Energy company National Grid is joining EV100, an initiative by environmental think tank the Climate Group, as the first major US utility to commit to electrifying its fleet. The energy corporation has pledged to switch nearly 6000 vehicles and provide charging stations across its operations in both the US and UK.
This breaks down as 2,879 vehicles in the UK and 2,905 vehicles in the US. The energy company will also install charging sites in the UK and add 2,900 chargers increasing its capacity by two thirds in its US territories.
National Grid’s principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks, as well as in the Northeastern United States, where the company produces and supplies electricity and gas, providing both to customers in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and operates transmission networks.
The EV100 initiative was founded by the Climate Group in 2017 initially with ten corporations, including Ikea, Deutsche Post DHL, Vattenfall, Baidu and LeasePlan. The idea was to send a strong market message by pledging to decarbonise their fleets by 2030. Currently, over a hundred corporate members have pledged to electrify their fleets within the decade by 2030.
National Grid is the first US utility to join and has already progressed. The utility operates 50 medium and heavy-duty electrified vehicles while replacing the company passenger cars with electric vehicles. It is also running trials of some electric construction equipment and electrified aerial bucket trucks.
Earlier this month, in the UK, Royal Mail announced plans to add around 3,000 electric vehicles to its fleet, increasing the number of its electric vehicles in the UK tenfold to around 3,300.
Lorna McAtear, UK Fleet Manager at National Grid, said, “There’s huge potential to drive net-zero ambitions by transforming the fleet industry to electric vehicles. Viable electric cars and vans weren’t around five years ago, and it’s exciting to see the progress that’s being made to find feasible solutions in the market.”
In the UK, the commitment includes replacing the entire commercial fleet with alternative fuel vehicles by 2030 and replacing 60% of all fleets in electricity transmission and 30% of all fleets in gas transmission with alternatively fueled, zero-emission vehicles.
The company is also committed to enabling employees to take part by, for example, installing over 160 charging ports at US premises and providing incentives for employees towards the purchase or lease of EVs.
Badar Khan, US President of National Grid, commented, “In the US, we’re committed to move to a 100% electric fleet by 2030 for our light-duty vehicles and pursue the replacement of our medium and heavy-duty vehicles with zero-carbon alternatives.”
National Grid is a partner to the COP26 climate conference by the United Nations taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, this November.
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