Many organisations are struggling to justify why they should electrify their fleet when the perceived changeover over cost is so high. However if reducing greenhouse emissions and meeting carbon reduction targets are the main motivation, there are several options available to Fleet Managers that involve a mix of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) and hybrid powered cars.
This video by the Gill Pratt, CEO at the Toyota Research Institute, explains Toyota’s belief in BEVs but proposes the best way to reduce more carbon emissions, sooner, is to employ diverse solutions that maximise CROI (Carbon Return On Investment).
One of the main points made by Pratt is the average daily driving distance of Americans. It’s similar to other studies around the world which shows the range of most electric vehicles sold today exceed the average daily commute. So making an EV that can travel 500km on a single charge is a waste of resources. A better way would be to spread the battery power across eight PHEVs with a range of 40-80 kilometres to provide a better solution for the environment and most consumers.
With a PHEV range of 50 kilometres, charging each night would give most people enough range to drive to work, run some errands and then return home without producing any C02 from the petrol engine. Or a hybrid would work just as well when the majority of the travel is in peak hour traffic in a urban environment.
Fleet vehicles should travel more kilometres each day than most private vehicles and understanding this behaviour is the first step for businesses on the pathway to an electric fleet. And this is why selecting vehicles is probably the last step for fleets looking to ‘test and trial’ electric cars or trucks.
