The seventh GreenFleet Scotland event, which took place on 10 April at the Royal Highland Centre, allowed fleet managers to test drive over 50 of the latest electric, hybrid, hydrogen and low‑emission vehicles, and learn how to make their fleet operations more efficient

The Scottish government has an ambitious vision for its towns and cities to be free of emissions from petrol and diesel vehicles by 2050. Detailed in its roadmap to plug-in vehicles, Switched On Scotland, it says that electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will make a substantial contribution to this vision.
    
Helping to spread the word about electric mobility, the seventh GreenFleet Scotland event took place at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh on 10 April and allowed fleet and transport managers to test drive over 50 of the latest electric and low-emission vehicles.
    
The eagerly-anticipated Kia Soul EV, the South Korean manufacturer’s first electric vehicle, and Fiat’s 500X – a compact four‑door SUV version of the iconic Fiat 500 – were among the stars of the day.    
    
Delegates were also able to learn about the latest legislation, grants and alternative fuels throughout the day in the seminar sessions taken by key industry figures, such as Anna West from the government’s office for low emission vehicles (OLEV).
    
What’s more, for the first time, GreenFleet Scotland hosted a ‘hydrogen zone’, where delegates could get to grips with this alternative fuel that is gaining momentum in the green transport industry.

Seminars
Nigel Holmes from the Scottish Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Association enhanced this year’s hydrogen focus by giving an overview of hydrogen technology and its future in green transport. Amanda Lyne from ULEMCo and Joanna Brahova of Intelligent Energy supported Nigel’s presentation, giving separate sessions on cost effective hydrogen transport, emission reduction, and industry trends.
    
Zak Tuck from Transport Scotland shared Scotland’s ambitious vision for electric mobility by discussing the aims of Switched On Scotland, Scotland’s roadmap to plug-in vehicles.
    
OLEV’S £20 million Taxi Scheme was addressed by OLEV’s head of consumer incentives, Anna West and Route Monkey’s projects & strategy director Kate Armitage. The fund will be available to reduce the upfront cost of purpose built taxis and to install charging infrastructure for taxi and private hire use.
    
David Beeton from Urban Foresight led a seminar on the company’s report on electric innovation around the world. From electric-vehicle vending machines, to battery-swopping taxis and electric HGVs, the report gives details of fifty of the most groundbreaking examples.
Paul Shelley and Jon Jacks from BMW spoke on the future of electric mobility, explaining the thinking behind the BMW i3.  

Test drives
Delegates were given the opportunity to test drive vehicles from and array of manufacturers, from BMW, Nissan, Peugeot, Toyota, Mercedes, Kia, Vauxhall, Fiat and Mitsubishi.

The funky-looking Kia Soul EV attracted a flurry of crowds on its static display, while proving to be popular out on the track too. The Soul EV has a range of up to 132 miles (212 kilometres) on a single charge. Its lithium‑ion polymer batteries have a greater energy density – 200 Watt‑hours per kilogram of weight – than those in any comparable model. A heating and cooling system keeps them at an optimum operating temperature, which helps to extend the Soul EV’s range.
    
GreenFleet Scotland was the first time the UK public got to see and drive the new Fiat 500X, a five-door compact crossover based on the iconic city car. It comes in two or four-wheel drive configurations and has emissions as low as 109g/km.

The Mitsubishi Outlander, Britain’s best selling plug-in hybrid vehicle was a test track sell out. Combining electric and petrol power, it can travel 32 and a half miles in electric mode alone, and has four-wheel drive capacity. As well as its official fuel consumption figure of 148 miles per gallon, the Outlander PHEV’s low emissions of just 44g of CO2 per kilometre mean there’s no vehicle tax to pay plus it’s exempt from the London congestion charge – and it qualifies for the government’s £5,000 Plug-in Car Grant too.
    
Lexus showcased its technology-packed Lexus NX300h, a petrol-hybrid compact SUV with bold looks and low-emissions, and Vauxhall exhibited its new Corsa which has been revitalised with new technology, smart looks and emissions as low as 87g/km.
    
BMW brought its electric i3 as well as its new 1 Series with CO2 emissions as low as 89g/km in the new 116d EfficientDynamics Plus model.    

Nissan showcased its electric Leaf, which remains the Europe’s best selling electric vehicle, and the eNV-200, the all electric van which was launched last year.

EV Challenge
After six years running the Fuel Efficient Driving Experience (FEDEx), a competition to establish Scotland’s most frugal drivers of a combustion engine vehicle, this year GreenFleet Scotland also hosted an EV Challenge to decide the most frugal electric vehicle driver. The EV Challenge used identical electric cars and vans in three categories.  Teams were entered from Fife Council, Daily Record, Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh College, East Lothian Council, and the Electric Vehicle Association Scotland (EVAS).
    
On each team’s return, an EV technician measured the real-time energy used over the 49 mile trial. Daily Record were victorious in their Nissan Leaf category with a score of 5.1m/kWh which took drivers Maggie Barry and Bruce Booth an impressive two hours and 22 minutes to complete. Edinburgh Council came out on top in the Nissan e-NV200 van category with drivers Craig Wilson and Andrew Campbell managing 5.6m/kWh, leaving a remarkable 50 per cent charge left on the commercial van. The final category was the Peugeot Partner electric, which Allan Kelly and Tracey Smith from East Lothian Council won, finishing with 4.2m/kWh real-time energy.

Driver of the day
Twenty visitors were also able to put their eco driving skills to the test by entering into GreenFleet’s ‘driver of the day’ experience. Five groups each had an opportunity to enjoy pre-booked test driving slots with five different manufacturers – Vauxhall, Peugeot, Fiat, Toyota and Kia. Each driver had a total of three vehicles to test drive with each manufacturer, and the highest overall mpg was calculated to determine the overall ‘driver of the day’. This year’s driver of the day was awarded to Kevin Breen with an impressive overall mpg of 62.3.

Welcoming the public
In addition to GreenFleet Scotland on the Friday, which is targeted towards a corporate audience, Saturday 11 April hosted a consumer event, called the Evolution Motor Show.  

Launched in 2014, thanks to the support of Scottish Enterprise, the Evolution Motor Show attracted 920 visitors through the door to get behind the wheels of the very latest zero and low emission vehicles on the market.

Further information
www.events.greenfleet.net