AkzoNobel has slashed the overall CO2 output of its UK car fleet by 47% in 18 months with the help of Arval.

AkzoNobel now has 30 EVs, 52 hybrids and 40 plug-in hybrids on its fleet as well as a stong order bank

It’s the result of a new fleet strategy, spearheaded to support a global target of halving corporate CO2 by 2030, while also meeting growing company car driver demands for electrified vehicles.

The company, which runs 359 cars and 266 vans, now has 30 EVs, 52 hybrids and 40 plug-in hybrids on its fleet, as well as an order bank of 138 vehicles, of which more than 90% are electrified.

UK fleet manager Karl Allward said: “We knew that we needed to increasingly electrify the fleet in order to meet sustainability and colleague satisfaction objectives. However, we wanted to make this a relatively natural process over time, rather than suddenly stipulating that drivers should drive certain types of cars and vans. To meet these objectives, we turned to Arval UK to help us create a template for future action.”

Ben Edwards, consultant at Arval UK, headed up the project to integrate a range of electrified vehicle models onto the AkzoNobel choice list.

While AkzoNobel was keen to offer a wide selection of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to drivers, alongside existing petrol and diesel options, the higher lease costs but lower running costs for EVs made comparisons hard.

The answer was to adopt a whole-life cost approach, which gives accurate overall view of fleet running costs, including servicing, maintenance, National Insurance and business fuel.

AkzoNobel also took on three electric vans on a trial basis using Arval’s Flex-EV, its electric mid-term rental product, with the objective of assessing how well they met operational requirements in real world conditions, including using telematics to collect relevant data.

Allward said: “We obviously need to electrify our light commercial vehicle fleet ahead of the 2030 government deadline, but as with cars, we want to adopt a gradual approach that will allow us to learn as much as possible over a period of time before adopting vans in quantity. Particularly, these vehicles are a good fit for our Dulux Decorator Centres, where they have localised delivery routes that are suitable for the range and payload eLCVs can offer today.”

As shown by the strong take-up, employees have really bought into the idea of electric vehicles – both for plug-in hybrids as a stepping stone to full electrification and for fully electric cars.

“We’re supporting the electrification process with chargers installed at our offices and plans to increase them at our stores. Additionally, we have new reimbursement measures in place that make it as easy as possible to reclaim for home charging costs, something that is essential in our view,” explained Allward.

“Our objective has been to make choosing an electrified car as easy as possible for employees, and that very much seems to be working.”

The electric van trials have also produced positive results, although AkzoNobel has had to factor in the heavier payloads, which have a direct impact on range.

“Despite this, our experience so far has been relatively successful. We will be looking to add electric vans into lower stress roles in the short-medium term, before looking to full electrification of the fleet towards the end of the decade,” Allward outlined. “As with the car fleet, we believe it is best to make this a gradual process in order to minimise any operational impact.”

Following the 47% drop in the car fleet’s CO2 emissions, AkzoNobel expects the reduction to continue over the coming months.

Allward added: “We now feel in a positive place to face the next few years and I am sure will see continued growth in the electrified vehicle choices from our drivers.”