FACILITIES management and professional services company Mitie is revving up its electric vehicle commitment as its first fleet of electric vans hit the roads.
The new vans will join the company’s 98 electric cars’ fleet, following its commitment to switch 20% of its cars and small vans to electric by 2020.
Some 200 Mitie electric vehicles are due to be on the roads by the end of this year and a further 300 are already on order.
“We’re delighted to see Mitie’s first-ever electric vans join our fleet, as our electric vehicle commitment rapidly becomes reality. Given that we run one of the UK’s largest fleets, with our 20% by 2020 pledge I’m proud that we’ve already set an ambitious target that sees us at the forefront of EV adoption”, Simon King, Fleet and Procurement Director of Mitie, said.
“While we’re well on track to meet our goals, we all need to go further faster, if we want to limit the impact on climate change. We’re already looking ahead past cars and small vans, to see how we can get every other Mitie vehicle, from larger vans to scaffolding trucks and gritters, switched to electric as soon as possible.”
At some 700 vehicles, the firm’s 20% by 2020 commitment sets an ambition to have the UK’s largest fleet of EVs by the end of next year.
Given the large scale of their target, the company chose to start with smaller deliveries of vehicles from a range of manufactures to test and learn.
This has been rapidly amplified by increasing to larger volumes for widespread rollout across the UK.
Mitie is also investing in the UK’s EV charging infrastructure and will be installing around 800 electric vehicle charge points at employees’ homes, their offices and customer sites.
Given that its fleet is responsible for 93% of its carbon emissions, Mitie’s transition to electric vehicles will have a dramatic impact on its carbon footprint – the 20% by 2020 commitment alone will save 4,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Mitie also recently joined EV100, pledging to fully electrify its fleet by 2030.
