Who’s in the running for a 2021 GREENFLEET Award?

The shortlist for the 2021 GREENFLEET Awards has been revealed, showcasing environmental excellence within the fleet and transport sector. Taking place on 1 December, the Awards return as a live event to the British Motor Museum in Warwick

Taking place on 1 December at the British Motor Museum in Warwick, the 2021 GREENFLEET Awards will once again return as a live event, to recognise the pioneering vehicle fleets in the private and public sectors which have risen to the environmental challenge during unprecedented times.
    
The awards, sponsored by the Algorithm People, will showcase innovation by both the fleets themselves, as well as those that supply them. And there is individual recognition too, with fleet manager awards, together with the coveted EV and AFV Champions.
    
This year, there are some new fleet categories, with more emphasis placed on those that are made up of cars, and those that feature commercials more heavily.
    
Also new for this year is the GREENFLEET Vehicle of the Year award. As more and more manufacturers introduce cleaner, innovative models to their offering, this category will recognise the car, van or truck that has made the biggest impact on the UK fleet sector in 2021.
    
Delegates at the awards will enjoy a pre-dinner reception, sponsored by MAXUS, followed by dinner and the awards, which will be presented by comedian, impressionist, writer and actress Ronni Ancona.

Private Sector Car Fleet

Estate Agency Chestertons has made the shortlist for the Private Sector Car Fleet of the Year Award, which is sponsored by Elmtronics. The company has been recognised for converting its entire fleet of company cars to electric vehicles. The company has calculated that this action has reduced its tailpipe CO2 emissions by 2,925kgs (183 tonnes) per year. Chestertons is also expecting to save £425,000 in other costs, such as on vehicle tax, fuel and congestion charges. Following the transformation of its fleet, Chestertons went on to become the first large estate agency in the country to be certified as Net Zero Carbon after offsetting the remaining 212 tonnes of CO2 it currently produces per year.
    
Also up for the award of Private Sector Car Fleet of the Year is Ground Control, which has recently become Carbon Neutral four years ahead of target. The company has committed to fully electrifying its fleet of passenger vehicles in 2023, along with commercial vehicles, plant and machinery by 2026. Since the company’s first EV purchase in 2014, it has established the UK’s largest fleet of privately owned Teslas, with BEVs now representing 75 per cent of its passenger fleet. Using its own learnings, Ground Control developed ‘FleetFix’, a fully automated turnkey home EV charge point supply, installation and ongoing maintenance process.
    
The Co-operative Group has been shortlisted for two awards – Private Sector Car Fleet and Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (M-L) – for the management of its diverse fleet of 2,900 vehicles.

With partners Lex Autolease, the Group launched new company car policies in 2020, centred on ULEVs. By replacing ICE vehicles with electric vehicles, the average vehicle CO2 per km has reduced 47 per cent since.
    
Over 50 per cent of the company car fleet is now electrified in some way, with a further 70 EVs and 100 PHEVs on order.
    
Following a successful trial of five fully electric home delivery vans, 40 more will be delivered in 2021 with further electric vans planned for 2022. The Funeralcare business also saw the delivery of the 40 first regenerative hybrid hearses and limousines last year.
    
Co Wheels’ large electric fleet has also been recognised in the car fleet category. As a social enterprise, Co Wheels’ focus is helping members save money, reduce UK car ownership and create cleaner, greener local communities by making lower impact transport options widely available. Co Wheels’ 450-strong fleet of electric, hybrid and efficient ICE cars and vans, run an average of 8,811 miles per annum. Its vehicles emit 54 per cent less than the average privately owned car. By 2025 Co Wheels aims for its fleet to be 90 per cent hybrid or fully-electric vehicles, up from 78 per cent. What’s more, Co Wheels has partnered with bus operator Go North East to host its membership and bus tickets on one smartcard.

Mitie has also been shortlisted in both the commercial and car fleet categories for its impressive roll-out of EVs. Mitie has grown its electric fleet to 1,682 vehicles, the largest pure electric fleet in the UK. The company also has a further 805 on order. The EVs prevent 8,410 tonnes of CO2e from being emitted annually.
    
Mitie has partnered with Mina, an EV charging start-up, to enable direct payment for home-charging. This allows Mitie to control the energy-source used for EV charging, ensuring it is 100 per cent green.
    
The final company selected for the shortlist in the private sector car category is Eric Wright Group. Its fleet is 22-29 g of C02 less than the construction sector average and is projected to reach 0g C02 by 2030. This is ahead of both the lease corporate fleet and the construction sector.
    
As of the end of July 2021, the company has 42 BEVs on fleet. These figures are based on live car fleet not including the Eric Wright order bank of which 95 per cent are BEVs or PHEVs. Eric Wright Group is projected to be circa 0g of C02 for 2030 if the current trajectory is seen. 

Public Sector Car Fleet of the Year

Brecon Beacons National Park Authority has made the shortlist for Public Sector Car Fleet of the Year. Its pool fleet of 10  vehicles is now comprised of entirely electric or plug in hybrid vehicles. More recently it has added a number of Zoe car vans. The electric pool fleet is expected to cover a combined 72,000 miles per year of zero emission travel. This has reduced its pool fleet average CO2 to 9.2g/km. What’s more, the Park’s education team uses an electric five seater Kangoo van which is powered by the sun. The Park has also introduced publicly-accessible charging points, and generates an increasing share of its energy from renewables.
    
Scottish Water is also on the shortlist for the Public Sector Car Fleet category. Scotland’s public drinking water and sewerage services are provided by Scottish Water, a public company accountable to the Scottish Parliament. As part of Scottish Water’s ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2040, it is aiming to transition its fleet to zero emission vehicles. For its 220 lease cars, Scottish Water has recently moved to an EV-only policy, which has seen a total of 81 EVs being introduced by the organisation, with an additional 41 on order. This will result in a 50 per cent EV adoption across the lease car fleet. All its 20 pool cars are now also electric, and to support it, Scottish Water has installed 24 chargepoints, with many more to come. The lease car CO2 average has dropped from 103g CO2/km in 2020 to 81 g CO2/km in 2021 and this will reduce further once the 41 additional EVs on order are received. On average expected mileages (once normal operations resume), the organisation would expect to see annual savings of more than 131t CO2, with the additional associated air quality benefits.
    
Also recognised in this category is the Lake District National Park Authority. Its road fleet currently consists of 42 vehicles including eight cars, 11 vans, two people carriers and 21 4x4s - plus a handful of quad bikes and diggers. Over the last couple of years, the Park Authority introduced 13 electric vehicles to replace its diesel pool cars, as well as the charge-point infrastructure to support these. Since acquired in September 2020, the BMW i3 EVs have travelled around 57,500 miles. This has saved the equivalent of 12.7 tCO2e, and because the Park Authority is on a renewable electricity tariff, nearly all of this is a pure carbon saving. The Park Authority has worked with AMP EV to provide a total of 28 charge-points across three sites. Most of these are for the Authority’s pool vehicles, but six are rapid chargers that will be available for public use at its offices at Kendal and Threlkeld. This adds to the charge-points already available to the public at five of its car parks.

Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (Small to Medium)

Lift manufacturing and servicing company Apex Lifts has been nominated for the Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year, in the small to medium category, which is sponsored by Grosvenor Group. The company has recently updated its fleet vehicles (1.3 litres), including 11 hybrid cars. It has also reduced the size of its delivery truck from a diesel 7.5 tonne truck to a 6 tonne smaller, eco-friendlier vehicle. All vans currently meet the Euro 6 standard. The current average CO2 value across the fleet is 101.19 and average mileage per annum is 10,404m. Since 2011, Apex has decreased commercial vehicles from 70 to 43; as a result, CO2 emissions have decreased from 10,552.55 (g/km) to 4,539.00 (g/km) 2011-2021. Apex Lifts is currently in the process of reviewing the option to replace all fleet vans to be fully electric by 2025.
    
After winning last year’s GREENFLEET Private Sector Fleet of the year, Nicholls Transport has once again been shortlisted for an award this year, in the Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (S/M) category. The company has continued to invest in a further 17 LNG trucks, taking to the total currently on the fleet to 27. All these trucks run on biomethane, meaning they produce over 75 per cent less CO2 than a conventual diesel truck. Even with the limited refuelling stations around the UK, MD Paul Nicholls is determined to increase the fleet further, with this year’s investment costing the company just short of £1 million.
    
Lyreco is in the running for an award in the Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (S/M) cateogry for its use of 17 electric Renault Master E-Tech vans for its London operations. Between July and October 2021, the EVs total mileage was 11,455 miles generating 115 kgCO2e. The electricity charging the EV vehicles comes from REGO sources. In its previous vehicles, for the same distance this would have generated 4.9 tons of CO2e which is a reduction of 97.7% in CO2e. In 2019, Lyreco signed up to the Clean Van Commitment Pledge, which is a public commitment for fleets to switch to zero tailpipe emission vans in cities by 2028.
    
Also shortlisted under this category is Peel Ports, which has fifty per cent of its fleet electric. The business aims to be 100 per cent EV and zero-emission by the end of 2022. Working alongside Activa, Peel Ports is taking delivery of 36 pure EVs in the coming weeks, with new vehicles like the Maxus E being trialled and delivered on site soon. As well as having telematics installed into all fleet vehicles, there have been 15 chargers installed, with a further 15 being installed in phase two. Peel Ports will continue to transition to a fully electric fleet, investing in new electric cranes and electric CMRGs that move freight onto the ships. Charging infrastructure is also being installed on the ships.

Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (Medium to Large)

Hermes has been shortlisted for Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year in the medium to large category, which is sponsored by the Algorithm People. Hermes are being recognised for its 90 biomethane CNG-powered fleet. With another 70 on order, this brings the total to 160 – fifty per cent of its core tractor fleet. This will result in Hermes having UK’s largest CNG parcel delivery fleet. Each new IVECO S-WAY unit reduces CO2 emissions by more than 80 per cent when compared to a Euro 6 diesel vehicle – a reduction of 150 tonnes of CO2 per vehicle and 24,000+ tonnes of CO2 across the entire CNG fleet annually.
    
What’s more, Hermes has ordered 168 new zero-emission Mercedes-Benz eSprinters to service its out-of-home ParcelShop network and has successfully trialled on-foot street-portering and local deliveries by electric eCargo bikes.
    
Also recognised for its use of natural gas is food supplier Moy Park which has taken on 50 Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) IVECO Stralis NP. The trucks run on 100% Bio-LNG sourced through anaerobic digestion, with Roadgas commissioning an on-site refuelling station and providing an extensive training course to those involved in its operation.
    
The creation of gas fuels through anaerobic digestion means that Moy Park can take advantage of ultimate emissions reductions, negating waste output by collecting the gases given off for vehicle fuel while solids can be used as fertiliser for farms, locking carbon into earth and away from the atmosphere.
    
The new biogas trucks are expected to cover around 160,000kms a year each, which Moy Park estimates will offset around an impressive 5,600 tonnes of CO2 annually. In-house trials have demonstrated that vehicles running on biomethane reduced CO2 emissions by more than 80%. This is a huge step forward in transitioning its own entire core fleet of 120 tractor units to gas by 2023. What’s more Moy Park has invested in electric car charging points and has revised its company car policy so only EVs or PHEVs can be introduced.
    
DHL Express has also been shortlisted  for Private Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (Medium to Large). In 2008, DHL launched GoGreen and became the first logistics company in the world to set a measurable climate protection target, to improve CO2 efficiency by 30% by 2020. This goal was achieved, four years ahead of schedule so in 2017 it took this one step further, introducing Mission 2050 - DHL’s ambition to reduce all logistics-related emissions to net zero by 2050. Electrification of its final mile fleet is key to achieving this goal. The company now has 60 electric vans operating across the UK and a further 50 will be introduced before the end of the year, with 220 more before the end of 2022. At this stage, 25% of its fleet will be electric. DHL has also launched a riverboat parcel delivery service on the Thames, supported by power-assisted bikes which reduces the number of vehicles on the road.
    
Royal Mail is also up for the award for its first ever delivery office to feature an all-electric fleet of collection and delivery vehicles. The Bristol East Central Delivery Office has had its 23 diesel vans replaced by fully electric equivalents. Twelve charging points have been installed on the site as part of the transformation, powered from renewable sources.
The Bristol all-electric office project forms part of Royal Mail’s rollout of zero emission final mile vehicles. In June, Royal Mail announced a ten-fold increase in the number of electric vehicles it runs across its UK fleet with plans to introduce around 3,000 additional electric vans throughout the UK. In May, the company announced the launch of 29 low emission gas powered trucks, fuelled by Bio-Compressed Natural Gas (Bio-CNG).
    
British Gas, owned by parent company Centrica, has been shortlisted for an award.It has rolled out just shy of 1,000 electric vehicles as it aggressively replaces its fleet of diesel vehicles, bringing its fleet total to about 10 per cent currently – and 31 per cent by the end of 2022. Centrica has agreed to be full EV by the end of 2025 and has a strategy for procuring no further diesels after 2021. British Gas has also opened a salary sacrifice scheme for its employees to enable them to access electric vehicles. Centrica has also developed a system and driver app which manages charging, both at home, work/depot and publicly.  

Public Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (Small to Medium)

The University of Birmingham has been shortlisted for an award in the Public Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year category.
    
In April 2020, the University’s total fleet was 114 vehicles, with a total CO2 of 11,268 g/Km. By July 2021, the CO2 had reduced down to 10,110 g/Km. By replacing vehicles with the cleanest engines, the University achieved a reduction of just over 10 per cent. In addition to this, the fleet now is 51 per cent alternatively fuelled, which puts the University well on track to achieve its next milestone of 60 per cent by 2025.
    
Dundee City Council is also up for a GREENFLEET Award this year, for its 150-sized electric fleet, which is reported to be the largest of any local authority.
    
The overarching aim is for all council cars, as well as small and medium vans, to be electric by the end of 2023. However, the transformation of larger fleet vehicles has also been a focus, with the recent introduction of six electric Refuse Collection Vehicles, two Orion E Mellor minibuses and a pure electric Johnston sweeper.
    
What’s more, 26 per cent of all taxis in Dundee are fully electric. Alongside vehicle expansion, the council’s public charging infrastructure now includes 39 rapid chargers and 82 fast charging posts. The switch to electric vehicles has seen the council travel more that 5.6 million miles on pure electric, saving an estimated 250,000 tons of CO2 in the process.
    
Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue has made the shortlist for a GREENFLEET Award for its switch to a cleaner fuel for its fleet of 162 vehicles, including its fire engines.
    
In a move believed to be the first in the country, the fire service will be changing the fuel in its own fuel stores to Gas-To-Liquid, (GTL) fuel. GTL converts natural gas – the cleanest-burning fossil fuel – into high-quality liquid fuel that would otherwise be made from crude oil.
    
Also in the Public Sector Commercial Fleet category is AGH Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airedale General Hospital Foundation Trust.
    
The transport team has 13 vehicles and covers approximately 20,000 miles a month. To reduce the environmental impact this high mileage, the team has moved over half of its fleet to electric vehicles. It has five fully electric cars with a further three electric vans due to start in early November. It is anticipated that this will reduce their CO2 emissions by up to 1,862kg per month and have a huge impact on the health of its patients in the community. It will also be looking to move to a fully electric fleet in 2022, battery range permitting.
    
Recognised for its environmentally-friendly waste and cleansing fleet, Westminster City Council and Veolia have been shortlisted for an award. The 286 specialist vehicles have a carbon footprint of 2954t of CO2 pa. WCC has secured funding to test modern technologies, such as hydrogen powered trucks and upcycling end of life old diesel large trucks to fully electric and alternative fuels, such as HVO and CNG. This project led to Westminster City Council being named winner of the Circular Economy Success category at the Awards for Excellence. This, along with the emissions savings, has enabled the Council to secure additional funding to transform the whole of west end cleansing operations to zero emission operations.  
    
Quarter of the 286 various vehicles operating on standard diesel have been replaced with fully electric specialist vehicles, ranging from electric flushers, waste buggies (Goupils), electric bikes to electric road sweepers, generating a saving of around 480kT of CO2 and NOx emissions per annum. The Council is also actively replacing the 40 large refuse trucks and 15 medium size vehicles with fully electric equivalent vehicles and charging these vehicles by the power generated from the incineration of the Westminster household waste.

Public Sector Commercial Fleet of the Year (Medium to Large)

Oxford Direct Services (ODS) is in the running for having the greenest public sector commercial fleet. In the last year and a half, ODS has purchased 41 new electric vehicles, almost quadrupling its total to 55 with another 26 due in 2022. This makes 17 per cent of its 324 road vehicles electric. These new vehicles are a mix of LCVs, cars and also a few specialist items such as a refuse collection truck and excavator. These extra vehicles should provide an annual fleet CO2 emissions saving in excess of 83 tonnes. ODS also has a target to convert 25 per cent of the fleet to electric by 2023, with the ambitious goal to grow this much higher in the next few years.
    
Also in the running for the award is West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS), which is the only service in the country to operate a five year replacement cycle for its front line operational fleet. This has allowed them to keep pace with and implement improvements in technology. WMAS’ Fiat Ducato based ambulance is the lightest weight fully operational front line NHS emergency ambulance in the country. NHS Improvement recently conducted a benchmarking exercise of all 10 english ambulance service fleets – WMAS’s model was recognised as class leading and has now become the basis for the National Ambulance Specification. In 2020, WMAS unveiled the world’s first fully electric front line emergency ambulance, which has been in operation since November 2020. It has also successfully implemented two electric rapid response cars in April 2021, and in December, two fully electric PTS (patient transport service) vehicles will be put into operation. WMAS has also transitioned its IT support team from diesel vehicles into LEVC hybrids and it has a number of fully electric Peugeot Experts due for delivery in February 2022.
    
Hull City Council has been recognised for making great strides in its electrification progress.The Council has a commitment to electrify its fleet below 3.5 tones by 2025 and the remainder to be electric or hydrogen traction by 2030. The Council has had electric pool cars for several years and over the last 12 months has increased the number of electric vehicles to 33 electric vehicles. The remaining 149 will be become battery electric vehicles over the next four years. To support this 44 charging points have been introduced across its main car parks, crematorium, mortuary, and depots. The Council has estimated that electrifying the fleet below 3.5 tonnes by 2025 will reduce the Councils overall carbon emissions by 1.25 per cent, saving 210 tonnes of carbon.

Private Sector Fleet Manager of the Year

Focusing on the individuals leading the way in green fleet management, there are categories for Fleet Manager of the Year in both the private and public sectors.
    
Shortlisted for Private Sector Fleet Manager of the Year, sponsored by Europcar Mobility Group, is Steve Openshaw from Eric Wright Group, who  has been shortlisted for his work with EVs. James Hornsby from The Co-operative Group meanwhile is competing for the title for his work greening the Group’s diverse fleet.
    
Also within this shortlist is Malcolm Oliver-White from Peel Ports, and Steve Winter from British Gas/Centrica for the company’s aggressive replacement of its diesel vehicles and establishment of an electric salary sacrifice scheme..
    
Those being recognised for Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year, sponsored by Toyota & Lexus Fleet, is Chris Lane from the University of Birmingham, Kevin Booker from Brecon Beacon Park Authority; Owain Pearce from Oxford Direct Services; Fraser Crichton from Dundee City Council; and Tony Page from West Midlands Ambulance Service.

IT Innovation

The IT Innovation award examines the latest advancements in fleet technology, including fleet management software, telematics, route tracking and other IT related transport technology. This is a hotly contested category, with ten entries on the shortlist.
    
Up for the award is Rightcharge, which matches EV drivers with the right home charge point while also advising on the right EV tariff, with a view to encouraging smart charging, reducing carbon emissions, ensuring future proofing with load balancing and solar integration options.
    
eDriving is another company hoping to win the IT Innovation award. Its mentor app uses smartphone sensors to collect and analyse driver behaviours most predictive of risk, including acceleration, braking, cornering, speeding, and phone distraction. It delivers personal insights to drivers after each trip, showing positive and negative driving events and, for the driver’s view only, where they occurred. Through eDriving’s partnership with FICO®, drivers receive an individual FICO® Safe Driving Score, validated for its ability to predict the likelihood of a driver being involved in a collision.
    
Bringg’s new BringgGreen technology is also up for the IT Innovation award, as well as the Industry Innovation Award. It was built to help retailers and logistics providers reduce carbon emissions and provide green fulfilment options. BringgGreen consists of a comprehensive suite of solutions focused on green fleet selection, carbon reporting, transparent internal and external sustainability communications and business innovation. It provides customers and partners with education, functionality and data to execute, manage and track their last-mile sustainability efforts in order to be more eco-efficient and have a positive environmental impact.
    
Coastr is another company in the running for the IT Innovation award. It is the only all-in-one digital car rental management solution in the market that utilises artificial intelligence and telematics to help rental businesses digitise their end-to-end operations.
    
The Algorithm People has also been recognised for their innovation in the fleet technology sector. Its new solutions solves a previously unconsidered fleet challenge – the mileage between vehicle and base for reloading.  TAP’s Mobile and Transient Hubs Solution (MATHs), developed with Teesside University, can optimise the dynamic relationships between mobile assets (vehicle-to-vehicle routeing). In other words, vehicles can now reload while out on the road, eliminating wasteful back-to-base mileage.
    
Airmax Remote is also recognised for its technology that helps EV adoption. Airmax has been working to ensure compatibility with EVs, enabling the extraction of robust datasets to provide insight into pre-emptive maintenance requirements. Airmax is now compatible with 90%+ of EV brands across more than 100 BEVs, PHEVs and hybrid models. Uniquely, Airmax is an end-to-end SaaS solution provider that can control development because it owns all the corresponding intellectual property throughout the value chain.
    
Webfleet Solutions is up for both the IT Innovation and Industry Innovation Award for its software solution that has become an indispensable feature of the WEBFLEET SaaS system. The Fleet Electrification Planning Report sits at the heart of the EV toolkit, enabling fleet decision-makers to identify the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that could be replaced with EV alternatives. Drawing upon telematics insights from incumbent vehicles, ‘real world’ mileages can be selected by fleet managers within the planning report, along with criteria ranging from road types to standstill times, to signpost a fleet’s true EV potential.
    
Maxus Intelligence Onboard is another innovation recognised in this category. MAXUS partnered with LEVL to create the technology to encourage EV transition, as well as providing detailed data-driven insights to optimise fleet productivity and safety. MAXUS Intelligence Onboard combines the best-in-class electric vehicles from MAXUS with LEVL’s electric vehicle expertise, utilising Geotab’s industry-leading electric vehicle telematics. Every MAXUS electric vehicle is now fitted with MAXUS Intelligence Onboard as a standard solution, meaning customers, dealers, and the manufacturer have access to data insights like never before.
    
Trakm8 has also been shortlisted for the IT Innovation award. It provides market-leading telematics products that address common problems faced by fleet managers. Products such as the Trakm8 Connect 330 help prevent expensive downtime by alerting managers to minor faults before they develop into major ones, encourages safer driving practices and can save dozens of work hours lost to byzantine route management systems and spreadsheets.
    
The Miles Consultancy (TMC) has been shortlisted for both IT Innovation and Industry Innovation awards. TMC-e was launched in July 2020 to help businesses transition to, and manage, electric vehicles with confidence, based on real-world data about their fleets. The service includes identifying which vehicles could be swapped for electric vehicles based on their trip data, as well as the ongoing analysis of electric vehicles once live within their fleets. A key area of TMC-e is the reimbursement of electric vehicle drivers for business mileage.

Mobility Provider of the Year

The shortlist for the Mobility Provider of the Year includes Europcar Mobility Group, which offers a wide range of flexible car and van rental services, and electric car subscription company Onto, which has grown to have the largest pure BEV fleet in the UK with over 4,000 cars as of September.
    
Co Wheels also makes the shortlist in recognition of its 450-strong fleet of electric, hybrid and effient ICE vehicles, and its innovative approach to sustainability, such as its new partnership with Go North East which will host Co Wheels membership and bus tickets on one smartcard.
    
Enterprise provides a range of mobility products and services and is also shortlisted in the Mobility Provider category. Enterprise Car Club has a fleet of vans, electric cars and hybrids, which can be accessed from over 100 branches and more than 1,400 on-street locations in more than 180 cities.  
    
Innovative company Electric Zoo is also shortlisted for its all-in-one solution for electric cars, including leasing, charge point advice and installment, salary sacrifice, and EV suitability studies.

Leasing Company of the Year

Tusker has made the shortlist for the 2021 GREENFLEET Awards in the Leasing category. In just three years, Tusker has lowered its average fleet emissions from 107.9g/Km, to just 37.3g/Km, and is on its way to achieving a zero emissions fleet well before its target of 2030.
    
Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions is also up for the Award, recognised for its growing funded customer fleet of alternative fuelled vehicles and overall pure EV fleet growing 368 per cent in one year.
    
Also fighting to win the title of Leasing Provider of the Year is LeasePlan. Over the past 12 months, LeasePlan has expanded the remit of its EV Salary Sacrifice offering by creating a tailored version for SMEs that allows smaller customers to reap the same economic and environmental benefits as their corporate peers. LeasePlan has increased the number of pure EVs in its risk fleet by around 157 per cent, year-on-year – from 4,338 (end-August-2020) to 11,145 today.
    
Lex Autolease is also up for the Award, in recognition of its work helping customer’s plug-in fleet transitions. One in five Lex deliveries in 2021 was a BEV, compared to the UK average of one in 12 registrations being BEVs (as per SMMT). In 2021 its ULEV fleet accounts for almost one fifth of its fleet – double that in 2020.
    
The final company to be shortlisted for an award is Grosvenor, in recognition for its multi-award winning 0Zone solution, which has been supporting companies with the transition to ultra-low emission and electric vehicles for five years.

Charging & Refuelling Infrastructure Provider of the Year

The Charging and Refuelling Infrastructure Provider of the Year category is always hotly contested, as the UK moves towards electric transport for 2030.
    
Shortlisted for this category is ElectrAssure Ltd recognised for its excellent work, having won contracts on over 500 sites for its clients including Volkswagen UK’s eastern seaboard import centres, Western Power Distribution and British Car Auctions. It has also installed five rapid charging installations at car park locations for Uber drivers. In 2021 ElectrAssure was selected to provide National Grid with EV charging at over 250 of its operational and corporate sites to support their transition to zero emission vehicles in their fleets.
    
SRG Electrical has also made the shortlist, acknowledging its success of installing EV charging across the country for many clients including BP Pulse, EB Charging, Rolec and EO, as well as for its OCPP public facing backend system.
    
Osprey Charging is also up for the award for the growth of its network; since the beginning of January 2020, it has grown from just 73 rapid charge points to over 500 charging bays at over 175 sites. This is growth of over 300 per cent, despite national lockdowns. Throughout 2020-21 Osprey invested over half a million pounds in developing a proprietary ‘back-office’ software platform. Its roaming and interoperability achievements include being the launch partner of both Zap Pay and the Octopus Juice Network, using cutting-edge OCPI integration.
    
Two times winner of the award, Elmtronics is hoping for a hat trick this year. The company has been shortlisted for securing 304 new commercial contract wins, installing significant infrastructure for BMW Group, Vanarama, Metrocentre, Taylor Wimpy, Keltruck Scania, and BMW. It has also been named as Octopus Energy’s official commercial EV charge point supplier and installer.
    
The Phoenix Works is also up for the award, recognised for its unique EV charging service plan. For a low monthly fee, it provides industry leading hardware with connectivity, operation and maintenance, spreading the cost of charging hardware, so customers don’t have to compromise on quality to meet capex restraints.
    
SWARCO has also been recognised in this category.  With over 8,500 commercial charge points installed across the UK, SWARCO has continued to support the expansion of electric vehicle charging networks in the UK. Following on from its success in Scotland deploying networks for 32 Councils, SWARCO is working with Transport for Wales and Welsh Councils to install charging infrastructure.
    
Meanwhile BP Pulse has been shortlisted for both Charging Infrastructure Provider and Industry Innovation in recognition of opening the UK’s first rapid charging hub for fleet vehicles using renewable energy. Its first EV Fleet Charging Hub in London’s Park Lane is the largest rapid charging facility in the city with 22 charging points. The model offered by bp pulse has already attracted the likes of Uber and Gett and stands to meet the needs of all professional drivers, whether it be taxi and delivery drivers or even blue light vehicles, including the Met Police.  
    
Energise Energy Solutions is on the shortlist, recognised for its work offering a one stop shop solution for e-mobility, smart metering and renewable low carbon solutions. So far, the company has powered up over 4,000 vehicles, off-setting over 20,000 tonnes of carbon being released into the environment.

GREENFLEET Award for Industry Innovation

The GREENFLEET Award for Industry Innovation is another hotly contested category, with companies and organisations striving to help the UK meet net zero ambitions in innovative ways.
    
One such company is DriveTech which has recently added an innovative new way of communicating safety with professional drivers via Driver’s Mate. Designed to remind drivers of their moral and legal obligations just before getting behind the wheel, this innovative series of 90-second videos champions and reinforces on-road safety practices.
    
Masternaut has also been shortlisted in this category for its end to end solution designed to help fleet managers in delivering their EV transition. The company uses the telematics data gathered from the customer fleet to analyse the daily mileage profile of each vehicle, and make recommendations on their suitability for EV transition. When it comes to managing and optimising an electric fleet, the company connects not only drivers and vehicles, but also chargepoints, to ensure customers achieve efficient charging.
    
Also recognised for their innovation in addressing a real barrier to EV adoption for many, Motability & Designability are working on a world-leading project to ensure that future electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is inclusive and accessible for disabled people. The charities have teamed up with the Department for Transport, OZEV and the British Standards Institute to start work on creating the design standards.
    
The AA is also up for the award for its Freewheeling Hub, which is a game-changing innovation which has already transformed its breakdown service for thousands of itscustomers. The industry-first is a new addition to the AA’s Multi-Fit Wheel kit and a clever way for its patrols to safely tow vehicles, such as electric vehicles (EVs), 4x4s and SUVs, which normally cannot be ‘lifted’ and towed on two wheels. As well as rescuing EVs, the Freewheeling Hub can be fixed to the rear wheels of stricken vehicles so they can be towed rather than having to wait for a flatbed recovery vehicle.
    
ULEMCo is also up for the award for its work on project ZERRO (Zero Emission Rapid Response Operation) for the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The project has developed a zero-emission electric fuel-cell ambulance using a base electric vehicle designed by Mellor and an integrated fuel cell system designed by ULEMCo, which can provide power directly to the motor and/or recharge the vehicle’s battery. The fuel cell uses hydrogen, which is stored onboard, and oxygen from the air to generate high voltage electricity which is transferred to the vehicle. This technology uses renewable energy resources, and the only emission is water.  The prototype has been built and has been displayed at COP26.
    
Other companies in the Industry Innovation Category are Ground Control Ltd, Webfleet Solutions, Bp Pulse, and The Miles Consultancy (TMC).

Manufacturer categories

The Fleet Car Manufacturer of the Year Award is presented to the car manufacturer that has improved CO2 ratings of its standard fleet offerings and expanded the range of ultra low and zero emission   options available to fleet customers.
    
The shortlist includes BMW, Citroën, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, Renault, Toyota, and Vauxhall.
    
PHEV Manufacturer of the Year is presented to the manufacturer of either a commercial or consumer PHEV that has demonstrated the best performance and best suitability for purpose in its class.
    
The shortlist in this category is BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, Volkswagen, and Volvo.
    
With the UK working towards phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles, the Electric Vehicle Manufacturer of the Year category grows in size year by year. The shortlist for the 2021 award is MAXUS (Harris Automotive Distributors), MG Motor UK, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, Renault, Tesla, Vauxhall and Volkswagen.
    
The LCV Manufacturer of the Year award recognises the efforts made by manufacturers to reduce CO2 and increase fuel economy in the Light Commercial Vehicle Sector. Those competing for the award are Citroën, Fiat Professional, Ford, Peugeot, Renault PRO+, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and MAXUS (Harris Automotive Distributors).
    
Looking at the heavier vehicles, the LGV Manufacturer of the Year recognises advancements in the Large Goods Vehicle Sector (Over 7.5 Tonnes). On the shortlist are Mercedes Benz Trucks UK, IVECO, DAF Trucks, FUSO, Renault Trucks, Scania, Volta Trucks, and Volvo Trucks.
    
New for this year is the GREENFLEET Vehicle of the Year award, sponsored by the Algorithm People. As more and more manufacturers introduce cleaner, innovative models to their offering, this category will recognise the car, van or truck that has made the biggest impact on the UK fleet sector in 2021. The shortlist for this category is the MAXUS e DELIVER 9, BMW i4, Hyundai IONIQ 5, Kia EV6, MG ZS EV, Peugeot e-208, Vauxhall Vivaro-e, and the Toyota Proace Electric.
    
On the night, there will be some special announcements, including which organisation will be presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award, sponsored by the Algorithm People, as well as the individuals selected as EV Champions and AFV Champions for their efforts promoting electric vehicles and other greener fuels.

Further information on the awards can be found at www.greenfleetawards.co.uk