Member Article

Driving Britain to a cleaner future

Vital Energi has become one of the first organisations in the country to be awarded the “Go Ultra Low Company” status, in recognition of their contribution to lowering emissions by adopting Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).

The new initiative recognises UK businesses which are embracing electric vehicles as part of a new government and automotive industry initiative run by campaign group “Go Ultra Low.” Public and private sector organisations that already use PHEVs, or offer them to employees as company cars, are eligible for Go Ultra Low Company status, providing there’s a commitment for PHEVs to make up at least 5% of their vehicle fleet by 2020. Currently, more than 50% of Vital Energi’s cars are hybrid vehicles.

Paul Carberry, Fleet Manager at Vital Energi commented, “We thought very carefully about our fleet strategy as we wanted to reduce our emissions as much as possible while giving our employees the cars that they wanted and the PHEVs are perfect for people who have short commutes and do the majority of their commute in electric mode. The Go Ultra Low initiative is a fantastic way to get the message out that that lowering your fleet emissions is both achievable and makes great financial sense and we’re sure it will encourage other organisations out there to follow suit.”

This qualifying criteria mirrors Government forecasts that EVs will represent 5% of total UK new car registrations by the end of the decade. The Government has earmarked £600m until 2020 to support the plug-in vehicle grant, expand the charging infrastructure, and boost the electric car industry.

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said: “It’s great to see a growing number of British fleets going green and I would encourage other businesses to learn from these Go Ultra Low companies and benefit from the huge fuel and tax savings offered by electric vehicles.

“The UK is a world leader in the uptake of low emission vehicles and our long-term economic plan is investing £600 million by 2020 to improve air quality, create jobs and achieve our goal of every new car and van in the UK being ultra-low emission by 2040.”

If you’d like to know more about Vital Energi and the work they do, please visit www.vitalenergi.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gordon Coates .