The Truth and the Fiction about Electric Company Cars
We’ve got a little bit frustrated at all the “news” articles out there making sweeping statements about electric cars.
In a world where fake news has taken over we’re all getting a little more savvy and doing our own fact checking but googling electric vehicle questions is a mess and we’ve found a lot of it to be garbage.
That’s why we have decided to bust some electric car myths wide open to help break down some of the most questionable narratives out there:
“Electric cars are expensive”
Yes, their list price is high compared to similar petrol and diesel cars, but there are VED (road tax) and BIK tax incentives and lower charging costs can make their whole life cost comparable to their fuel counterparts.
“Electric cars have short driving ranges”
Most new electric cars in the UK can now go between 200 and 300 miles on a single charge and ranges are getting bigger, fast. The Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+ boasts 425 miles of range on a charge and there are announcements from manufacturers aiming far higher in coming vehicle releases.
Fuel powered cars can go much further, however, it’s worth noting that charging an electric car at home or work means not having to visit a petrol station to fill up, just getting into the habit of plugging it in upon arrival. So yes, it’s less range, but it’s less bother to top up.
At Covase, we think the biggest barrier for many when moving to electric is more of a practical one: charging infrastructure. With many employees not having driveways/private parking, they have very few options to charge close to home. Also, businesses can find it a struggle to get charging ports installed. New tech is combating this physical challenge. Experimentation, trials and testing are underway on new types of charging options such as inner city charging hubs, wireless induction charging and on-street pop-up chargers.
“Charging an electric car is an inconvenience”
Let’s be honest, fuelling is an inconvenience too, but the time difference between a 5 minute petrol stop and a 30 minute re-charge is unsettling potential EV drivers. Drivers don’t want to take time out of their journey to charge at a service station or supercharger to complete their journeys. Mileage is key here: if you are doing outward journeys of, say 200 miles with no charging point at your destination, yes, you will need to recharge your electric car en-route. This could be tied into a motorway lunch stop, for example. In fact, many company car fleet policies suggest breaking up long journeys with a rest stop, so it goes hand in hand. However, if that doesn’t suit your business, or field-based drivers, sticking to diesel or petrol may be a better fit until ranges increase and charging times reduce.
“Electric cars aren’t good for the environment because the making of their batteries has a high carbon footprint”
With no exhaust system, electric cars have no emissions which means cleaner air and less pollution. No one is disagreeing on that. The battery production, however, and how the energy is produced to charge an electric car are less widely celebrated. Every independent investigation we’ve read when assessing the overall environmental impact of an electric car, including its production and electricity generation/charging impact, still agree that electric cars are better for the environment overall than fuelled equivalents, but making batteries and generating electricity isn’t 100% carbon neutral. Our view on that would be: progress has to start somewhere. Electricity can be a renewable resource; gasoline cannot. As wonderful as it would be, you can’t go from fossil fuel to carbon neutral in one short step. Engineers and innovators are achieving incredible things, but this isn’t a straight-forward change.
Electric cars are a very new technology in the history of automation, and moving towards greener manufacturing and energy production is underway. We are experiencing a transition from one form of manufacturing to another. Right now, we have mostly old manufacturing making new tech. Moving forward we need new manufacturing making new tech, and that goes all the way back to the power stations that supply the factories.
Energy companies are already integrating smart charging, energy sharing strategies, and vehicle batteries that give energy back to the grid when not in use to improve availability and efficiency. Renewable energy is on the rise. It’s all going in the right direction, but we don’t know of any road car in production (or in the pipeline) that can boast being completely carbon neutral from concept to end of life… yet.
“Electric cars suit low mileage journeys”
The Energy Saving Trust says not if you’re doing under 30 miles a day. This is because they suggest offsetting the higher cost of purchase against the fuel and maintenance cost savings. Sensible approach. But, making fleet decisions based on a generalised statement for or against an electric car fleet based purely on mileage is not financially savvy. So many other factors are at play; driving style, vehicle requirements, non-financial benefits, home parking situations, to name just a few. That’s where fleet management services like ours can help define your car lists and fleet vehicles to suit your unique needs and budget.
“Frequent motorway driving means electric cars are not a good option”
See above! We think a lot of statements about electric cars not being ideal for motorway driving is because motorway driving (or indeed, heavy loading) reduce the range of the battery. Yes, it uses more energy to move faster but that’s the same logic if the car powered by fuel or a battery. Drivers don’t get range anxiety because a car uses more diesel driving at 70mph than 30; they simply fill up the tank sooner. Translate that situation to the world of the electric car, and a driver can often recharge their EV every evening at home or each day at a work port. That sounds easy and more convenient to us.
SHOULD I UPGRADE MY CAR FLEET TO ELECTRIC?
The only way to find out if an electric vehicle fleet is a good fit for your business and your drivers is to embrace the detail and look at your specific situation. It’s unique and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. If you’re doing your own research, make sure you’re looking at articles which are specifically talking about your fleet type, like “company cars”, or you’ll miss out on cost saving factors and any allowances. The advantage about talking to a company car fleet management company direct, is that we know the ins and outs from client experience and working within the automotive industry. When we talk to businesses about electric cars we like to get into the nitty gritty as much as possible to make sure savings are made, drivers and stakeholders are happy, and car quality is maintained/increased. Topics include:
Annual fleet mileage
Average driver mileage
Desired vehicle selection for business need or driver preference
Will at work charging be available?
Will the business pay for home charging installation?
Home parking situations (local public charging, private charge point installation suitability)
Assess driving types and habits (motorway driving, inner city driving (i.e. congestion zone savings), commuting and private driving only, off-road/agricultural/rural requirements)
Distances to supercharging locations (for Teslas)
Vehicle turnover (change all vehicles at once, over-time or look to electrify only a sub-set of the business fleet that fits best.)
We hope you’ve found this EV information helpful. Make sure you give Covase a follow so you don’t miss our next blog release.