Fleet decision-makers are failing to recognise the cost benefits of electric cars, says Fleet Evolution.

The fleet management company has produced a deck of playing cards which display the fuel costs of different electric, hybrid, petrol and diesel models.

It used these to ask personnel and fleet decision-makers at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) annual conference to take part in a game of 'higher or lower' to estimate if one model had a higher or lower fuel cost than the model of the next vehicle.

Fleet Evolution said 100 delegates took part in the game and many struggled to identify whether hybrids were more or less economical than conventional petrol or diesel models, or whether any were more efficient that EVs.

Andrew Leech, managing director of Fleet Evolution, said: “It was a bit of an eye-opener for us.

“Although we had chosen a quite lighthearted way of making the point, the message was a very serious one about the fuel costs of the different categories of cars.

“And it seems, based on our results, that we still have a long way to go in the EV education progress.”

Leech said that many quite senior decision-makers expressed real shock that an all-electric Tesla Model S cost just £222 to cover 10,000 miles, compared to £2,357 for a Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe E300 AMG over the same distance.

He added: “There seemed to be genuine surprise amongst delegates that a Hyundai Kona EV cost just £89 for 10,000 miles, while the cost of a petrol Kona model was 18 times higher at  £1,650 over the same 10,000 mile cycle,” he said.

 

 

Electric vehicles – cost per 10,000 miles @ 4p per kWh

 

Make	Model	Fuel cost per 10,000 miles
Hyundai Kona	Hatchback 150kW Premium 64kWh 5dr Auto	£89
Kia Niro	EV Crossover	£92
Smart ForFour	Hatchback 60kW EQ Prime Prem Plus 17kWh 5dr Auto Hybrid Inscription 5dr AWD Geartronic 35mpg	£671
BMW 5 Series	Saloon 530e SE 4dr Auto 35mpg	£691
Mitsubishi Outlander	Estate 2.4 PHEV 4h 5dr Auto – 35mpg	£695
Audi Q7	Estate 3.0 TDI 258 Quattro e-tron 5dr Tip Auto 40mpg	£716

 

 

 

Petrol models  - fuel cost per 10,000 miles @£1.32 per litre

 

Make	Model	Fuel cost per 10,000 miles
Ford Focus	Hatchback 1.0 EcoBoost 100 Zetec 5dr	£1,320
DS 3	Hatchback 1.2 PureTech 82 Connected Chic 3dr	£1,343
Honda Civic	Hatchback1.0 VTEC Turbo 126 EX 5dr	£1,404
Audi A3	Sportback1.5 TFSI S Line 5dr	£1,534
Hyundai Kona	Hatchback 1.0T GDi Blue Drive Premium SE 5dr	£1,650
BMW 5 Series	Saloon 520i SE 4dr Auto	£1,705
Infiniti Q30	Hatchback 1.6T Luxe 5dr	£2,062
Audi A7	Sportback 55 TFSI Quattro S Line 5dr S Tronic	£2,200
Mercedes-Benz E-Class	Coupe E300 AMG Line 2dr 9G-Tronic	£2,357

 

 

 

 

 

Diesel models - fuel cost per 10,000 miles @£1.38 per litre

 

Make	Model	Fuel cost per 10,000 miles
SEAT Leon	Hatchback 1.6 TDI SE 5dr DSG	£1,232
Citroen C4 Cactus	Hatchback 1.5 BlueHDi Feel 5dr	£1,232
Mini Countryman	Hatchback 2.0 Cooper S D ALL4 5dr Auto	£1,301
Mini Countryman	Hatchback 2.0 Cooper D 5dr More articles on: Fleet Evolution fuel and fuel cards electric and hybrid vehicles Author: Andrew Ryan Features editor andrew.ryan@bauermedia.co.uk 01733 468308 Andrew Ryan is the features editor at Fleet News. He has been a journalist for more than 20 years and has specialised in the fleet industry for the past 12. Comments (0) Login to comment Comments No comments have been made yet. Most read 14 important electric vehicles coming soon Electric vehicles 28 Mar Fleets receive cars and vans with wrong number plates Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) 11 Apr Driver suffers life-changing injuries after being electrocuted safety and risk management 15 Apr Stellantis to bring nine brands to Company Car in Action CCIA 2024 11 Apr Updated Mercedes EQS boasts 500-mile range Car News 12 Apr Tesla zero-servicing plan a ‘danger to fleets’ Tesla 10 Apr Plug-in hybrids almost double company car market share Cap HPI 11 Apr EV brand Fisker cuts prices and warns of limited aftersales support Car News 10 Apr Alfa Romeo Milano EV marks brand's return to compact segment Car News 10 Apr Show more Show less To get the latest Fleet News content direct to your inbox Register to receive our newsletter