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Barriers to fleet EV adoption reducing, says Europcar

Tom Middleditch said: "More Government support will be vital for getting businesses and employers on side in the coming years."

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The Europcar Electric Vehicle (EV) Barometer has found that the barriers to fleet EV adoption are mostly reducing.

In the first half of 2025, 21% of fleets surveyed said that nothing was holding them back from electrifying, compared to 12% in the same period last year.

39.23% of fleets surveyed said that cost was the main barrier to EV adoption, compared to 40.72% in 2024.

Confidence in charging infrastructure increased too, with 30.82% citing it as the main barrier in H1 2025, compared to 34.84% in H1 2024.

Tom Middleditch, head of electric mobility and sustainability spokesperson at Europcar, said: “It is always encouraging to see sentiment moving in the right direction amongst business drivers, but the shift is marginal.

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“There is still a long way to go before businesses will feel confident to make the switch to EVs.

“More Government support will be vital for getting businesses and employers on side in the coming years as we approach the end of the line for new petrol and diesel vehicles.

“The UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate is pushing manufacturers to increase the proportion of electric vehicles they produce within the next few years, which should help further reduce the vehicle availability barrier.

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“That could be why our latest barometer shows such promising results, so it will be interesting to see if the impact can be seen more clearly later in the year.”

Knowledge about EVs now holds back 17.35% of fleets, compared to 22.03% last year, while choice in EV models now holds back 13.69% of fleets, down from 18.59% last year.

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Employee and employer resistance was the only barrier to fleet EV adoption that increased, with 13.36% of fleets now citing it as an issue, compared to 12.84% last year.

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Middleditch said: “The ZEV Mandate changes could mean there is less urgency for fleets to make the switch as they have more time.

“Further hindering the switch is the need for reassurance that driving electric will not impact business productivity – drivers and businesses need to know suitable chargers are available where and when they need them and need to have their questions answered on the practicalities of zero emissions driving for work.

“Europcar has made a significant commitment to electric motoring in the last two years and, despite the lack of government support, we have no intention of taking our foot off the pedal.”

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