FLEETS in the future will use an increasingly broad range of fuels according to new research from the 2019 Arval Mobility Observatory.
An uncertain future for diesel remains, despite technology making the new vehicles cleaner than ever. Alternatively-fuelled vehicles will see the biggest gains.
Almost 30% of fleet mobility managers said they would continue to reduce the number of diesels operated, with 7% maintaining a policy of not buying any more. However, 44% of managers said they would continue to buy diesel cars, and 5% said they would increase the mix.
Looking at how diesels would be replaced, only 4% said they would switch to petrol cars, with 22% planning to move to alternative fuels.
Shaun Sadlier, Head of Arval Mobility Observatory UK said: “RDE2 diesels are starting to become available and some of them are comparable with petrol on NOx emissions while also offering better CO2 output and fuel economy.
“However, it appears that diesel has become so inherently unpopular as the result of recent emissions controversies that there will be no large-scale resurgence in its popularity, despite this development.
“Roughly six times as many fleets will be replacing their diesels with hybrids or EVs as with petrol, and this should certainly give a strong push to alternative fuel adoption over the next few years. Certainty we see many fleets swapping their diesels for hybrids.”
Findings come from the latest edition of the Arval Mobility Observatory, which covers 3,930 fleets.
