The number of vehicles operated by the large multinationals in the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative has risen to 169,000 – more than double the figure for 12 months ago.

The EV100 companies have also committed to have 4.8 million EVs on the road by 2030 - an increase of 80% - according to the organisation’s E EV100 Progress and Insights report.

This research is based on data from 101 major global businesses such as Siemens, Sky and AstraZeneca, covering 80 markets.

Sandra Roling, head of transport at the Climate Group, said: “Corporate uptake of electric vehicles is on a roll.

“Despite the uncertainty of 2020, the business community has made remarkable progress in transitioning its fleets.

“The EV revolution is underway.”

The Climate Group said organisations are also using their property portfolios to build a network of charging infrastructure that supports both their staff and customers.

The report found the number of locations committed to have charging installed was 6,500; a 103% increase.

There has also been an 84% increase in the number of locations with charging already installed, to nearly 2,100, and the number of individual chargepoints installed has increased 79% to nearly 16,900.

Other key findings of the report are:

• 75 million metric tons CO2e emissions set to be avoided by 2030
• Tackling the climate crisis, reducing air pollution and the reputational benefits were reported by companies as the main drivers
• Companies cite challenges in procuring electric commercial and heavy-duty vehicles and lack of public charging infrastructure as their biggest obstacles to achieving their commitments

The report follows an announcement by UK leasing company Tusker, which says 20% of its vehicles funded are now pure electric: an increase of 17 percentage points over 2019’s figure.