Fleets Switch to Electric Cars

Fleets are moving towards hybrid and electric powertrains much faster than industry anticipates

The sharp decline in sales of diesel cars in January is set to continue, with corporate fleets leading the exodus away from the fuel, according to new research.

Official figures from the SMMT revealed that sales of diesel cars dropped by 25.6% in January.

Sewells Research & Insight’s twice-yearly Market Barometer has found that 71% of fleets currently operate diesel cars, but only 59% expect their replacement cars to be fuelled by diesel. Petrol cars will take up most of the slack in the short-term, although by far the most dynamic growth will be in sales of hybrid and electric cars.

The Market Barometer suggests that as many as 30% of fleets expect to run hybrid cars within the next 12 months, and a further 7% will have pure electric cars on their books by the end of the year. This represents a dramatic increase from the 12% of fleets that currently have at least one hybrid car, and the 3% of fleets which have a battery-powered car.

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