News analysis
Under the weather?
Data from Mina has confirmed seasonal variation in EV charging efficiency. Sean Keywood reports.
E Small changes add up
With sustainability remaining a high priority for businesses of all sizes, fleet managers are working hard to reduce carbon emissions and meet ambitious sustainability targets ahead of the big ICE production switch off in 2030. Europcar spoke to 300 professionals responsible for fleet management and business travel decisions to ask what they’ve changed, challenges they face, and what the future holds as they aim to reduce the impact of their business mobility. The results, published in ‘Switching sustainability from buzzword to business benefit’, show that while businesses have taken big steps in the sustainability journey, more remains to be done to cut mobility emissions to zero.
Organisations have started to wake up to what they need to do, but there must be continued focus on decarbonisation. According to Europcar’s study, over half already have some EVs on fleet; a similar proportion also have some hybrids and nearly a third want to increase their fully electric fleet even though the same proportion reported challenges with supply.
Getting to zero – not how but how fast
The question now is not how to get to zero emissions, but how fast businesses can get there. Europcar is supporting organisations, first by reducing emissions through younger, more modern cars and vans, before moving to fully electric. In particular, flexible vehicle usage, from Corporate Car Sharing from a company’s car park to vehicle rental by the day, week, month or year, is helping businesses reduce emissions.
Sharing is caring
Focusing on greener mobility – and cutting costs – businesses are also asking what forms of mobility would be best for each and every trip. They are reviewing where a range of tasks can be completed in one journey instead of multiple trips, and if employees moving from one place to another can share vehicles. The Europcar study found more than one in five businesses is looking into using car sharing – both public services (21%) and a solution hosted at the company premises (23%) – to reduce fleet emissions. It won’t always be possible, but even if a small number of journeys can be eliminated, it will have a positive impact. Switching a fleet to zero emissions alternatives is too big a commitment for most businesses to undertake in one hit. More manageable steps such as car-sharing schemes, switching to hybrid vans, encouraging the use of public transport and walking or cycling can all make a significant difference to emissions and take businesses closer to their end goal of a zero-emission fleet.
There’s no question that there are still a number of challenges for businesses to overcome to go fully electric. But there’s definitely a clear will and commitment and Europcar aims to be part of the solution to the climate crisis.
To find out more about how Europcar can help your organisation on your sustainability journey visit
www.europcar.co.uk/business/electric or call 0371 384 0140
Vs can be over a third more efficient in warm weather compared with in cold winter conditions, according to
charging payment firm Mina.
It has published data based on more than 350,000 customer charges from May last year to April 2023, showing how efficiency varied as the seasons progressed.
It shows EVs were at their most efficient in June last year, when vehicles’ average weekly energy consumption was 76.6kWh, with 3.8 weekly charges required on average.
In contrast, during the least efficient month – January – the average consumption was 107.5kWh, with an average of 4.7 weekly charges needed. Although drivers were still averaging about the same amount of charge per charging session in winter, the extra plug-ins were needed to account for reduced battery efficiency, and other potential drains on energy such as heating the cabin.
However, it was not just a case of warmer weather being better, with heatwave conditions last July and August also impacting efficiency. Mina CEO Ashley Tate said: “Our data, recorded by thousands of electric vehicles, proves for the first time what many anecdotal reports had suggested: EVs operate far better in warm weather. “But our data shows other fascinating
trends. The summer heatwave had an effect on EV consumption too, with a noticeable increase in last July and August, which we believe is the result of more air conditioning use. So, drivers need to be aware of this when it gets really hot.
“After the heatwave, things went back to normal for a couple of months, before it began to get colder.”
Tate said that factors involved in EVs’ reduced winter efficiency included temperature, routing, vehicle technology, and driving style. In addition, Tate said it was important to remember that the extra winter energy consumption was only equivalent to two extra tanks of petrol or diesel, and that ICE vehicle efficiency could also be hit during winter months.
He said: “With electric you have a much wider range of options. Because we track hundreds of thousands of home and public charges and their cost, our data shows the cheapest tariffs are only around 10p per kWh at home and 30p per kWh in public.
“So, if a driver wants to reduce costs, whatever the season, they need to ensure they are on the lowest possible home tariff, and search out the best value public chargers.
“It’s all about having the right infrastructure in place that allows drivers to understand and then minimise their costs at all times of the year.”
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