Do count your carbon emissions before you cut them

By My Fleet Hub

Controlling and reducing fleet emissions – and proving that you are doing it – begins with monitoring them. Fleet decision-makers need to consider this before adding any new vehicle to a fleet. More importantly, in April 2020, new legislation will start to deal with cutting carbon emissions. It happens through a new company car tax based on the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure’s (WLTP) CO2 figure.

For some, the decision is easy. Purchase electric vehicles. But is that going to help deal with cutting carbon emissions?

Buying electric won’t cut carbon emissions quickly

Offsetting carbon emissions via the adoption of electric cars is not just the answer. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee states, this in a Parliamentary report.

The report says, 20,000 cars would need to be removed from the road every week for the next 31 years. That’s even with the demand growing for electric vehicles. New registrations of plug-in cars are increasing: 3,500 in 2013 to more than 223,000 by the end of July 2019. But, it’s not growing fast enough for the UK to meet its goal. The goal of having “almost every car and van” at”zero-emission” by 2050.

The report also noted several logistical challenges, including “the technical challenge of managing increased electricity demand from EVs” and the “industrial challenges of moving to EV technology for automotive manufacturers, retailers and after-sales service providers”.

The reality for organisations is that going electric right now is an expensive option. It is a costly choice when you consider not only the upfront costs of electric vehicles but also the cost of replacement batteries. And the fact that a charging point infrastructure is not entirely up and running throughout the land. So, right now, it just doesn’t make business sense to turn your whole fleet electric yet.