News analysis
Below: The AA’s own driving school is rolling out EVs such as the Peugeot E-208.
In this issue
“I also think you’ve got to start to play in that over the last two years the sales of new cars have been down just under 30% year-on-year, so we are seeing a lot of cars that would have been replaced by now still out on the roads, and we are starting to see some different trends around that as well. “I think this also accelerates opportunities around EVs, because with a shortage of vehicles what you are finding is more and more people are being steered towards, and are buying, EVs.”
Franks said his other themes for the year, based on conversations with the AA’s wide portfolio of corporate customers, which includes banks, insurers, large fleets, leasing companies, and manufacturers, were sustainability and resourcing. He said: “[Sustainability] is becoming a really big issue for many companies, and I guess it’s really the acceleration towards EVs but also the acceleration towards a carbon- neutral future.
“[Another theme], a common theme through the pandemic, has been resourcing and skill sets. I guess a lot of people have re-evaluated their lives in terms of what they do and want to do going forward.” Offering a business perspective on the year ahead, British Chambers of Commerce director general Shevaun Haviland described urban mobility and transport as a crucial issue for her organisation. She said: “Improved infrastructure and connectivity in general has long been a core ask for us, whether it’s road, rail or air, it’s super important to have that connectivity between regions and nations, so that we can move people and goods around.
“We recognise and massively support the need for better transport around urban areas. That might include hire schemes, or bikes and scooters. And as the roll- out of clean air zones progresses, those sorts of solutions will become more and more important.”
Haviland added that while businesses were generally very keen to adopt EVs, there was still uncertainty for companies around certain areas. She said: “When I go out and visit our chambers I have regularly been asked about the move to EVs. It’s something that businesses want to do, but they see significant obstacles, so they
say ‘I don’t think I have enough charging stations around where I am, or if I do near my business but my staff have to take their vehicle home at night – do they have the infrastructure to charge the vehicles?’ “So they find it incredibly challenging and that is something we continue to work with those national and particularly local government on to address. The will is there, which is a good sign.”
Another speaker on the webinar, National Grid head of future markets Graeme Cooper, took a more long-term view. Cooper discussed how widespread electrification of transport might affect power supplies in the years ahead. “By 2050, the UK will consume probably about
“A common theme through the pandemic has been resourcing and skill sets.”
twice the amount of electricity that it does today,” he said. “To be able to do that, we are likely to have to have nearly four times the amount of clean generation that we do today. And because of that, we are going to need twice the grid capacity.
“If you think about that 100% growth in demand, most people would probably say electrified transport is quite high in that percentage. Actually, only about 20% is surface transport.
“When people say we can’t go to electric vehicles because the grid can’t cope, the answer is the grid will cope, and it has to cope. How will it cope? Well, the grid will evolve like it has been evolving for the past 20 years. Will it be seamless? No. But like all these things you don’t know what we don’t know.
Cooper closed with a piece of advice. “As an industry we have to just work very hard, to make sure we observe problems before they come, and overcome them before they become an issue.”
Firstly, I’m very pleased to announce that we’ll once again be celebrating the fleet industry’s best and brightest at the 2022
Business Car Awards. Entries are open now (
https://awards-bc.businesscar.co.uk), and the awards themselves will take place at the Royal Garden Hotel on 22 September.
The discussion in this issue about plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), made me think about my last PHEV long- termer – a BMW 330e Tourer. Having had another PHEV before that, I was convinced by the savings that added electrical power could make – even if I didn’t have a home charger.
Having a home charger was the game changer - if I was at home, I could fully charge it overnight – then with Eco Pro mode engaged, I found this BMW could cover up to 500 miles on a tank of unleaded, with local trips mostly undertaken in full electric mode. As you’d expect from a BMW, it didn’t disappoint on the road either – when fully charged, that electric motor even had the power to pep up the performance from the downsized petrol engine.
The future might be electric, but the plug-in version of our best premium car totally charmed me with its mixed character if, like an EV, I could keep it charged.
The perfect example of this was when I took this BMW on our staycation holiday to Cornwall last year. Fully charged on the way there, I easily beat BMW’s claimed 300-mile range by 88 miles. However, despite looking, south-west public charging seemed in short supply. For the remainder of the week, on top of carrying my family around – it felt like the 3 Series was carrying its electric motor – range plummeting to less than 250 miles, for the next couple of tanks until home. So, like Jack says in his feature, PHEV will always be a backwards step unless charged. Check out his feature on page 20.
Enjoy the issue.
Martyn Collins Business Car Editor
www.businesscar.co.uk | March 2022 | 5
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