Making a Difference: Cutting emissions (and costs) with effective Fleet Management 

With London introducing the ULEZ (or Ulta Low Emission Zone) in April and the government recently announcing plans to make the UK a ‘net zero emissions’ country by 2050, there’s a need to understand how this will impact your business. Whilst it’s definitely the right direction to head in, will it increase investment and running costs for your business? And can your business help make a big difference to the environment?

Costs 

According to Clarify Green ‘Eco-friendly products are more expensive than traditional products right now because demand is lower, and they cost more to produce’ but costs have certainly been dropping over the last 10 or so years. Solar panels and electric cars are great examples where costs have begun to drop while the number of options (especially cars) has increased. The situation is better still, since electric and hybrid cars cost very little to run then the only cost to really consider as a barrier to investing in low or zero emissions is the initial investment cost of buying the product.

Making a difference 

The answer to the question ‘can you help make a big difference to the environment’ is YES, you can! And as the costs continue to tumble, now is the time to consider how you can make a difference as part of your fleet management strategy. Here are some ideas:

Running Costs

Evaluate the running costs of your current fleet and consider if it’s worth replacing all or some of your fleet earlier than expected to benefit from lower emissions and daily running costs.

You can also reduce consumption with a number of small actions such as making sure fleet vehicles aren’t carrying unnecessary weight and that their tyre levels are correct so that vehicles are more efficient. Careful planning and scheduling can also help make sure that fewer miles are covered on a daily basis - further reducing emissions.

Consider Hybrid as a short term, long-range solution

It’s not clear what the future holds for hybrid as many countries are pushing for cars to be completely electric over the next 20 or so years but hybrid cars currently address an issue that many electric cars currently have - they go a shorter range. If some fleet vehicles are covering a lot of miles in a day and don’t have time to recharge, then a hybrid solution could be the answer. They are much quicker to ‘fuel up’ and have lower emissions than a 100% fuel vehicle. We would welcome your thoughts on this and what you believe will be the future of hybrid vehicles!

Go all out!

The BBC recently reported*** how electric cars are storing power from solar panels on a small Portuguese island and then feeding them back to the electric grid at night time to power the island. This might sound complex and a bit futuristic for your business but there are solutions currently that allow offices (and homes) to generate electricity using solar power and store it in a single unit battery pack for when it’s needed. From as little as £10-15,000 you can have your own solution, providing free power**** for your fleet AND your office!

Make a statement

We absolutely love the concept of the Solar Flower which moves to face the sun, cleans itself and even puts itself away at night! It comes at a cost and whether you use something like this or simply invest in modern solutions such as electric cars to reduce emissions, it’s something you can promote as part of your brand. Cutting emissions isn’t a short-term trend, it’s a long-term change and will only continue to increase in importance. Your customers will love you more if you commit your business to keeping emissions low, and fleet management is a great place to start!

(Solar batteries cost from as little as a few thousand pounds and prices including solar panels vary depending on the size. Price range given is only an estimate).

Are you ready to make a difference?

If you aren’t ready for the future of zero emissions, then now is the time to start planning.

To improve your fleet management, contact a fleet services consultant or get in touch with us at Ramsay Todd for some friendly advice.