Driving electric: the EV Rally delivers accelerated learning for Europcar

To gain more experience in electric vehicles and charging, Europcar Mobility Group UK jumped at the chance to be involved in the GreenFleet EV Rally. Here Mark Newberry, commercial director and sustainability spokesperson, provides some insight into why it was such an important experience could be used. A full overnight charge would maximise the distance the vehicle could travel the following day before needing to top up. Plus, the team discovered it made sense to charge when they stopped – for a comfort break or meal stop – rather than planning their journey around charge stops. This type of top-up charging increases efficiency and ensures charge levels don’t drop too low. Chargers can be chosen based on facilities nearby rather than out of necessity, making the break more enjoyable. And even short charges on a highspeed charger while the team had a comfort break and bought a drink added valuable range.

Discovering everything there is to know about driving electric is a journey. A journey for businesses and for their employees as well as for private buyers. So much is changing – from the charging time and life of batteries to the infrastructure available to recharge as well as charging speeds at different locations.

A unique position

Europcar holds a unique position in the world of electric motoring. We’re not trying to persuade businesses and individuals to buy; instead we’re providing a real world experience to ‘try before they buy’. We’re also offering a mobility solution that means vehicle ownership could be replaced by zero emission vehicle usership. It’s a win-win for the environment.

But we know that there are still many questions organisations are asking before they make the switch to electric. As a major provider in the mobility space it’s our responsibility to help them find the answers. It’s all part of our commitment to reducing emissions, both for our customers and for our own operations.

Over five days, 25 drivers took to the wheel in four Europcar branded electric vehicles supplied by VW Group. Part of a 50-strong fleet of electric vehicles travelling from Cardiff to London, to Edinburgh and then onto Belfast and Dublin our goal was to gain deeper insights into real world electric driving. 1,200 miles – 60,000 eMiles across all the teams later – we’ve gained a lot more knowledge that we intend to pass onto our customers.

Having driven more than 1,200 miles within a working week, the Europcar team was encouraged to find that charging can fit in around journey and driver requirements and preferences. For example, charging overnight ensured time was used efficiently – and charging was cheaper as a slow charger

Another key learning – prompted by the fact that quite a few different people were driving each of the Europcar vehicles – was the importance of really knowing your vehicle. Where is the charge port; what’s the best charger for the job; how long does it take to charge; is there a particular button to press to start the charging? That’s something that, as a mobility provider with people often using one of our cars or vans for just a few hours or days at a time, we consider a really important learning to support our customers.

Of course, electric cars and vans can drive at the same speed as petrol or diesel equivalents, but the faster you drive the less efficient and the quicker the battery charge will go down. On the EV Rally the Europcar team adopted the ‘tortoise’ rather than the ‘hare’ strategy with the result that they didn’t experience any range issues. As a result the ID Buzz cargo van achieved the highest range in one day on a single charge - an impressive 245 miles – and it still had 20 per cent range left in the ‘tank’.

The lessons learnt by the Europcar team on the EV Rally mean we can tailor our customer support to be truly fit for purpose in an EV world. Because we often work with drivers who are new to electric motoring, we know we need to provide a good handover for each vehicle. Our Certified EV Ambassadors ensure new EV drivers are fully briefed on the nuances of charging. And our soon to be launched digital EV Guide will make the transition to electric as stress-free as possible. L

To find out more, visit www.europcar.co.uk/en-gb/p/business/ fleet-services/electric

To see how Team Europcar got on during the EV Rally scan here: