Green car fleet management could save millions

British industry could save £450 million a year using straightforward green fleet management, the UK Minister for Transport, Dr John Reid, has told UK companies.


Speaking at the Cleaner Vehicle Task Force Fleet Leasing Seminar, Dr Reid pointed out that using green fleet methods, a typical 400 strong company car fleet could produce a saving of £50,000 a year, and cut carbon emissions by 50 tonnes.

Dr Reid told the seminar that traffic congestion costs British industry an estimated £20 billion per annum, while pollution leads to thousands of unnecessary hospital admission and deaths each year. “With this level of damage to the nation’s health and economy it makes simple common sense to cut out unnecessary journeys,” Dr Reid said.

A recent survey from the UK Government’s Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme showed that fleet operators have extremely low awareness of fuel efficiency measures, Dr Reid said.

He suggested that companies save fuel costs by monitoring fuel consumption, purchasing more fuel efficient vehicles, training drivers and planning journeys more effectively.

Although the corporate sector only accounts for 8 per cent of all cars, they make up a fifth of all car mileage in the UK – around 43 billion miles. Fleet cars also tend to be larger than private vehicles, and may be less fuel efficient. As fleet cars account for over half of annual new car sales, and over half the second hand market, fleet purchasing decisions have a long term influence on national fuel economy, vehicle emissions and air quality.

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