‘EVs can spare €3.599 per vehicle per year in professional fleet’

An electric vehicle replacing one with a classic combustion engine (ICE) can spare a European company today on average €3 599 and 5 560 liters of fuel per year per vehicle. That represents a reduction of 15 tons of CO2 per vehicle, a new report based on telematics data from Webfleet shows.

Webfleet is the fleet management software branch of Japanese multinational tire manufacturer Bridgestone. For the Electrifying Data report, figures from 4,9 kilometers driven by diesel vehicles (vans and cars) connected with Webfleet are compared with 69 million km driven by EVs in the first six months of 2022.

607 million liters of diesel

The company says that the average reduction of net expenses is calculated by comparing two versions – an ICE and an EV – of the same vehicle, like a Peugeot Expert. The average diesel price in Europe was 2,0 euros per liter in that period.

The sampled diesel vehicles consumed 607 million liters of diesel, and 2,65 kg per liter was assumed to be the average CO2 emissions. Webfleet doesn’t mention the average electricity price used for the calculations, which might be underestimated in a full-year comparison as those prices started soaring in the second half of 2022.

Average saving of €2 700 in Belgium

Anyway, the results fire one’s imagination as the study shows the cost reduction is the greatest in the UK (€3 800) and the Netherlands (€3 500). In Belgium (€2 700), Denmark, France, and Spain, this average is between 2 000 en 3 000 euros. In Italy, Germany, and Poland, this is under €2 000.

The savings realized compared to the fuel consumed by ICE vehicles depend significantly on the professional sector. Most is to win by the passenger transport sector doing 88 000 km on average per year, saving €9 675 and 36,9 tons of CO2. In the services sector doing 35 000 km, this is €3 425 and 0,9 tons of CO2. In last-mile delivery with 59 000 km on average per year, this is €4 732 and 8,3 tons of CO2.

Total Cost of Ownership

This study with fleet data of commercial vehicles doesn’t bring up the matter of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) only focuses on the differences in energy costs, Webfleet confirms. It makess makes the comparison more spectacular as the higher purchase cost of the EV isn’t weighed up against the other costs.

But it confirms the results of the Leaseplan study with popular lease cars, stating that electric cars are in nearly every segment and almost every European country at the same price level or cheaper than gasoline or diesel cars when considering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

LeasePlan did the math again for 22 European countries and cars in every segment for its yearly Car Cost Index (CCI). Even with galloping electricity prices, fuel costs remain a significant factor, as they represent 28% of the TCO of a diesel car, 23% of a gasoline car or PHEV, and only 15% of the EV’s TCO. It compensates for the higher purchase price (50%) of an EV, compared to 39% for diesel.

Consciousness is growing

Meanwhile, it seems consciousness is growing with professional fleet owners. According to Taco van der Leij, Vice President of Webfleet Europe, EVs are the cheaper way to follow. “The significant cost savings identified in the Electrifying Data report highlight why electrifying the fleet makes business sense,” he says.

“Webfleet provides access to the Fleet Electrification Report, a feature that clearly shows which vehicles can be replaced by an EV. After the increase in fuel prices in March of this year, we saw a 300% increase in the use of this tool. So it is clear that electrification of fleets is top of mind for many companies.”