Driving change

Nick Baser looks at some new practices for sustainable fleet management.

The management of a fleet of company vehicles is a complex operation involving everything from finance, maintenance, logistics, driver health and safety to vehicle acquisition and disposal. While company vehicles are generally essential to day-today business operations, companies are now having to take a hard look at their vehicle fleet’s impact on the environment, with the ultimate aim of moving to greener alternatives. At Henry Schein UK, our fleet of company vehicles includes cars for our field sales consultants and equipment specialists as well as commercial vans for our engineers. Along with many other company car schemes, our vehicles range from conventional petrol/ diesel models to modern hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs). However, we have a strong commitment to changing our fleet step by step as we work towards meeting Henry Schein’s global commitment to the Business Ambition for 1.50C initiative, our ESG agenda, and Henry Schein UK’s goal of achieving certification to ISO 14001 standard to improve our environmental performance through more e cient use of resources and reduction in waste.

A sustainable fleet management strategy is one that aims to reduce environmental impacts through a combination of cleaner vehicles and fuels and fuel-e cient operation, which in turn reduces fuel and vehicle costs. As part of this agenda, we have a commitment to move our company car fleet to EVs only by 2025, well ahead of the government ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles that comes into force in 2030.

Fleet management provider There is a proliferation of EVs

Nick Baser is the director of human resources UK and Ireland at Henry Schein. coming onto the market making them a very attractive option for businesses looking to upgrade their company vehicles. But the market is complicated and some larger companies may choose to work with a fleet management provider. A fleet management provider chooses, acquires and maintains the vehicles, as well as handling administration matters. They have supplier relationships directly with car companies to ensure they understand the tax and cashflow implications of purchase or lease agreements and can help to avoid many of the pitfalls along the way. Most have access to a network of approved garages to handle servicing and accident repairs to ensure the best value possible in these areas as well.

Government incentives and grants

There are a number of government incentives for making the move to electric cars and vans, which are of particular benefit to small and medium-sized businesses.

For example, to help with the initial purchase, zero-emission vehicles are eligible for a plug-in grant that will pay 35 per cent of the purchase price (up to a maximum of £1,500) of the cost of an electric car under the value of £32k. For eligible lease vehicles, the grant is deducted from the price of the car at the dealership resulting in lower lease costs. A similar scheme operates for electric vans and trucks and businesses can claim for a total of 1,000 plug-in van and truck grants each year. The Workspace Charging Scheme is designed to reduce the upfront costs of purchasing and installing electric car charging points. The grant covers up to 75 per cent of the total costs, capped at a maximum of £350 per socket. Applicants can claim up to 40 sockets across multiple sites up to a maximum of £14k.

Home charging points remain the responsibility of employees rather than employers. Unfortunately for many, however, the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme – a government grant currently available to help with the cost of purchasing and installing an electric vehicle home charging point – is changing significantly. From April 2022, the scheme will no longer be open to homeowners living in ‘single-unit properties’ - in other words, detached, semi-detached, terraced houses and bungalows. The grant will instead be aimed at landlords of rental properties

and those living in leasehold flats. This is significant as the move to electric vehicles is totally dependent on access to a network of accessible charging points. While this infrastructure is rapidly developing in the UK, especially for those living in larger metropolitan areas, where public charging points are now widely available, more needs to be done to ensure that charging points are available no matter where you live.

The move to greener alternatives

At Henry Schein UK, we are committed to sustainability as part of our corporate ESG strategy and the ISO14001 certification process which we are currently undertaking, so the impact our business has on the environment is really important to us. We are also committed to supporting and encouraging our business partners to look at their own sustainability practices.

The switch to EVs enables us to reduce carbon emissions and helps us to meet our overall agenda of achieving carbon neutrality, something that matters not only to our customers but also to Henry Schein team members. Demonstrating and working towards a positive sustainability agenda is a clear indication of the direction of a business and the company’s culture.