GLASGOW headquartered leasing broker Fleet Alliance has joined the UK Electric Fleets Coalition – a business movement run by The Climate Group – that is calling for the government to bring forward the date for electric vehicle (EV) only car and van sales to 2030.
Currently, the government is consulting on bringing forward its 2040 date to 2035. However, the Coalition wants the government to be more adventurous, with a set of recommendations to help build Britain cleaner and greener post COVID-19.
Helen Clarkson, CEO, The Climate Group said:
“Businesses are making the switch themselves through our EV100 initiative and now they are coming together with a clear message to government: match our ambition and help us move to clean electric transport.”
Among its recommendations are:
- Set a 2030 target: 100% of new car and van sales to be fully electric by 2030 (with exceptions for the small number of vehicles where this may not be possible).
- Stimulate supply to meet business demand: Introduce a zero-emission vehicle mandate to require vehicle manufacturers to produce an annually increasing percentage of zero-emission vehicles.
- Drive demand: Extend grants for electric vehicles and charging points through to at least 2022, when EVs are expected to start competing on price with conventional vehicles.
- Invest in infrastructure: Speed up the rollout of public chargepoints across the UK for use by any payment system.
Fleet Alliance is joined in the Coalition by funders Hitachi Capital and LeasePlan among the 21 other members.
Martin Brown, managing director of Fleet Alliance, added:
“We’re delighted to be working in support of the Climate Group to drive EV uptake across the UK.
As a company we are fully committed to electric vehicles – with all senior management having moved to electric cars. This commitment is encouraging significant fleet growth for us in both zero emission and ultra low emission vehicles.
The UK Electric Fleets Coalition is run by the international non-profit organisation The Climate Group, in partnership with founding member BT Group – including Openreach. The 21 members of the UK Electric Fleets Coalition, which operate over 400,000 cars and vans in the UK, are: Anglian Water, BT, Centrica, DPD UK, ENGIE, Fleet Alliance, Foxtons, Hitachi Capital UK, Iberdrola (Scottish Power), Ingka Group (IKEA), LeasePlan, Mawdsleys, Mitie, Natwest Group, Octopus, Openreach, Orsted, OVO Energy, Severn Trent, Tusker and Unilever.
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
