FLEET FOCUS
The big switch-on
How transitioning to EV for one company has helped balance the books. By John Challen
For many fleet managers, it’s the equivalent of the holy grail: moving your drivers into more efficient cars and keeping management happy at the same time by saving tens of thousands of pounds on your fuel bill.
It might sound too good to be true, but that’s what Eddie Forrester, fleet manager at EDSB, has done over the past 12 months by switching his fleet to electric – and there’s more to come too.
Founded in 2008, EDSB is a systems and maintenance supplier, offering fire and security compliance solutions. Based out of a small office in Leeds, it employs 115 people working nationally across the UK.
A snapshot of EDSB’s fleet just 12 months ago would have been typical of many others across the UK. Made up of around 90 cars and 60 vans, they were all diesels and the cars were typically premium brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo with a few Range Rovers thrown into the mix. So far, so normal - except that then things changed.
“We’re a modern, forward-thinking company, so our managing director, Jonathan Parker, wanted us to switch our entire fleet over to electric,” explains Forrester.
“As the van fleet does such high mileage, we started with our cars and initially went for Tesla Model 3s that we have now expanded out to include Model Ys as well. We currently have 22 EVs on our fleet with another ten on order.”
Eddie Forrester, fleet manager at EDSB
DRIVERS WON OVER
Although there was some cynicism at first, Forrester reports that once the drivers had been given a demonstration of the cars and also shown the benefits of Tesla’s supercharger network, the majority were won over. The proof of that is in the numbers of EDSB employees previously opting out of the company car scheme. While previously it was 12, now it is just two.
If those figures don’t raise your eyebrows, then the next ones certainly will. EDSB’s annual fuel bill used to average around £410,000 due to the high mileage of its fleet. Even with just over a fifth of the fleet currently in EVs however, Forrester estimates the company has saved £43,000 in a year – more than £3,500 a month. And those savings will only get larger as the EV proportion of his fleet grows.
The EV fleet has been backed up by some crucial additional hardware and software. For example, EDSB has fitted Ohme Home Pro EV chargers at the homes of those employees running EVs – as well as at its offices. The Ohme software portal is linked to Allstar EV cards and Mina software, meaning that the drivers are automatically refunded for their business mileage.
“The Ohme software portal has been the key to the success of us running these cars, we simply couldn’t have made the switch without it,” explains Forrester. “The directors wanted to ensure that no driver felt out of pocket and Ohme gives us a monthly report of EV use across the whole company.”
“With many business tenders demanding greater sustainability from those pitching, if you’re not doing it, then you won’t even be considered”
Not that the switch has been entirely plain sailing however. Of the 62 vans that EDSB has on its fleet, there’s just one electric van – a Citroën Dispatch 75kW. While Forrester openly admits that the Dispatch has been brilliant, there is frustration that he can’t mirror the savings that he’s enjoyed with the car fleet. The high annual mileage of EDSB’s vans – coupled with the lack of driving range on existing electric vans – has meant that a similar switch to electric power simply isn’t practical. While the switchover will be slower, he estimates all of the van fleet will be electric by 2025.
