Some 27 UK businesses are calling on the government to do more than bring forward the 2035 ban on new fossil-fuel vehicle sales.
As previously reported by CiTTi, the government will announce this autumn that the deadline for sales of all new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles will be brought forward to 2030. However, the UK Electric Fleets Coalition, a partnership launched by the Climate Group and BT, which now includes Tesco, Dixons Carphone, Heathrow, Lime and SSE, has said more needs to be done.
The coalition of businesses said it wants the government to support UK manufacturing of EVs to assist the automotive industry through the switch. It would also like to see financial incentives to increase demand and investment in the rollout of charging points.
Through the Climate Group’s global EV100 campaign, these companies, which have over 400,000 vehicles between them, are working to electrify their UK fleet.
Tesco is one such company that has signed the EV100 initiative. Giles Bolton, responsible sourcing director Tesco, said: “We are delighted to become signatories of the EV100 campaign, which brings together both our commitment to transition to 100% electric vans, and our plan to install EV chargers for Tesco customers and colleagues all over the UK.
“The electrification of transport is crucial to becoming a zero carbon business by 2035 in the UK and 2050 globally, and we will need collaboration across industry and government through the likes of EV100 in order to overcome the barriers to transition together.”
According to the Climate Group, four out of five of the UK’s largest private sector fleets back the move to zero-emission new cars by 2030.
Members of the coalition include: Anglian Water, BT, Centrica, Dixons Carphone, DPD UK, Engie, E.ON, Fleet Alliance, Foxtons, Heathrow, Hitachi Capital UK, Iberdrola (Scottish Power), Ingka Group (IKEA), LeasePlan, Lime, Mawdsleys, Mitie, NatWest Group, Octopus Energy, Openreach, Orsted, OVO Energy, Severn Trent, SSE, Tesco, Tusker and Unilever.
