Who won a 2018 GreenFleet Award?

From fleets committed to reducing their environmental impact, to companies tirelessly improving their vehicles and products, the winners of the 2018 GreenFleet Awards have been revealed.

The UK’s fight for clean air and a reduction in CO2 emissions has heightened, with a clear commitment from the government to aim towards zero-emission road transport.

Applauding all those that are doing great things to reduce transport emissions, from fleets doing all they can to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment, to the manufacturers tirelessly improving their vehicles, the GreenFleet Awards took take place on 22 November at Leeds’ Elland Road Stadium.
    
Hosted by Leeds City Council, shortlisted organisations and sponsors enjoyed a pre-dinner reception, sponsored by electric van manufacturer LDV, followed by a four-course dinner, with table wine courtesy of Toyota & Lexus Fleet.

Celebrity guest, comedian Tom Allen revealed the winners, that were awarded for their environmental excellence over 18 categories.

Demonstrating innovation

TrakM8 was first up the podium, scooping the IT Innovation Award for its RH600 telematics camera which provides full telematics functionality, including driver behaviour analytics. The RH600 has two cameras – one facing the road, and one facing into the cab and it can also predict vehicle failures before they happen through CANbus connectivity.

Picking up the award for Leasing Company of the Year, Leaseplan impressed judges with its commitment to driving up zero-emission vehicle uptake. The company is a founding partner of The Climate Group’s EV100 scheme, has more than doubled its UK electric fleet over the last 12 months, and is allowing fleets to try electric before committing.

Mobility has become the buzz word in fleet and transport management, with companies and consumers reassessing how they travel. The winner of GreenFleet's Mobility Provider of the Year award went to Enterprise Car Club. The company has doubled the size of its hybrid and plug-in fleet in 2018 and acquired 40 per cent of all hybrids available to the rental sector. Today, more than 30 per cent of its fleet is either plug-in EV or hybrid with average emissions of under 100g of CO2 per km. It has recently partnered with The Royal Borough of Greenwich to launch a dedicated EV car club and is working closely with the council to help overcome range anxiety associated with the technology.

The Charging & Refuelling Infrastructure Provider award recognises the achievements of a sector that is rapidly growing and changing. With more plug-in vehicles on the road, public and workplace charging is becoming more important, as is refuelling infrastructure for alternatives such as hydrogen and gas. The 2018 award winner was SWARCO UK / eVolt for its impressive uptime of 99.85 per cent, together with the cost-effectiveness and the ease of use of its chargepoints.

Trucks and vans

When it comes to large vans and trucks, achieving zero emissions is difficult given their size, distances travelled and cargo. The sector therefore needs to find other ways to decarbonise. In recognition of its full offer of alternatively fuelled vehicles for the heavy goods market, Iveco won the LGV Manufacturer of the Year award for the third year running. This year saw the Iveco Stralis NP 460hp 6x2 tractor unit launched, which is the world’s first single fuel gas-powered heavy truck for 44-tonne operation, designed to appeal to the 90% of British heavy truck fleets that need to operate at that weight. A choice of CNG, Bio CNG, LNG or Bio LNG fuels is available. Already this year the Stralis NP has received orders from fleets including Clipper, Dawsons, H Parkinson Haulage, Hermes, John Lewis, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, UPS and Waitrose. IVECO expects to put around 200 gas-powered medium and heavy trucks on the roads during 2018.

The LCV Manufacturer of the Year Award, sponsored by Trakm8, was awarded to LDV for its electric EV80 van. Available in Panel Van, Tipper & Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle variations, the EV80 has established itself as the van of choice for environmentally-conscious drivers. It is already being trialled by IKEA, Royal Mail, Northern Gas Networks and National Grid, whose fleet criteria is among the most stringent in the sector. LDV has grown a dealer network across the country that delivers a dedicated service to fleet and business customers from more than 30 centres. and the majority of these operate a 24-hour service.

Sponsored by Green Motion, the 2018 City Car Manufacturer of the Year award went to Mini for its Countryman PHEV. Mini’s first plug-in hybrid,  was launched in 2017 and has seen huge demand from fleets. It comes with a 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol and an electric motor to develop 221bhp overall and provide much improved fuel economy and emissions over the rest of the range. The electric only mode manages 26 miles and allows the Countryman to accelerate to 60mph in under seven seconds.

Toyota were presented the Fleet Car Manufacturer of the Year Award, sponsored by Rockingham, for its impressive hybrid range. The company has a truly green policy that runs through the entire DNA of the company, and they continue to push the ULEV agenda forward, with almost every model now having a hybrid derivative. Toyota's fleet customers enjoy low cost of ownership, low emissions and tax, as well as support from its dedicated Business Centre network.

Volvo meanwhile took home the accolade for PHEV Manufacturer of the Year, for its clever technology that combines turbos and super-chargers with electric. The Swedish carmaker's XC60 SUV and S90 saloon models are currently produced with the T8 Twin Engine, Volvo’s plug in hybrid technology. Battery power lets the XC60 cover up to 28 miles on a single charge while the 2.0-litre turbo and supercharged engine can deliver a total of 401bhp, giving the XC60 a 0-62mph time of 5.3 seconds. The soon to be available S60 saloon will be the first Volvo to be produced without a diesel engine.

Sponsored by Elmtronics, the Electric Vehicle Manufacturer of the Year award was presented to Hyundai for its IONIQ and KONA models which are attractive, safe, affordable, practical, and crucially, offer excellent range, with the KONA capable of 300 miles and Ioniq 174 miles.

Fleets behaving green

Shining a spotlight on the organisations that are striving to green their operations, the fleet category awards go to public and private sector large and small.

Ethical grocer Farmdrop won the Private Sector Fleet of the Year Award, in the small to medium category, which was sponsored by Grosvenor Leasing.

Farmdrop’s electric vans are charged at its Enfield depot via a series of 13-amp charge points, with plans to upgrade to a 32-amp (7.2kW) system in the near future. Average distance travelled per route is 97 km (60 miles). An equivalent diesel van would use 57.6 mpg, meaning 1.5 gallons of fuel would be used per day, per van. Based on a fleet of 20 vans operating 363 days, this removes the need to use 11,000 gallons of fuel. Farmdrop’s mission is to fix the food chain. Using low emission transport to deliver customers’ their ethically sourced, local food is integral to this.

Delivery company Hermes were awarded the title of Private Sector Fleet of the Year (Medium to Large), sponsored by SRG Electrical.

Hermes has introduced a fleet of bio-methane fuel and pure electric vehicles, partnering with CNG Fuels to facilitate trials of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). These have led to an order for 30 Iveco Stralis CNG units, making up nearly 20% of the 166 units in the fleet. 32 pure electric vans have also been introduced to its central London fleet. These will serve more than 100 delivery rounds inside the low emission zone and is a step towards the comnpany’s goal of a 50 per cent CO2 reduction by 2020.

Looking at indivdual excellence, the Private Sector Fleet Manager of the Year went to Mark Squires at Northern Gas Networks.

Mark Squires has championed the Low/Zero emission agenda both internally within the business and externally through promoting and encouraging manufacturers and infrastructure providers to accelerate progress across the Light Commercial Vehicle sector. This has included all areas of Low/Zero emission from persuading the business to purchase a Toyota Mirai Hydrogen car, a number of Compressed Natural Gas vans and working with key manufacturers (including LDV) in the development of full electric 3,500kg vehicles for the industry.

The award for Public Sector Fleet of the Year (Small to Medium), sponsored by eVolt, was awarded to the University of Birmingham for its unwavering commitment to greening its fleet. Since the introduction of the Renault Kangoo ZE and Nissan e-NV200 at the University of Birmingham, its ambitious target of 40 per cent electric or hydrogen fleet vehicles by 2020 has been achieved a year early. To take account of the Government changes to optional remuneration arrangements, the university lowered the emissions cap from 120g/km to 75g/km last year. A change in culture and procurement has led to electric vehicles being the first choice for most drivers. After years of negotiation with unions, the University fleet is now using telematics, which impacts positively on driver behaviour and has the potential to further improve efficiencies.

The City of Swansea was crowned winner of the Public Sector Fleet of the Year (Medium to Large) award for its extensive electric van fleet.
With Swansea’s electric pool cars due for renewal and telematics identifying 30 short journey, low mileage diesel vans, an innovative procurement exercise resulted in 40 Peugeot Partner fully electric vans being acquired in early 2018. The largest single order of its kind in Wales, an additional 30 ‘slow’ 3kw chargepoints were installed across 12 operational bases. Used by Car Parks, Building, Highways, Waste, Parks and pool car teams, they have been positively received by drivers following an induction campaign aimed at personalising their contribution to carbon reduction in their city. Other simple changes have combined to help reduce Swansea’s annual fuel use by 6 per cent.

The individual that won the Public Sector Fleet Manager of the year went to Terry Pycroft from the Leeds City Council.

Terry joined Leeds Council in February 2005 as Head of Fleet Services. A key priority was to establish an understanding of the fleet, so Terry initiated the first green fleet review through EST in 2007. This was later used as a key working document over the following years. Influencing others around alternative fuels has been a key task. Leeds ongoing commitment to fuel LGV Fleet with CNG has showcased the option to other authorities. Terry has been instrumental in explaining to senior management teams why the work needs their support.

Industry innovation and outstanding achievements

The GreenFleet Award for Industry Innovation went to Electra Commercial Vehicles for its Electric Refuse Truck. As part of an initiative to drive down air pollution in London’s Square Mile, Electra supplied the technology for The City of London’s trial of the UK’s first fully-electric waste collection truck. The 26-tonne truck runs on lithium-ion batteries. Designed for urban environments with short routes, it can complete a full 10-hour shift. Every aspect of its operation relies on electric motors, with no combustion engine on board.

GreenFleet's Outstanding Achievement Award, presented by Leeds City Council went to Matthew Eastwood from the Energy Saving Trust.

Matthew first came in to this sector with a sustainable vision back in 2005, as a travel planning executive at Aberdeenshire Council. He was responsible for the implementation of a sustainable transport policy that saw him work with public and private sector organisations across the region, as well as Transport Scotland.

In 2015, he joined the transport team of the Energy Saving Trust, as Programme Manager. Alongside grey fleet reviews, he was tasked with implementing a plan to encourage uptake of EVs across Scotland and within 11 months he had progressed to Head of Transport for Scotland, within EST.

Leading the Energy Saving Trust's work on transport in Scotland he has, in a short period of time, grown the annual budget of grant and commercial funding from circa £7m Per Annum to circa £35m per year and has grown the transport team from five full-time members of staff to 18.

He is now head of transport for the whole of EST, overseeing all transport activities across the Energy Saving Trust, including a team of 40 throughout the UK, delivering substantial programmes on sustainable transport, vehicle charging infrastructure and Ultra Low Emission Vehicles for Department for Transport, Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Transport for Scotland.

EV Champions

With so much good work going on across the country, by individuals that “champion the Electric Vehicle cause”, GreenFleet now recognise their endeavours with its five EV Champion Awards, who were as follows:

Sara Sloman, North Somerset Council
Sathish Sethuraman, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Rasita Chudasama, Nottingham City Council
Dr Euan McTurk, Dukosi Batteries
Loyd Davies, ElectrAssure Ltd