The proportion of organisations setting green fleet targets increased significantly between 2011 and 2012, according to research by Alphabet.
The Alphabet fleet management report 2012, which surveyed 250 UK fleet managers, found that 83% of public sector respondents have now set green fleet targets, up from 67% in 2011, while 79% of private sector respondents have green targets, up from 38% in 2011.
The research also found that respondents are still concerned about the apparent cost of going green. More than half (52%) of respondents named cost as the main barrier to reaching green targets. Of this group, 91% of public sector respondents and 76% of private sector respondents cited the cost of switching to more environmentally friendly cars as the biggest hurdle.
The research also found:
- 64% of respondents said that switching to lower carbon dioxide (CO2)-emission cars is the main way they are lowering their fleets’ environmental impacts, followed by environmental driving courses and tracking fuel data via fuel cards (both cited by 44%).
- 56% of respondents said their main concern when considering alternative sources of fuel, while 54% cited the lack of refuelling or recharging options and 41% anxiety over the range of alternative fuel cars.
- 28% of respondents have invested in electric cars, up from 22% in 2011.
- 40% of respondents have invested in hybrid cars in 2012, up from 37% in 2011.
Paul Hollick, sales and marketing director at Alphabet, said: “Pursuing green fleet policies will deliver cost savings in a number of areas for employers, especially fuel.
“Around half of [respondents] see the cost of changing [cars] as the main barrier to attaining these goals, however.
“The suggestion is that many would like to bring forward the replacement of existing [cars] with lower-CO2 models, but have not done so because of the additional up-front costs for the early termination of contracts.”