How modern fleets can save your organisation money

As we stand on the brink of an electric driving revolution, the national grid is set to take over from oil producers as the energy providers for our cars. This provides an enormous opportunity for forward-thinking organisations who can take electric power creation into their own hands.

COULD YOU REDUCE YOUR ORGANISATION’S FUEL BILL?

In the past, organisational fleets were completely reliant on petrol or diesel. Due to its volatile nature, only a handful of businesses have been allowed to store, transport and sell these fuels.

If the future of your fleet is electric – and by 2040 or possibly even 2032 it will be – there’s an opportunity to take back some of this power by providing your fleet with power.

Switching from diesel and petrol to electric will immediately reduce your fleet’s fuel bill. It costs around £2-£4 for an electric car to travel 100 miles compared to around £17-£20 for a petrol or diesel car. This is reflected in the business mileage allowances which reduce from 45p per mile for your grey fleet and 12p/10p per mile for your company car fleet to 4p per mile for all electric cars.

Going green isn’t all about saving cash. If your organisation’s carbon footprint is of concern – and it should be given that consumers of all ages express concern about organisations’ ethics – switching to renewable electricity is the best way to go.

At a macro level, some charging point providers are switching to 100% renewable electricity suppliers. And the UK is about to see the first wave of charging points that are powered by solar. Which begs the question, what if you organisation could move to renewables too?

CONSIDER RENEWABLES TO REDUCE YOUR FUEL BILL

Industries that suffer from hefty energy bills are already making the most of renewable technology. Think Amazon installing solar panels on its warehouse roofs to cut 6,000 tonnes of C02 and saving a lot of money along the way.

Perhaps your organisation has already investigated the option of installing solar panels or wind turbines and decided against it. But with electric cars on the horizon, it’s well worth running the figures again.

Yes, you’ll need to make an initial outlay to install charging points, but they currently come with a government grant that reduces the cost of installation which starts at around £250 per point depending on your requirements.

FLEET CHARGING WITH ADDED BENEFITS

Providing charging points for your employees will soon become a must and not a nice-to-have. Whether you decide to invoice employees to charge their cars or not, the less electricity you have to buy from the national grid, the less it costs your organisation to energise your fleet.

If you generate more electricity than you need, you could also reduce your organisation’s electricity bill or even sell energy back to the grid. These funds could be used to:

• offset the outlay for installing charging points
• contribute to the upkeep of or install more renewable energy sources
• reduce the cost of electricity for your employees
• offset the cost of business mileage claims

Renewables could provide a wide range of financial savings and carbon reduction opportunities. But could you take the production of your own energy one step further?

BATTERY POWER – A SMARTER APPROACH TO DEMAND

Connect your EV charging posts to batteries that are able to store energy and you’ll have the option to retain energy ready to charge cars overnight. Or to supplement supply when renewables aren’t generating power. You can also elect to charge these batteries using energy from the national grid at times when electricity is cheaper.

Some EV charging points come complete with integrated batteries that can export or import electricity from the grid, automatically responding to demand imbalances. This would mitigate any problems with supply and would also ensure your organisation is able to make the most of the energy you’re able to create.

An effective EV strategy requires close cooperation between energy and fleet managers to optimise delivery and achieve savings. With some foresight and a little planning, your electric car fleet could be the catalyst for even greater organisational benefits.