strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship at Alliance Manchester Business School, explains: “The main bottlenecks in the development of EVs are their batteries and recharging infrastructure. Currently, with battery capacities of 40kWh [giving a range of about 150 miles], inter-city travel is not really within reach for EVs, which means they still have limited use in fl eets. Only fi rms focused on local mobility see them as an attractive option at present, but the technology is developing fast: the capacity and effi ciency of batteries are increasing, while prices are falling. This will be a big force in bringing EVs on a par with traditional cars.”
Batteries providing more than 60kWh can now be found in the new Nissan Leaf E-Plus, the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Kia e-Niro, for instance. These will enable drivers to travel more than 200 miles on a single charge, in turn allowing for a much wider application of EVs in fl eets. Ford is gearing up for a period of “unprecedented change” in the industry that will be both “electrifi ed and connected”, according to Dave Phatak, its director of commercial solutions in Europe. “Electrifi cation is starting to change the
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Case study: Bentley Motors It’s not only advances in electric power that are helping to improve the efficiency of fleets. Vehicular “infotainment tech” is constantly increasing in sophistication too. British luxury marque Bentley is a leading innovator in this field. It recently unveiled Advanced Connectivity, which it claims to be the first “reliable and secure” super-fast in-car Wi-Fi system. Hamid Qureshi, its connected car product manager, explains: “The idea is that when you’re in a Bentley you can use this technology to view multiple types of ‘heavy content’ simultaneously. For instance, one passenger could be making a live Skype call while another is receiving a file from the office, editing it and sending it back, all as a result of this advanced router connectivity.”
fl eet industry, although many factors will determine the speed of adoption,” he says. “The total cost of EV ownership will need to incorporate the cost and availability of charging infrastructure, as well as taxation and the expansion of low-emission zones. Each fl eet owner needs to assess its own range and charging needs too, of course.”
Phatak continues: “Connected vehicles are also providing signifi cant opportunities for fl eets to ensure regulatory compliance, operate more effectively and minimise waste. Ford is planning to connect 90 per cent of its vehicles globally by 2020 with hardware that will dramatically increase the availability of accurate vehicle data. We’ve also developed a suite of connected vehicle solutions specifi cally for our fl eet customers. This enables them to choose how best to use the data to operate safely, legally and effi ciently.”
EV100, a global campaign organised by environmental charity the Climate Group, has the goal of ensuring that most of the world’s largest fl eets are electrically powered by 2030. In little more than a year, it has secured commitments from several key players, including BT, DHL, EDF Energy and Unilever. Myles McCarthy is the technical partner to the EV100 initiative for the Carbon Trust, a company that helps organisations from all sectors to cut their CO2 emissons. He predicts that the electrifi cation trend will continue apace. “The government is helping to accelerate our transition to EVs by
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