A poll of 100 financial directors in charge of leasing vehicles for companies in the United Kingdom finds that cost remains the biggest barrier to entry for electric vehicles (EVs) in fleet operations.
According to the survey – conducted by Lex Autolease, which leases 300,000 vehicles to firms across the U.K. – four out of 10 financial directors would not pay a financial premium to introduce hybrid or full EVs to their fleets.
However, for just over a third (35%) of those polled, a price premium of up to 10% – compared to conventional fuels – wouldn’t be too much to swallow, noted Marcus Puddy, head of consultancy services at Lex Autolease
Further findings reveal that 53% of the companies polled by Lex would invest in hybrids and EVs if they could match gasoline and diesel alternatives on a range of criteria, including running costs and convenience of use.
“The fleet industry is renowned for being an early adopter of new technologies and, over the next five years, we anticipate that EVs will become a practical option, in limited numbers, for firms doing a lot of localized ‘back to base’ short journeys,” Puddy said in the report.
“[But] whether they eventually become a mainstream choice for the company car driver is another matter altogether and this will largely be dictated by how well the current generation of EVs performs on the used car market,” he pointed out.
