New data from epyx suggests that 14% of cars and vans operated by fleets are now either hybrid or battery electric vehicles.

The figure is taken from our 1link Service Network platform, used by fleets totalling four million vehicles to buy and manage service, maintenance and repair (SMR) from nearly 9,000 franchise dealers, independent garages and fast-fits.

The 14% figure covers a six month period from April-September of this year and compares to 9% from October 2019-March 2020, and 5% in April 2019-September 2019.

Debbie Fox, commercial director, said: “Simply because of the sheer quantity of fleet vehicles that use 1link Service Network, we believe that this figure provides a good indication of how electrified UK fleets have become overall.

“It shows that roughly one in seven cars and vans now operated by UK companies is either a hybrid or full electric vehicle, which illustrates how they are becoming an everyday part of transport for businesses.

“Especially noteworthy is the speed of adoption. We have gone from 5% at this point last year through to 14% today, no doubt powered largely by both the increased availability of electrified vehicles and the 0% benefit in kind company car taxation rate.

“We plan to run the same reports every six months and it’ll be fascinating to see where we are in March 2021.”

Debbie added that epyx was, in common with much of the rest of the fleet sector, developing its understanding about SMR for hybrid and battery electric vehicles.

“The government’s recent announcement regarding banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 has created an immoveable target date for all fleets to get up to speed in this important area, and one that is rapidly approaching.

“What this means is that everyone is learning about the real world operation of these vehicles in real time, which is both exciting and challenging. We are increasing our knowledge quite quickly but very few fleet EVs have yet gone through a single replacement cycle, so there remains quite a lot to learn.”

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