Fewer barriers preventing businesses from electrifying

According to Europcar’s EV barometer, fewer barriers stand between businesses and zero emission fleets in H1 2025 compared to H1 2024. Where before 40.72 per cent of businesses said costs were a barrier to switching to electric fleets in H1 2024, 39.23 per cent of businesses said this was a factor in H1 2025.

With a four per cent drop, charging infrastructure also became less of a barrier in 2025, with 30.82 per cent of businesses hesitant to electrify their fleets because of it. This is compared to 34.84 per cent in 2024.

Similarly, choice of models fell from around 19 per cent to 14 per cent, and lack of knowledge fell from around 22 per cent to 17 per cent.

All factors apart from resistance saw less businesses seeing them as barriers, apart from resistance from employers or employees, which saw a slight rise from 12.8 per cent in H1 2024 to 13.4 per cent in H1 2025.

In H1 2024, an average of 12 per cent of businesses said none of these issues held them back from going electric, a figure which rose encouragingly to 21 per cent by H1 2025.

Tom Middlemitch, head of electric mobility and sustainability spokesperson at Europcar said: “It is always encouraging to see sentiment moving in the right direction amongst business drivers, but the shift is marginal. There is still a long way to go before businesses will feel confident to make the switch to EVs. More government support will be vital for getting businesses and employers on side in the coming years as we approach the end of the line for new petrol and diesel vehicles.

“The UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate is pushing manufacturers to increase the proportion of electric vehicles they produce within the next few years, which should help further reduce the vehicle availability barrier. That could be why our latest barometer shows such promising results, so it will be interested to see if the impact can be seen more clearly later int eh year. However, the ZEV Mandate changes could mean there is less urgency for fleets to make the switch as they have more time. Further hindering the switch is the need for reassurance that driving electric will not impact business productivity—drivers and businesses need to know suitable chargers are available where and when they need them and need to have their questions answered on the practicalities of zero emissions driving for work.

“Europcar has made a significant commitment to electric monitoring in the last two years and, despite the lack of government support, we have no intention of taking our foot off the pedal.”