ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 57
OPINION
FLEET
More models,
same barriers
→ Simon Staton is client management director at Venson Automotive Solutions
N
ew SMMT figures show that
UK buyers now have 171 fully
electric models to choose
from – more than double
the number three years ago,
with a new battery electric
model reaching the market
roughly every fortnight.
For an industry long told a
lack of choice was holding electrification
back, this should be a celebration.
Today’s EVs span almost every segment,
offer average ranges above 300 miles
and come from over 60 manufacturers
competing for fleet business.
But choice was never the whole story.
Our own research shows real appetite
among business drivers to switch, with
65% planning to go electric within five
years. Yet the gap between intent and
action remains wide. The reasons lie less
with the vehicles than with the ecosystem
around them, such as charging reliability,
running costs and a policy environment
that, in places, works against the
transition it should be accelerating.
Driveway divide
Among drivers already running an EV
for work, 76% tell us charging issues
have caused delays or added stress to
journeys at least occasionally, and only
40% are confident the public network
can support mass adoption.
Cost compounds the problem, and
recent Government policy has made
things more uneven. Our research shows
just one in five drivers (20%) would
choose an EV if replacing their vehicle
tomorrow, while 56% say lower electricity
costs would be the single biggest factor
in accelerating that decision.
From 1st October 2026, VAT on domestic
electricity falls from 5% to 0%, taking
around £45 off the annual household
energy price cap. Employees who can
charge at home benefit, but public and
on-street charging remains subject to
20% VAT. In 2025, 61% of the drivers we
surveyed backed scrapping VAT on public
charging altogether, a call Government
has yet to answer.
Employers cannot assume every
employee has a low-cost home tariff.
Reimbursement policies built on that
assumption risk under-compensating
staff. Fleet operators must map how
each driver charges and build support
around that reality, not an average.
The wrong timing
Layered on top is the eVED, due from
April 2028, requiring mileage to be logged
with the DVLA and a pay-per-mile charge
reconciled against MOT records. Our
research shows that 62% of drivers say
the introduction of eVED will discourage
them from switching to electric, and 46%
consider it unfair. The OBR has warned
the tax and related Budget measures
could reduce EV sales by 120,000 vehicles
between 2025/26 and 2030/31, even
as it is forecast to raise £1.9bn for the
Exchequer that year.
Fleets, which have led the charge into
EVs under attractive Benefit-in-Kind (BiK)
rates, now face building an entirely new
mileage-reporting process within a twoyear window. A further 26% of the drivers
we surveyed expect eVED to make
claiming business mileage significantly
more difficult.
Government has offered some
simplification for leasing and rental
businesses, but the admin burden will
be material for larger operators. Adding
that complexity just as adoption needs to
accelerate risks penalising the sector that
got the UK’s EV market moving.
Fuel costs, vehicle prices and battery
technology are all pulling drivers towards
electric, and the long-term outlook for
fleet electrification remains positive. But
if the Government wants record model
choice to convert into fleet uptake, it
must ensure the charging network, the
tax system and the cost of electricity
work with fleets, not against them.
Q4 2026
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
57
