As part of Centrica’s People & Planet Plan, the company has committed to reducing its total carbon footprint by 40% by 2034, become a net zero business by 2045 and become a net zero business by 2045.
Progressing the Group’s low carbon fleet and company car roadmap is therefore key. With a fleet of over 12,000 vehicles globally and British Gas having the third largest commercial fleet in the UK, these efforts will make a material difference in decarbonizing emissions from travel.
Centrica has led the way with early trials and programs for electric vehicle (EV) adoption. In 2020 we committed to the largest purchase of EVs in UK history, with an order of 1,000 e-Vivaro electric vans from Vauxhall. With the UK government’s decision to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles from 2030, we took the decision to accelerate our transition to EVs. As a result, in 2021 we accelerated our drive to sustainable transportation with the purchase of an additional 2,000 vans from Vauxhall. We’ll order more as soon as they become available and have introduced plans to even purchase another ICE vehicle.
We are commencing with rollout of the vans in high pollution areas and for drivers who are able to install at-home chargers. Centrica has also committed to make its 1,500 company cars EV only in the same time frame, and to never purchase another ICE vehicle again.
Centrica remains a signatory of EV100, which we signed up to in 2019 – a global initiative that brings together forwardlooking companies that want to accelerate the transition to EVs and make electric transportation the new normal by 2030. As part of this group, Centrica will be able share learning about the rollout to drive the transition forward together.
Engineers will be using Centrica Business Solutions Fleet Charger Management system and driver app. The solution acts as a virtual fuel card and makes it possible to plug in to any standard charger, whether at home, at the workplace or on the road and be automatically reimbursed for the charging costs.
The company is currently increasing the EV engineer workforce through training existing engineers, recruiting new engineers, and creating 1,000 new engineering apprenticeships by the end of 2022, and at least an additional 2,500 apprentices by 2030.
Having already deployed 200 vans to date, we’ve completed over 218,000 miles – saving 30,000 liters of diesel or the equivalent of 193 barrels of oil. Using its capabilities as a lead EV charge-point installer in the UK, Centrica has installed nearly 17,700 charge-points in the UK, including over 100 charge-points across its sites to support employees that choose low carbon transportation for their commute. These actions have put Centrica well on it’s way to being the largest EV fleet in the UK over the next few years.
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