Reflex supports Clean Air Day’s call for action on vehicle pollution

There’s no escaping the fact that transport is one of the biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and has been since 2016, according to data from the Department for Transport.

Cars and taxis make up the majority of transport emissions, followed by vans and HGVs, so it’s clear that as a flexible rental provider of cars and vans we have an important part to play in helping to reduce emissions from our vehicles.

We support the call from Global Action Plan - the environmental charity behind Clean Air Day - for the next government to take urgent action so everyone in the UK can breathe cleaner air by making walking, wheeling and cycling safer, and ensuring that we can all access reliable, affordable and efficient public transport.

But we also recognise that a vehicle is sometimes the best or only option for a journey. In those circumstances, switching from a diesel or petrol vehicle to an electric one or car sharing makes a positive difference.

PHEV and EVs make up 57% of our own fleet

Our green company car policy states that all staff vehicles must be at least a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) but preferably a full electric vehicle (EV) when their vehicle is due for replacement.

At the end of 2023, 57% of our own fleet were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles or pure electric, up from 25% in 2022, in line with our policy.

We have invested £40,000 to roll out brand new electric car chargepoints at our offices to support the increase in electric vehicles on our fleet.

Where we have installed staff home charge points, we have partnered with eFaraday, who plant trees alongside Ecologi for every installation.

We regularly share staff experiences of driving EVs on our website, like André Pardal’s 1,500-mile round-trip to Europe, to show the reality of living with an EV and to dispel myths about going electric.

We also allow customers to trial electric cars and vans through our Renewable Drive Programme. Since launch in 2020, more than 40 trials have been completed, giving customers valuable first-hand experience and helping to alleviate any concerns they may have.

This can be particularly helpful when a fleet manager has identified vehicles which are suitable to switch to electric but their drivers are anxious about moving away from a diesel or petrol vehicle.

EV:IE tool identifies which vehicles to transition to electric

We are supporting fleet managers to determine which vehicles they can immediately switch from fossil fuel to zero emission alternatives, as well as planning longer term for the Government’s 2035 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans, through our EV:IE (Electric Vehicle Information Exchange) programme.

This programme allows businesses to significantly reduce the time they spend researching EVs. Once fleet data is added to our platform it cross checks daily driving patterns with EV range, analyses charging requirements, provides a detailed cost comparison between ICE and EV models, and a calculation of potential CO2 savings.

Customers from a variety of industries, including logistics and construction, have been through our EV:IE programme in the past 18 months and now have EVs on hire from us. Airport logistics specialist Amalga, for example, used EV:IE to review the market and source its first electric van.

On our commercial fleet, we are using a fully-electric EV:IE sign written Mercedes-Benz eVito to perform deliveries and collections that fall within a 50-mile radius. This is part of our long-term commitment to electrify our van fleet.

How else are we helping to reduce pollution?

Aside from reducing the emissions of our cars and vans, we have taken some great steps over the past couple of years to lower the environmental impact of our operations, including:

• Partnering with Gift a Tree, a non-profit organisation dedicated to reforestation and environmental conservation. As part of this, 850 trees were planted in a nature reserve in Devon last year for each of our customers and employees. We plan to increase this number each year as we grow.
• Improving our waste management programme and becoming a gold standard recycling site. We can certify that the carbon emissions associated with the movement and processing of waste from all our sites have been meticulously calculated in line with ISO14064 protocol and offset through donations to gold standard verified projects, meeting the rigorous standards of PAS2060. Across our sites in 2023 we’ve achieved remarkable recycling results: 97.47% of our Dry Mixed and General waste has been recycled; 2.35% has been recovered for further use; and only 0.18% has ended up in landfill.
• Upgrading the lighting at our four-acre site in the Midlands from halogen bulbs to LED light fittings and installing a new energy efficient central heating system.

These are just a few of the initiatives we’ve introduced which have helped reduce our Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 emissions by 32% from 2022, and we will continue to look for new ways to make a difference to our environmental impact.

If your business needs help with the EV transition, contact our expert team or visit the Be EV Ready section of our website.

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