UK: Plug-in Pledge to rapidly increase electric car fleet
A major surge in plug-in vehicles is to take Great Britain in storm as the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) launches the ‘Plug-in Pledge’. They aim to raise the number of plug-in vehicles in fleets from 50,000 today to 720,000 by 2025.
By that time, vehicle rental and leasing companies being members of the BVRLA will be buying 300,000 plug-in vehicles per year, according to the Plug-in Pledge. This represents an increase in the industry’s share of annual new plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicle registrations from 36% to 60%.
While this is a target, it is achievable. The association’s members oversee almost five million vehicles on British roads. Add to this their combined buying power and the frequency of fleet replacement cycles, and they can easily be a key driver on the journey to zero emissions.
The latter has been outlaid in the government’s Road to Zero strategy published last week. It also feeds into the latest numbers the Go Ultra Low campaign released today that see an upward trend for electric and plug-in hybrid car sales in the UK. In the first half of this year, they counted one plug-in vehicle being registered every 9 minutes reportedly.
Despite those trends and policies, the BVRLA’s Plug-in Pledge comes with demands for further government support in order to be successful. In detail the association is calling on the government to:
– Bring forward plug-in company car tax incentives now and not in 2020
– Provide a five-year commitment on plug-in vehicle incentives
– Offer more infrastructure support for businesses looking to deploy large plug-in fleets
Their demands base on a poll by YouGov with 1,043 participants. It has shown that 42% of senior decision makers in SME’s, would be likely to increase the number of electric vehicles they use if national and local government were to offer greater support.
The government has so far responded only by saying the Road to Zero strategy and its infrastructure measures would be enough to support the initiative.
The BVRLA’s ‘Plug-in Pledge’ was launched at a Parliamentary Reception in the House of Commons today to an audience of BVRLA members, vehicle manufacturers, sustainable transport stakeholders, Government officials and supportive MPs.
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