Being “carbon conscious” is crucial for businesses great and small.
For SMEs, especially those operating outside of cities, providing staff with company cars is crucial to ensure the running of a functional and efficient business.
But how do SME owners ensure employees can do their jobs properly whilst complying to environmental standards and ensuring a solid ethical reputation” Well, you don’t have to be an anti-emission oligarch to make your fleet green. Here are our tips for effective green fleet management.
Start with the car
Eco-friendly fleet management starts with the type of car you choose. This may sound obvious. But if you do your research, you’ll find that the lower a car’s C02 output, the less it will cost you in terms of fuel costs, insurance, tax and excise duty.
Do your maths on the cost of the car for its entire lifespan, then you can shortlist vehicle options based on net environmental and economic wastage. You’ll find that electric cars will cost less in the long-run, though they may be more expensive at purchase.
Go electric
Thanks to improved engineering and technology, there are more affordable electric cars on the market that drive better and further without the incessant charging of batteries along motorway pit-stops.
Although it’s still hard to find extremely low-cost electric cars, leasing options are available. Brands such as?Renault are known to offer separate battery lease deals to help to lower costs. Despite having an initially higher purchase price than ]lower-end petrol alternatives, you can balance the disparity out via the lower cost of recharging the battery, which is less than having to constantly fill the car with fuel.
By choosing a ‘greener’ fleet, you’ve not only done your bit for the environment, you’ve added a key USP to your brand.
Get with tech?
Digital technology is the saving grace for green, safety-first, and money saving fleet management. Programmes such as nexcar allow you to track your fleet and monitor driver behaviour, the idea being if you can see how your employees drive, you can advise them to drive in a manner that is safer, uses less fuel, and is better for the environment.
Provided via in-depth yet easily visible analytics, the software also allows for more effective management of insurance disputes following an accident.
Movolytics is another piece of technology that promises a better managed and environmentally friendly fleet. The software helps?find more fuel-efficient routes for drivers, avoid traffic build-ups, and monitor driver performance to encourage greener behaviours at the wheel.
What does eco-safe driving achieve
Encouraging better driving behaviour may sound abstract, but creating an awareness of bad driving behaviour by tracking fleet journeys means less wear-and-tear on wheels and car engines, and less wastage of fuel exhausts through excessive revving all things that are good for mother nature, and your pocket.
Benefits of green fleet management
Purchasing or leasing greener cars can involve a little extra cost at the start, including higher price vehicles and investing in tracking technology, but your overall carbon emissions will decrease. This means less in fuel costs and car repairs in the long term. It also means less in government taxations on your fleet.
Going green is the smarter business decision when it comes to fleet management, and as any successful entrepreneur knows, initial investment can produce the long-term gains.
Business reputation
Corporate social responsibility is always important. As climate change is at the forefront of most political and economic discussions, your business will appear engaged, efficient and morally responsible if you pursue a greener agenda. By choosing a ‘greener’ fleet, you’ve not only done your bit for the environment, you’ve added a key USP to your brand.
