British companies could save an average £350,000 each year by switching 10% of their fleet to electric vehicles, according to a new report from the UK’s Transport Research Lab.
The report, commissioned by British Gas, calculated that businesses running large company fleets with 420-33,000 vehicles would be best positioned to make the saving, and could also cut their carbon emissions by 830 tonnes, more than 5% each year.
A 50% switch would correspond to average savings of £1.7 million and carbon savings of 26%, or 2.3 million tonnes.
The financial services sector, the emergency services and NHS trusts, the IT, leisure and media sectors, heavy industry and the architecture and construction sectors were all identified as sectors which stand to reap the most benefit from an electric vehicle switch.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the transport and distribution sectors stand to make the highest financial savings, potentially recouping £486,000 per annum with a 10% switch, and £2.43 million on a 50% switch. The financial services sector is not far behind, standing to make average fleet savings of £484,000 a year with a 10% switch, and carbon savings of 5.7%, or 800 tonnes.
British Gas, which commissioned the report to support its venture into electric car refuelling, said it has begun rolling out electric vehicles within its own fleet as part of a drive to reduce fleet carbon emissions by a quarter.
“This report shows that businesses, under pressure to reduce both costs and carbon emissions, cannot afford to ignore the benefits of electric vehicles,” said Colin Marriott, fleet general manager at British Gas. “Electric vehicles offer us so many benefits as a business that we’re introducing them into our own fleet and aim to have 1,400 by 2015 as part of our drive to reduce fleet carbon emissions by 25%.”
However, the report warned that financial and carbon savings would depend on the specific characteristics of a fleet, such as annual mileage, vehicle duty cycle, types of vehicles used, and the price of fuel and electricity.
British Gas has been pushing its business-friendly credentials in recent weeks. Earlier this month the company launched a new electricity tariff, Flex 24/7, which offers electricity-intensive businesses round-the-clock access to wholesale electricity prices – allowing companies to manage their electricity demand by buying and selling electricity four hours ahead of use.
“The enhanced flexibility could save high users in manufacturing or heavy industry hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, as well as cutting the ‘imbalance fee’ currently paid to energy suppliers when actual electricity use doesn’t match a company’s predictions,” British Gas said. “Flex 24/7 is aimed at customers who have expertise dealing with large, flexible volumes and who want the ability to manage their own market risk and demand forecasting.”