More than three-quarters of daily car journeys could be completed using a fully electric vehicle (EV), new research has found.
Leasing firm ALD Automotive looked at data from its ProFleet telematics system, analysing a random sample of company cars covering a total of 95,000 miles and 2,396 hours of journey time.
The data revealed that 77% covered less than 100 miles a day and 52% covered less than 50 miles a day.
Only 12% of daily journeys were over 150 miles and less than 6% were over 200 miles.
ALD Automotive consultancy services manager Matt Dale said: “There is now an expanding choice of battery EVs available which can easily cover in excess of 100 miles on a single charge.
“This means that over three-quarters of all journeys in the data we sampled could be completed using purely electric power.
“With range improvements being made with each new model launched, it won’t be long before battery EVs can comfortably exceed 200 miles.
“At that point, 94% of journeys could be completed without of an internal combustion engine vehicle.”
Dale said that the findings were based on the assumption of a single daily charge so, as the public charging infrastructure improves, even more daily journeys will be viable.
He added: “It’s already possible to get an 80% charge on the motorway in about the time it takes to grab some lunch, so I don’t think it will be long until refuelling an EV becomes just as easy as a refuelling a diesel or petrol on longer journeys.”
The research follows a recent trial staged by ALD Automotive in which 20 company car drivers were allocated plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Based on this the firm has published a white paper including guidance for businesses which is available on its website.
