Adrian Brabazon, Head of UK Fleet Solutions, bp Fleet

bp is ready to drive the fleet sector to an electric future

Adrian Brabazon, Head of UK Fleet Solutions, bp Fleet, in conversation with Company Car & Van’s Andrew Walker

CC&V: We survey our readers twice a year, with the most popular question at present being about electrification – “should we/ shouldn’t we” being the most common response. What does bp fleet currently offer that would help ease the minds of SMEs who are considering the switch to electric cars and vans?

Adrian Brabazon: bp offers a bespoke solution for SMEs, delivered through its combined Fuel & Charge card, for businesses with 1 to 10 vehicles. It enables SMEs to manage their fleets with ease and efficiency, while transitioning to EVs at their own pace.

The SME Fuel and Charge card provides:

EV charging solutions

• Access to one of the UK’s largest networks of more than 9,000 bp pulse public charging points and more than 3,500 fuel stations (including our 1,200 branded bp sites and 2,250 partner sites: Esso, Gulf and Texaco) • Cost-effective electric vehicle charging and fuelling solutions, easily managed through one fuel card • If an SME requires depot, workplace or home charging, through bp pulse we are able to provide full EV hardware solutions

Carbon offsetting solutions

We can also offer SME customers access to carbon offsetting services provided through the bp Target Neutral programme, which purchases and retires carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions from fuel used by fleet customers. SME customers can use our carbon calculator to find out the carbon footprint of their travel and then pay to offset it. By doing so, they will help support a range of carbon offset projects around the world.

Clear reporting

• Access to bp’s 24/7 online portal, which helps effectively control fuel card use with downloadable user invoices • Access to the BPme digital app for cashless payments and tracking virtual transactions, which includes a loyalty programme, BPme Rewards, to redeem points earned through fuel and shop purchases

The past two years have been tough for many small businesses, having faced multiple challenges throughout the pandemic and the current economic conditions. We hope that our new service can help make the switch to electric vehicles a little more straightforward.

CC&V: Many of our readers run diesel cars and vans, primarily because they travel long distances for business. Will bp Fleet still be offering these customers their support right up until 2030 & possibly beyond?

Adrian Brabazon: With our Fuel & Charge card, we will continue to support fleets of all vehicle types as we move towards the UK

bp at the CV Show

government’s 2030 deadline for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

The Fuel & Charge card facilitates a phased approach to electric fleets, as it allows fuelling and charging on one card. Businesses don’t need to switch all vehicles to EVs at the same time, which means they can transition at their own pace.

CC&V: Charging on the go, for the majority of our readers, is still a concern. Can you tell us how many EV charging points bp now offers and how this figure will increase over the next two years?

Adrian Brabazon: bp pulse currently has over 9,000 EV charging points, and we expect to approximately triple this by 2030, with plans to invest £1 billion in electric vehicle charging in the UK. bp also plans to roll out up to 4,000 charging points in partnership with VW across the UK and Germany over the next 24 months.

CC&V: Finally, as more EVs come to market, so the price to buy or lease one will fall. Do you think that cheaper electric motoring will encourage SMEs to switch to full-electric, or do you think that it’s charging infrastructure that is the biggest hurdle?

Adrian Brabazon: We fully expect to see more SMEs move to electric vehicles as the price falls. Some industry analysts, including Richard Parry Jones, former Chief Technology Officer at Ford, and financial services firm UBS, predict that EVs will achieve price-parity “bp pulse currently has over 9,000 EV charging points, and we expect to approximately triple this by 2030, with plans to invest £1 billion in electric vehicle charging in the UK. bp also plans to roll out up to 4,000 charging points in partnership with VW across the UK and Germany over the next 24 months.”

with petrol and diesel vehicles1 by the mid-2020s. When SMEs factor in lower maintenance costs and the lower cost of refuelling, there will be no reason for them not to switch to EVs, as the total cost of ownership of an EV may well be lower than that of ICE vehicles2 .

We know that in the early days there were some issues with charging infrastructure. The first generation of public charging networks were government funded and had to be free to use for an initial period, with schemes set up where users could activate the charging with an RFID card, which created lots of separate regional networks.

However, the public and private sector is investing huge amounts to improve and expand EV charging in the UK. The UK government recently announced its plans to commit £1.6 billion to expand the UK charging network, improve the consumer experience at charging points and provide fast charging. bp also recently announced plans to invest £1 billion in its bp pulse EV charging infrastructure in the UK, so that it can approximately triple the size of its network from its current 9,000 charging points.

In a recent survey that we conducted of 500 fleet drivers and 250 fleet managers, we found that over half (54%) of fleets will use the public charging network in addition to charging points at home or at their depots.3

So, with the falling price of EVs and the massive investment going into charging infrastructure, SMEs should feel confident that they can start transitioning their fleets to EV.

1 https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry-news-environment-and-energy/richard-parry-jones-cost-parity-between-evs-and-ice 2 https://uk.mer.eco/news/ev-vs-ice-are-electric-cars-worth-it/#ev_vs_ice:_the_cost_of_ownership 3 Research carried out by One Poll, polled 500 UK fleet drivers and 250 UK fleet managers