Lets talk with Claire Evans
Claire Evans leads the consultancy function and public affairs activities within Zenith, the UK’s leading independent leasing, fleet management and vehicle outsourcing business. With a career in the industry spanning 20 years, and as a passionate driver of Zenith’s ESG agenda, Claire works actively within the industry to position the role fleet can play in delivering the net zero agenda along with assisting operators of fleets to navigate and reap the benefits of an increasingly dynamic environment.
What are the biggest industry topics you and your team are discussing right now?
The pace of change has never been faster, take the impact of the recently announced electric car grant and introduction of an Advisory Electric Rate for public charging. Both of these involve working through the detail and understanding and sharing the impact they will have on lease costs and customer policies. While it’s positive to see initiatives like these being launched to support the transition, we’re closely monitoring how the market responds and what influence it will have on driver choice.
I’m also working with the BVRLA on its budget asks, focusing on ways to support the used market. This includes a suggested improvement to the way Benefit-in-Kind is calculated for used cars. The current system does not distinguish a new or used car benefit. This means anyone choosing a used electric vehicle (EV) pays as much tax as someone in a new model. Moving to a targeted discount in benefit value for used EVs would be fairer, as well as making zero-emission vehicles more affordable to a wider population of drivers.
What are the challenges currently facing fleet managers?
Again, there are so many areas of focus for fleet managers, but the electrification of fleets is a constant. While we know the majority of new battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales are through fleets, there’s increasing demand from our corporate customers to support them with greater adoption and finding ways to make EVs more affordable. Improving access to electric through used salary sacrifice schemes achieves these aims along with establishing a healthy used market which benefits both new and used EV drivers so we’re excited to be launching our own used salary sacrifice scheme.
For drivers who are concerned about safety, reliability and practicality of a used EV over petrol and diesel, leasing provides a risk averse way to make the switch. By including maintenance, servicing, and tyre replacements, as well as insurance and breakdown cover, along with the benefits of affordable shorter-term contracts, drivers have more confidence in the quality of a used EV.
How are commercial fleet customers approaching the transition?
Whilst there is interest from customers to transition their large commercial vehicles to a more sustainable option the reality is that we are yet to see zero emission vehicles in the market that tick all the boxes of being affordable and practical to operate at scale.
While there are less viable zero-emission vehicles available to commercial fleets, the conversation with these customers is still very proactive, looking for ways to explore new technologies and utilise renewable fuels. We maintain a dialogue with many bodies, sharing our data and insight, and working collaboratively on solutions that can help to eliminate risk from operators and ignite the transition.
