Leading the charge

Automotive Leasing has been recognised for its proactive work to introduce zero and low-carbon vehicles into the UK Public Sector, winning the Green Fleet Award's Leasing Company of the Year.

This included key work in Scotland which has set itself the worlds most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets of a 42% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020.

To help meet these targets an additional £4.2m has been made available by the Scottish Government to encourage public bodies to use low carbon vehicles - bridging the gap between the cost of traditionally fuelled vehicles and their low and zero carbon equivalents.

Last year's grants totaling £4.3 million helped to replace conventionally-powered vehicles such as cars, buses and even electric sweepers. 
“When we first initially started looking at electric vehicles and sweepers Automotive Leasing were the only leasing company which was willing to lease these vehicles to the Council.

They are always willing to assist with promoting and help working with us in promoting a greener and more efficient fleet.” Shelley Sloan, Fleet Management Coordinator, Dumfries & Galloway Council.

It is well-documented that zero-emission vehicles have a high purchase price and rapid depreciation, the cost of which would typically have to be passed on to local authorities by their leasing partners. This means that the adoption of zero-emission vehicles might be regarded as offering little direct value-for-money to council fleet managers – certainly not enough to justify a local authority leasing them rather than diesel vehicles.

Automotive Leasing’s pioneering approach – which encourages government subsidisation and is bolstered by our own risk-mitigation proposition – ensures that the deployment of zero-emission vehicles is both economically viable and cost-effective for local authorities and other public sector organisations. Cllr Graham Nicol, Chair of Resources Committee at DGC commented that the work by Automotive Leasing and Transport Scotland “has enabled the Council to realise its environmental ambitions, even in the current era of stringent budgeting”. Fleet managers can at last choose electric vehicles and meet stringent value for money criteria.

For more information email: greenplan@automotive-leasing.co.uk or call: 0844 493 5840

Key milestones in this ongoing project have included:

• Collaboration with the Scottish government to shape a grant funding framework to ensure the deployment of electric vehicles is financially viable for councils.
• Development of a proposition where we take on the additional risk, therefore removing financial barriers to adoption within the public sector.
• Partnership approach with customers to ensure its regional infrastructure could support electric-only vehicles prior to their introduction into the fleet.
• The fostering of relationships with electric car , commercial and municipal vehicle manufacturers