Range anxiety down the list, along with charging complexity and resale, survey finds
Australian fleet take-up of electric vehicles (EVs) remains in its infancy but a survey of fleet owners here gives clues to what they see as impediments to EV take-up growth.
One outcome that may surprise is that range anxiety – a relatively long-term top issue amongst motorists worried about running out of power on the road – ranks outside the top three of 14 concerns surveyed organisations have about increasing the number of EV s in their fleets.
While the “capacity of EV battery to travel the distances required” was a shared concern of 29 per cent of respondents, it was outweighed by:
- Purchase cost – 60 per cent
- Cost of setting up workplace EV charging infrastructure – 45 per cent
- Limited choice of EV models that are fit for purpose –34 per cent.
Complexity of setting up workplace EV charging infrastructure gets equal billing at 29 per cent.
Amongst the rest, worries about residual and resale value of EVs came in at was on 25 per cent, with others under 20 per cent.
The survey was undertaken earlier in the year by the Australasian Fleet Management Association (AFMA), backed by AGL Next, and the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and conducted by respected industry analysis firm ACA Research.
“Less than a third of our respondents are currently operating electric vehicles; this suggests most are still reviewing the suitability of these vehicles for their fleets,” AFMA says.
“Despite Covid, 53 per cent of respondents indicated their purchase decisions are business as usual whilst 25 per cent said its watch and wait.”
Read about ACA Research’s findings on fleet executive concerns, here
On the public policy level, fleets are looking for government action focused on traditional financial support but also action on battery charging infrastructure.
Subsidies for vehicle purchase and charging installation rated 45 per cent and 31 per cent respectively, while 36 per cent wanted public charging infrastructure.
“Fleet operators primarily think of government intervention in terms of subsidies and public charging facilities; there is surprisingly little focus on the removal of FBT [fringe benefits tax, at 17 per cent] and luxury car tax [16 per cent, potentially indicating a lack of knowledge of the impact these have on TCO [total cost of ownership],” the researchers say.
“Smaller businesses are more likely to look to the government for education and support, helping build knowledge in areas they aren’t able to resource in-house.
“Large fleets (that typically prefer leasing over outright purchases) also stand out for their greater level of interest in more targeted government support (i.e. the removal of FBT or luxury car tax)”
All up, there are 177 respondents with three of those in New Zealand.
They had fleets of 66,518 vehicles, of which 6,432 were trucks above 3.5 tonne 22,664 were light commercials under 3.5 tonne.
Five firms surveyed are from the broad transport, postal and warehousing (TPW) sector.
“The information and insights in this report are designed to inform and empower suppliers of products and services to Australian fleets, as well as policy makers at all levels of government,” AFMA executive director Mace Hartley says.
“While we see many private and public sector organisations choosing to ‘go green’ by reducing vehicle emissions, their underlying motivations can vary significantly.”