to ensure electric vehicles make up at least 80% of the cars they produce by 2030 under the zero emission vehicle mandate.
This means manufacturers have not put the brakes on innovation, so the necessary vehicles should still be available to meet market need when the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, confirms the reinstatement of the original ban date.
However, the fleet managers with impending fleet replacement cycles right now face the dilemma of whether they should be factoring zero into fleet strategies or holding out.
Rental stop gap
Whether the deadline for new ICE sales remains 2035 or shifts again to 2030, businesses need to be encouraging employees to switch to electric sooner rather than later.
Unfortunately, that is easier said than done, with many unknowns holding organisations back.
Rental is an effective transitionary solution, helping employers make the switch in a way they can afford, and which fits with business requirements as well as navigates the ‘waiting game’ on the 2030 decision.
The flexibility and low-commitment model of rental makes it ideal for businesses in the current changing and uncertain landscape.
Indeed, including electric rental vehicles within a fleet is becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses to learn from real-world experience to smooth the way for a greener fleet in future.
Whether it’s a case of adding one or two electric vehicles to a company’s pool car fleet or including EVs in a business travel policy so that employees can opt to rent an electric vehicle for a few days or weeks as and when required, the fundamental goal is to help businesses understand how they will need to adjust working practices to take account of the different driving and ‘fuelling’ needs come 2030 or 2035.
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