March 2020 changed everyone’s trajectory the world over. However, an uncontrollable reality that gave us eerily quiet roads also gave us cleaner air as nature was allowed to restore. That situation readdressed our thinking round the boardroom table and saw us reprioritise, among many things, our vision towards a long-term sustainable and cleaner platform which is at the core of our ESG agenda. Having a local operation that runs entirely on electric and hybrid vehicles by 2025 is no mean feat, presents many challenges and relies on multiple stakeholder responsibilities. A year ago, we launched a pilot project, investing in a multi-branded fleet of fully electric vehicles to test and to determine the operational and commercial suitability of electric vehicles (EVs) in a 24/7 operational context on our challenging road network. During this time, we test-covered 150,000km, consuming 18,000KwH of electricity, translating to 0.12KwH per kilometre travelled. In the process, we saved 7.3 tonnes in CO2 emission versus an internal combustion engine (ICE), also benefitting from economic savings of 65 per cent of the fuel costs and 60 per cent in maintenance and servicing. With a fully...
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