How Widespread Electric Fleet Adoption Benefits Business Owners
Business owners must stay on top of multiple things, from shifting societal trends to new laws and regulations. They need to rapidly synthesize several incoming information streams, making high-stakes decisions to increase profitability. Adopting an electric fleet is one such choice with several bottom-line benefits.
Why should business owners adopt electric fleets? What are the benefits to the planet, team members and profit margins? Can these devices solve headaches besides the pollution created by commerce in the modern world? Here’s what you should know.
1. Staying Ahead of Laws and Trends
World and corporate leaders increasingly recognize that continuing to do business as usual could devastate life on Earth. The problem isn’t so much temperature change as how quickly it’s occurring, giving living organisms no time to adapt. No one can predict what may happen — however, humans have already endured stronger and more destructive storms and wildfires, and pollution affects millions of lives annually.
As a result, governments have responded with various restrictions on fossil fuel use, including phasing out traditional vehicles in favor of greener models that eliminate tailpipe emissions. That means the standard pump will begin to disappear — including in many U.S. states, with phaseouts starting as soon as 2035.
One huge benefit business leaders can reap by adopting electric vehicle use now is avoiding potential headaches later. Continuing to rely on oil and gas-powered models will render your operations obsolete — the only question is how soon.
Fortunately, it isn’t only governments that recognize the need for sustainability. Consumers do, too, and several studies indicate they’re willing to pay more for eco-friendliness. Therefore, don’t keep your electric fleet to yourself — use it in your marketing efforts by doing the following:
- Emphasizing your commitment to going green on your corporate website and in your printed marketing materials
- Using wraps and decals to draw attention to your electric fleet while on the road, raising name recognition while pointing out your eco-friendliness
- Participating in community “go green” events, giving you a chance to share how you employ sustainable practices in your business
2. Reducing Maintenance Costs
Electric vehicles have a completely different engine than standard fleets, which also assists business owners adopting this technology. Because there’s no need for internal combustion, such engines have fewer moving parts, leading to fewer breakdowns. You could reduce your fleet maintenance costs by 50% or more, saving thousands each year.
Electric vehicles also reduce the potential for human error to increase costs. For example, you don’t have to worry about oil changes or checking transmission fluid levels. The only liquids you need to monitor are the thermal coolant for your battery and brakes and the windshield wiper fluid. Furthermore, the regenerative braking these systems employ means you replace your brake pads less frequently, too.
You can further extend the life of your electric feet by performing the following routine maintenance tasks:
- Train drivers in battery maintenance. They should avoid leaving vehicles in extreme temperatures, fully charging or depleting the battery, or relying solely on fast chargers for juice.
- Check the cooling system and wiper fluid.
- Test the brake pads and fluid levels.
- Rotate your tires.
3. Protecting Driver and Customer Health
You might have read scary news stories about electric vehicle explosions, but they are extremely rare and often not as dramatic as they sound. While e-vehicle batteries can catch fire if damaged or faulty, they pose less of an explosion risk than traditional vehicles because there is no fuel to combust on impact. The biggest threat is the batteries reigniting, requiring copious water and sometimes full immersion to douse.
Today’s e-vehicles also perform exceptionally well in crash tests, coming up on par with or superior to traditional automobiles. Updated data shows the rate of injury claims for electric vehicle drivers is 40% lower than for conventional models. The heavy batteries may serve a protective function, safeguarding occupants from the worst of the impact.
That matters to business owners, who may not only have to replace an employee while they recuperate but also manage workers’ compensation claims. Preventing severe injuries that lead to lost work days is even better for owners and staff members alike.
Finally, fewer tailpipe emissions help everyone breathe easier. According to the WHO, air pollution costs countless lives each year and cleaning it up means getting the devices that produce the choking smog off the street.
4. Slashing Emissions
The biggest benefit of widespread electric fleet adoption to business owners is slashing emissions. Humans can’t survive if they alter their habitat beyond their ability to adapt and the psychological toll of living on a destroyed planet could sap their desire to live.
Your profitability ultimately rests on people — healthy, happy people who readily buy your products and services. Shifting to a circular economy model ensures ongoing viability for generations to come.
You’ll also be in good company. Huge firms such as Republic Services have announced plans to partner with truck manufacturer Oshkosh Corporation to develop a line of electric garbage trucks. Multiple cities and municipalities have already switched or are in the process of converting their fleets to electric, as are major corporations, including:
- Amazon
- AT&T
- Best Buy
- Clif Bar
- FedEx
- Frito-Lay
- Hertz
- IKEA
- PepsiCo
- Verizon
Concerns remain regarding the emissions created throughout the entire life cycle of electric vehicles, including the environmental cost of lithium mining for batteries and energy needs during manufacturing. However, today’s models are still greener than the alternative. While a traditional car produces more than 350 grams of carbon dioxide over their lifetimes, fully electric models release only 200 grams.
Furthermore, hope remains for still cleaner processes. As solar technology advances, factories will rely less on fossil fuels and more on clean, green energy to move new e-vehicles off the assembly line. Solar parking lots dot hospital landscapes in some areas and more businesses will follow suit, especially if governments extend credits for such developments or let owners profit by selling the excess power they generate.
Furthermore, while today’s hemp batteries lack the necessary oomph to power an EV as of yet, researchers continue to perfect them to reduce or eliminate the need for lithium while further reducing combustion risk. Best of all, hemp reproduces and matures quickly, providing a clean source of energy storage if humans can perfect the technology.
Business Owners Benefit From Widespread Electric Fleet Adoption
Corporate leaders must stay on top of their game to keep pace with changes that may not seem to impact their operations directly — until they do. One of the crises facing humanity as a whole is climate change and adopting an electric fleet now is one way leaders can prepare their enterprises to enter the future.
Creating an electric vehicle fleet goes beyond keeping pace with government obligations and avoiding obsolescence. At its core, it’s essential to protecting life on Earth, without which business could not exist.
