The benefits of electric vehicles to fleets, including low whole-life costs (WLCs), have come under focus at an inaugural EV event held by CLM for its fleet clients.

A typical EV owner would pay £3,437 BiK over three years, compared to a typical diesel BiK of £5,231

Intended to help drive EV take-up through increased education, the event was supported by Renault and Chargemaster, and saw Jonny Berry, Renault’s regional development manager EVs (south), tell attendees that EVs were now starting to beat conventional internal combustion-engine vehicles on WLCs.

This was backed by a comparison of a Ford Connect TDCI van with a Kangoo Z.E. over four years/30,000 miles per annum. Over this period, the Connect had WLC of £23,187.36, while those of the Kangoo Z.E. were £19,024.80, a monetary saving of £4,162.56, plus a carbon saving of 28.89 tonnes of CO2.

At the CLM event, Claire Atkinson, Renault UK’s manager, leasing (south) & national fleet EV, also explained that a driver of a typical EV would pay £3,437 Benefit-in-Kind tax over three years, while the driver of a typical diesel would pay £5,231, some £1,794 more.

And Chargemaster’s EV experience centre partnership manager Ben Grocott outlined that there were nearly 15,000 charge points in the UK, increasing at the rate of 250 per month and making the UK one of the best places in Europe for public charging infrastructure. Grocott also shed light on the system of grants that were available for both the purchase of EVs and for the installation of charge points at home and in the workplace.

Attendees were also able to test the line-up of Renault electric models, covering the ZOE, the Twizy and the Kangoo Z.E.