ORGANISATIONS should accelerate their electric vehicle adoption plans now to avoid a “mad scramble” for EVs as 2030 approaches, according to Australasian Fleet Management Association (AfMA) executive director Mace Hartley.

Speaking at Bosscap Group’s recent F-150 Lightning drive day in Queensland, Mr Hartley warned that companies aiming to meet carbon neutrality targets by the end of the decade could face severe supply constraints if they delayed transitioning their fleets to electric vehicles.

“In the last two years of that, before that, 2029 and 2030, you won’t be able to get an EV anywhere in the globe, because everywhere has got these ambitions,” Mr Hartley said.

“Businesses need to move now, and the maths does stack up.”

Mace Hartley

Mr Hartley described a growing “say-do gap” where organisations had established ambitious carbon reduction targets but were not taking practical steps to achieve them, particularly regarding their vehicle fleets.

“There’s big organisations that put these great policies out there, and they’re doing nothing close to going anywhere near achieving, there’s no groundwork being laid,” he said.

While hybrid vehicle sales have surged in recent years, EV adoption has plateaued slightly after initial growth, with Mr Hartley noting that most organisations had moved beyond EV trial phases but were now grappling with implementation.“Most organisations have now gone past a trial. They have EVs for their pool cars… now the hard part is getting to that home charging,” he explained.

“There’s a decision tree. There’s lots of decisions to make, lots of decisions that you know what’s going to happen. But I’ve seen organisations now, some fairly large organisations, who want to go to home garaging, but only a percentage of their employees can actually charge at home.”

Mr Hartley presented data from AfMA revealing that approximately 48 per cent of fleet vehicles are home-garaged.

He said this presented both opportunities and challenges for organisations transitioning to electric vehicles, with charging infrastructure as critical as ever to broader adoption.

According to Mr Hartley, the business case for electrification is compelling when properly analysed through total cost of ownership (TCO) calculations, echoing points made by Bosscap Group chief financial officer Tom Shipsides about looking beyond initial purchase prices.Modelling presented by Mr Shipsides during the event claimed that a remote mine site could run a Ford F-150 Lightning with similar TCO as a diesel Toyota Hilux or Ford Ranger despite the locally remanufactured right-hand-drive electric pickup selling for circa-$175,000 (by GoAutoNews Premium’s understanding) in retail spec without mine-specific modifications.

Mr Hartley added that real-world testing of both internal combustion and electric vehicles was crucial for accurate cost projections, noting significant variations between laboratory and real-world performance in conventional vehicles.

He mentioned that the Australian Automobile Association was preparing to extend its real-world testing program to electric vehicles, with results expected around July that would provide fleet managers with more accurate range and energy consumption data for EVs.By Haitham Razagui