Enquiries and orders for electric vehicles have reached record levels at Reflex Vehicle Hire, driven by the impending 2030 ICE ban and soaring pump prices.
More than half of all non-rate card requests to the business since May have been for pure electric vehicles while at one recent event, 80% of van fleet enquiries included requests for information about plug-in cars and vans.
The flexible vehicle hire specialist said it was evidence of a ‘tipping point’ as fleets and drivers move from interest in EVs to actively procuring them.
Recent deliveries by Reflex include a batch of Mercedes-Benz eVito zero-emission vans, along with a fleet of Kia e-Niros to customers throughout the UK.
Its flexible hire proposition enables fleets to make a rapid switch without incurring the substantial costs of purchase, or the long-term commitment of leasing.
The company can also provide operators with solid advice on which vehicles are best suited to go electric with its recently launched EV:IE (Electric Vehicle Information Exchange) fleet evaluation service, which uses individual fleet and telematics data to show which vehicles can go electric and provides detailed total cost of ownership analysis.
The service has already revealed that some companies could already transition their entire fleet to EVs, based on current usage and range of available models.
Fleets can further inform their strategic decision-making with the Reflex Renewable Drive vehicle evaluation programme, which enables fleet managers to get behind the wheel of the latest electric cars and vans.
Lisa Spong, Reflex Vehicle Hire sales director, said: “While diesel continues to be the mainstay of many of the van fleets that we provide vehicles to, interest in electric vehicles has reached a tipping point, with soaring demand driven by government policy and rising fuel costs.
“We are working closely with fleet customers to ensure a smooth transition strategy without impacting their core business operations. In particular, we make sure companies maintain the fundamentals of a safe and efficient fleet as they switch, so they extract the maximum potential benefits from the introduction of electric vehicles.”
