Transitioning our fleet for a low carbon future

We’re changing the make-up and operation of our company cars and works vehicles to support our commitment to a low carbon future.

Our entire company car fleet is transitioning to electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids, while our vans and construction vehicles are contributing to a carbon offset scheme.

While the switch from petrol and diesel cars will take around two years to complete, the transition has already resulted in around a 30% reduction in carbon emissions for the corporate fleet. We’ve also installed EV charge points at our offices and incentivised ‘at home’ charging for fleet drivers.

“Like many businesses, we’ve been eager to move to more sustainable vehicle technologies for some time and now we’re confident that the charging infrastructure can meet the needs of our car drivers…and more importantly, our customers,” says Ben Holleyhead, Fleet Manager at Energy Assets.

“We’re also keen to adopt electric vehicles for our meter installers and construction teams, but here there are range and recharge challenges because of our work patterns. So, while we continue monitoring and trialing electric and hybrid vans and low carbon fuels for heavy duty vehicles, we’ve gone into partnership with Shell to offset our ‘tank-to-wheel’ carbon emissions.”

Under the scheme, every litre of fuel purchased contributes to the protection or re-development of natural ecosystems, such as forests, grasslands, and wetland systems. This helps lower concentrations of greenhouse gases.

At the same time, we’re also focused on using our vehicles as efficiently as possible. For example, by applying big data analytics, we’ve been able to rework meter and data logger maintenance schedules to reduce field engineer mileage potentially by around 10%.