Fleet profile
A
lthough he did not necessarily plan for a career managing an environmentally-focused fleet, Dale Eynon always had an interest in the environment, graduating from the University of Nottingham with a degree in Applied Biology. When an opportunity to get into the fleet industry arose in 2005, Eynon explains “I knew very little about fleet, I was offered the job based on my interest in delivering environmental savings.”
From then until now, he explains that the industry, as well as his role managing the fleet service at the Department for Environment, Food and Current Affairs, also known as Defra, has seen quite the transformation.
the cars with full servicing while the commercial vehicles are out right purchased with SMR via a servicing agent.
Carbon reduction
Without a doubt, the biggest challenge and change Eynon’s fleet has seen in recent years is the climate emergency. “Responding to this requires us to make significant operational and business changes to reduce our carbon emissions and limit our impact on the environment.” To do this, he says collaboration has been key. “All carbon reduction plans need support from internal and external partners so we’ve been working with key suppliers, and external advisors such as the Energy
“We’ve had to radically reform the policy to decide how to deal with cars, which has taken time.”
Eynon’s position has evolved into director, Defra Group Fleet Services at Environment Agency, where he explains his team provinces a corporate fleet service to 12 of Defra’s Government departments, the biggest client being the Environment Agency in which Eynon’s team is embedded, which makes up around 90% of the fleet.
Much of his 17 years at the EA has been spent learning on the job, although he explains this has been made easier through the support of a great team. He is responsible for the supply, service, maintenance and disposal of around 5,500 vehicle assets across the 12 organisations, Around 3800 of those are cars and the rest are commercial vehicles.
The fleet is responsible right from the acquisition of these vehicles through leasing, buying, management and disposal, but leases
Saving Trust, as well as the wider fleet industry harnessing the expertise they provide, meaning the Environment Agency has been able to both accelerate and increase its carbon reduction plans.”
Over the years, Eynon has kept a continued focus on reducing the size and the carbon emissions of the fleet, but he explains that in the past three to four years, this focus has accelerated exponentially.
The Environment Agency’s dedication to reducing emissions is underpinned by its mission to protect and improve the environment for people and wildlife. This mission is embodied by its commitment to be net carbon zero by 2030 and absolute zero by 2050, with the fleet being one of the focus pillars. “We had a good CO2 rating already, but we are continuing every day to work on driving
that down with a fleet strategy that aligns and is embedded across our business,” he explains. Working with the Energy Saving Trust on small, medium and large (up to 3.5 tonnes) two- wheel drive vans, up to 292 vans were identified that could be full electric with no change to their current journeys phased over two years. This analysis pioneered by Energy Saving Trust, explains Eynon, was integrated into the organisation’s annual replacement process. This means the Environment Agency will have the opportunity to change vehicles as new electric vehicles become available. In doing so, they will transition their van fleet to zero carbon technologies as fast as possible.
“The commitment originally was to reduce CO2 overall by 45% by 2030 when compared to the baseline of 2020, but for cars and vans it’s much more ambitious,” says Eynon. “Originally, the plan was for the entire car fleet to be electric by 2023, but this was pushed back a bit with issues of supply and we’ve had to radically reform the policy to decide how we deal with cars, which has taken time.” With this in mind, the new commitment is that by 2027, the entire vehicle fleet has to be fully electric, even over 1,000 4x4s on the fleet. “This is daunting as there’s nothing on the marketplace to fit this gap in 4x4s, unless you go to a private converter which is expensive. We’re working closely with manufacturers but the reality is, nothing is coming to the UK until next year at the earliest.”
Infrastructure issues
Charge point infrastructure is an important consideration when electrifying a fleet. The fleet has its own charging network of more than 200 charge points across its offices and depots, but Eynon says that is not enough when the whole fleet goes electric. The strategy is that within three years, the fleet will increase the network significantly to blend it in with
www.businesscar.co.uk | May 2022 | 17
Above: The Environmental Agency is committed to a fully electric fleet by 2027, even over 1,000 4x4s.
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