Five companies have joined The Climate Group’s global electric vehicle (EV) initiative EV100.

Tusker, Rentokil Initial, OVO, Tarmac and Drover have committed to switch their fleets to electric by 2030.  

UK energy provider OVO has committed to transitioning its fleet and installing charging infrastructure at its work locations to support EV uptake by employees. 

Business services provider Rentokil Initial is transitioning its fleets in the UK and Europe, with a view to expanding to its global fleet. 

Tarmac says it will convert its 2,000 strong car and van fleet, as well as installing charging infrastructure for employees and customers at corporate locations across the UK, while vehicle subscription service Drover has committed to transitioning its 30,000 customer vehicle fleet.

Tusker has committed to switching its 20,000 customer vehicle fleet and increasing charging to support EV uptake by employees. 

Tusker’s CEO, Paul Gilshan, said: “Tusker have always had a commitment to the environment, with a number of measures in place to ensure our impact is minimised.

“We have been carbon neutral now for 10 years, offsetting our emissions through a number of internationally accredited programmes. Joining the EV100 was a natural step in pledging our future commitments to the adoptions of EVs and so we’re proud to continue with this.”

He continued: “With the plan to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2035, we’re confident we can support our drivers with the transition to EVs by the EV100’s deadline of 2030.”

Zenith and Lex Autolease announced they were joining the EV100 earlier this year. 

Lex Autolease said it will achieve net zero emissions across its customer fleet by 2030 and will switch the entire Lloyds Banking Group fleet to electric vehicles (EVs) by the same date.

Zenith has promised to switch its entire internal fleet to EV by 2025 – five years ahead of the date required by the EV100.

Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group, said: “We are delighted to welcome these leading British businesses to EV100, demonstrating the collective will for ambitious EV policies and the need for this demand to be met by manufacturers. 

“As the UK looks ahead to hosting COP26 in 2021, corporate support for the transition to electric vehicles is more important than ever. Major companies signing up to EV100 send a strong demand signal to the UK government that British business is ready to accelerate the clean energy transition.” 

EV100 is a global initiative by The Climate Group bringing together forward-looking companies committed to accelerating the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), to make electric transport ‘the new normal’ by 2030.