Many businesses have watched on with interest as the electric vehicle (EV) market has developed, but have feared to take the plunge in making the change from traditional fuels. Others have taken the step too soon, and in a rush to be Green have made critical and costly mistakes in converting to an EV fleet. Fortunately, Total Motion saw the potential benefits in EV at an early stage, and now stand as one of the few fleet businesses with genuine knowledge of the EV sector and with a reputation for offering trusted and reliable advice.
It is no surprise that more organisations are looking at converting their fleet to EVs. Of course, first and foremost it is the right thing to do in terms of reducing our individual carbon footprint, but it also makes financial sense - with regards fuel usage, service & maintenance and VAT - and in terms of PR, is a good marketing move also. But that doesn’t necessarily mean now is the right time to make the switch.
We have seen fleet managers make the transition to EVs without properly understanding the market or the supporting infrastructure required to be in place. You need to have market knowledge to choose the right vehicles to suit your operations, to invest in charging stations and the right service and maintenance, and you need advice on the right financial models for lease agreements. Fundamentally, if this structure is not in place then the change can become a burden and counter-productive to the business.
Our experience in EV fleet management
Put simply, you need to make the move at the right time, and that is where experts such as Total Motion are well-placed to advise.
With over 16 years’ experience in researching, procuring and developing EV vehicles and systems, we are one of the leading EV pioneers in the fleet sector. Since 2000 Total Motion has been researching and developing models which will manage the transition from petrol and diesel to LPG, bio fuel and electric. We led the way in managing fleet electrification projects as long ago as 2004, and by the end of 2006 we had over 500 LPG and 650 EVs in operation.
We now have the largest percentage of alternative fuel vehicles in the UK leasing and fleet management sector, and in fact were the first to have an EV rental fleet.
How we implement EV fleet management
The way we work in terms of converting clients to an EV fleet, is to conduct a programme of fleet consultancy. This involves a no-cost discussion on the merits of EVs to your individual organisation. Through this we gain a comprehensive understanding of your business, people and operations and apply our knowledge of products such as Actual Whole Life Cost (AWLC) to establish a basis for the right fleet of vehicles for you.
We follow this up with trials in which clients take a fleet of vehicles on the road to look at proof of concept, and to test EVs to see how they fair in terms of real time data on performance, fuel usage and cost-effectiveness. All this data is assessed and helps to form an opinion on the right vehicles for you – such as cars, vans, grey fleet or a mixture of these – how the transition can work in line with your existing strategies and KPIs and how it fits in with your operations.
Given our EV market knowledge, we would always advise a client to move to EVs for their fleet, but only at the right time. We are industry-leading in our EV expertise, so give us a call today on 0116 248 8160 and we can start the process of fleet consultancy and establishing the right time to make the switch to an EV fleet.
