UK cleaning firm Cleanology is seeing major financial savings after deploying a brand-new fleet of electric vans in London.
The business signed a deal with Nissan last autumn; it’s now taken delivery of its e-NV200 vans and CEO and founder Dominic Ponniah said the savings are really adding up.
“We save over £3,000 a year per vehicle on fuel, there’s no road tax to pay, and there’s no London congestion charge, which saves close to another £5,500 a year per vehicle. That’s a massive £8,500 a year cost reduction per vehicle.”
But the business is also gaining from reduced emissions – it’s saving over 5,000 litres of diesel per vehicle each year, equal to 13.5 tonnes of CO2 – along with a significant improvement in its environmental sustainability credentials.
“There are so many advantages in swapping over to a fully electric fleet, from the environmental gains to costs savings, but it’s also about how our clients see us, and they expect us to demonstrate best practice in everything we do,” said Ponniah. “It’s about taking a leadership position and setting a good example.”
The switchover has been accomplished without any major issues and the vehicles have been well received by drivers, who are making use of a number of different charging options.
Ponniah explained: “We recharge back at base, but also make use of street-side charging points across the city. In Westminster and central London there are plenty of charging points, but in the outskirts, while the infrastructure is still developing, many supermarkets provide a good service. One thing that makes it unnecessarily complicated is that there are too many different types of charger. When it comes to paying for parking, there are only one or two different apps, but when it comes to recharging there are around 10 different companies providing the service and we need accounts with all of them. If electric vehicles are really going to become the future, this needs to be simplified.”
He added that the move to electric vehicles is just one more piece in the firm’s environmental sustainability puzzle.
“Seeking sustainable solutions, from recycled uniforms to electric vehicles, produces immediate and visible gains which not only benefit the planet but also sets a good example and reassures our customers,” he continued.
“I would recommend any business which operates vehicles across London 24/7 to look into changing over to electric.”
