Commercial fleet sustainability is more than just going electric – CV Show panel

In the Sustainability in Commercial Fleet talk at the CV Show today (22nd April 2026), Abby Chicken (pictured, centre left), head of sustainability at Openreach, Olly Craughan (pictured, centre right), head of sustainability at DPD UK, and Nick Hay pictured, right), non-executive adviser at Wattstor explained that sustainability is more than electric, it is about how fleets are operating.

Chicken said that sometimes sustainability is about ensuring that all journeys are needed, the wider picture of where people can be more efficient with their logistics is key to creating a clean feet.

She explained that Openreach has put in carbon contract laws when entering into new partnerships, but what it is asking for is data to find the best ways to be sustainable.

Chicken also warned that the fear about the practicality of owning an EV, like how to plug it in, is deterring people from getting EVs.

Hay said that there is so more to sustainability than just the vehicle, and that it includes elements such as tyre replacement and oil replacement.

According to the panel, one element that people do not give enough credit to is the maintenance cycle of EVs; there is less that needs maintaining, and the cost of maintaining EVs is often lower.

Craughan added that for logistics businesses there also factors such as the optimisation of cost, planning ahead and using data to plan routes to make sure efficiency is at the forefront of fleet operations.