AN inaugural EV experience day providing electric vehicle experience and education for CLM fleet clients has been voted a resounding success. It involved leading EV manufacturer Renault and the UK’s largest supplier of chargepoints, Chargemaster.
The day, which was attended by fleet decision makers from among CLM’s client base, centred around presentations from both suppliers and fleet managers were then free to get behind the wheel of a number of EVs available for test driving purposes.
Newport Pagnell-based CLM, part of the Maxxia Group of companies that comprises Maxxia, Eurodrive Motor Finance, Anglo Scottish Asset Finance and Capex Asset Finance, manages in excess of 15,000 vehicles on behalf of UK corporate clients.
Renault, with the largest line-up of EVs of any European vehicle manufacturer, brought along a number of its award-winning electric models for test purposes, including the Zoe, Europe’s biggest selling EV, the Twizy and the Kangoo ZE.
Claire Atkinson, Renault UK’s manager, leasing (South) & national fleet EV manager, discussed the tax implications of operating an EV compared to a conventional engined car.
She explained that a driver of a typical EV would pay £3,437 in benefit in kind taxation over three years, while the driver of a typical diesel would pay £5,231, some £1,794 more.
She said: “Ministers have been told that 60% of new cars must be electric by 2030 to meet emissions targets but general awareness is low. So EV education days like these with fleet managers are very valuable.”
Jonny Berry, Renault’s regional development manager EVs (South), said a breakthrough moment on whole life costs (WLC) had now been achieved between EVs and conventional internal combustion engined vehicles.
He compared the WLC of a Ford Connect TDCI with those of a Kangoo Z.E. over four years/30,000 miles per annum. Over this period, the Connect had WLC of £23,187.36, while those of the Kangoo Z.E. were £19,024.80, a monetary saving of £4,162.56, plus a carbon saving of 28.89 tonnes of CO2.
Chargemaster’s EV Experience Centre partnership manager Ben Grocott said that there were now 14,348 chargepoints in the UK, increasing at the rate of 250 per month and making the UK one of the best places in Europe for public charging infrastructure.
He also explained the system of grants available to instal chargepoints at home and in the workplace and to buy with grants of up to £4,500 for full EVs, £2,500 for hybrids, up to £8,000 for electric vans and £1,500 for electric motorbikes were also available under the government’s plug-in vehicle grant schemes.
He also described the different charging speeds of the chargers currently on the market.
Chargemaster operates the POLAR recharging network, the UK’s biggest public charging network, which links over 6,000 public charging points. And it also runs, on behalf of Milton Keynes council, the EV Experience Centre in the centre of the town, the UK’s first and Europe’s largest EV education centre.
Grocott said: “We wanted fleet managers to take away from the day just how easy it is to make the transition from diesel or petrol vehicles to EVs and how cost-effective it can be. Feedback we received was very positive.”
