COP26 Summit: 10 Biggest EV Fleets Promised By UK Businesses

The climate extravaganza that is COP26 has arrived with world leaders, business executives and activists all in attendance. The summit is billed as a potential turning point in the struggle to avert the worst effects of climate change. The parties in attendance aim to get closer to fulfilling promises they’ve made to collectively cut greenhouse emissions.

International Transport Forum states that almost one-third of transport-related CO2 emissions are from trade-related freight fleets. Following the COP26 summit and with the 2030 ban on the sale of new fuelled cars looming, attention will turn to businesses to see what they’re doing to drastically reduce emissions.

To get a jump on inevitable electrification, many companies are taking matters into their own hands before legislation demands it and committing to EV fleet targets. In their latest research, Select Car Leasing takes a look at 35 companies that have committed to EV fleet targets and estimated how much they’re going to save in CO2 emissions every year.

The UK government’s EV Fleet could save 230,000+ tonnes of CO2 emissions each year

The UK is well represented in Select Car Leasing’s Race To Electrification Index, with four UK owned businesses appearing in the top 10. GlaxoSmithKline, a big player in Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination programmes aims to have 19,000 low with four government-owned businesses appearing in the top 10. BT Group has also pledged an EV fleet of 30,000.

But it’s the UK government that are leading by example in Select Car Leasing’s research as they’re planning to electrify their entire fleet of 40,000 vehicles by 2027, three years ahead of the new fuelled car ban. It’s estimated that by making the switch to electric, the government will save 236,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions per year.

The EVFA would collectively save 413,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year

The seven British companies making up the Electric Vehicle Fleet Accelerator (EVFA) have all pledged to convert their fleets to electric by 2030. BT Group is the only EVFA company to take proud place in SCL’s Top 10, saving 177,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year with their EV fleet.  Collectively, the combined fleet of 70,000 vans from BP, BT, Direct Line Group, Royal Mail, Scottish Power, Severn Trend and Tesco would save 413,000 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted every single year.

Methodology

Select Car Leasing applied the average emissions figure (159g of CO2 for every kilometre travelled, according to transport campaign group Transport & Environment) and average yearly mileage (36,975km, according to the UK government’s statistics) to the number of vehicles in each fleet.

Source: https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/news/article/greenest-global-fleets