2024-10-21 17:29:00
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These “are not up to the task of greening their fleet”, complained the Energy Minister, Olga Givernet, on Thursday.
Company cars in the government‘s sights. Companies could be further encouraged to electrify their car fleets, a key element in getting these models onto the used market. Companies, which purchase almost 50% of new vehicles, “They are not up to the task of greening their fleet and purchasing zero-carbon vehicles”Energy Minister Olga Givernet lamented during a visit to the Paris Motor Show on Thursday. “I am ready to go very hard on the obligations that these companies have”added the minister. Resold a few years after a first purchase, “these will be the used vehicles of tomorrow”he clarified.
Companies with a fleet of more than 100 vehicles (i.e. just 0.1%) already have to purchase 20% low-emission vehicles (electric and plug-in hybrids) when renewing their fleet. But this obligation is not accompanied by sanctions. Therefore, in 2023, 60% of affected companies did not meet these quotas, according to registration data consulted by the think tank Transport & Environment (T&E). And in the first half of 2024, 11% of new company cars were electric in France, compared to 35% in Belgium and Denmark, where strong tax incentives have been introduced.
In France, among the good students, La Poste has an electric fleet of 38,000 electric vehicles and bicycles, or 52% of its total fleet. Among the worst, the Carrefour group (4% of electric and rechargeable hybrids in 2023) claims to have entered “in a process of constant and uninterrupted greening” with 54% of the so-called vehicles “clean” ordered since the beginning of the year. Iliad (Free’s parent company) admitted to having “I had some delays”Moreover “the solutions available until now were unsatisfactory” particularly in terms of electric range, a spokesperson told AFP. The group has placed an order for electric Renaults made in France and plans to have 25% battery-powered vehicles in its fleet by the end of 2025.
In Parliament
Macron MP Damien Adam proposed a law in early 2024 to strengthen these obligations, sparking protests from several professions, such as short-term rental companies. They believe that a too-rapid leap to electric would put their cash flow at risk. The examination of the bill was postponed to a later date due to lack of time (and the deputy was not re-elected). Shortly before the dissolution, Olga Givernet, an engineer by training, was appointed co-rapporteur for a lightning mission on the greening of fleets. The possible sanctions mentioned by the minister do not appear in the finance bill, the examination of which will begin on Monday evening in the National Assembly. “We had some work done before the dissolution as parliamentarians, this work has resumed”he said Thursday.
If private individuals are already hesitant about electricity, businesses need even greater visibility in the medium and long term, professionals explain. “Regardless of whether there is favorable taxation or not, there is an imperative duty to switch to less polluting vehicles”, “you might as well do it as soon as possible”assures Laurent Petit, marketing director of Alphabet France, BMW’s long-term rental company. According to him, electric vehicles are suitable for the vast majority of uses. But big companies “asking questions in a particularly unstable environment”: “committing to a vehicle today means having it for 12 or 60 months”while taxation “it evolves from year to year”underlines.
Furthermore, according to a new analysis published by T&E, almost half of company cars are company cars, which are also used for employees’ personal travel. This benefit in kind does not sufficiently encourage companies and employees to abandon petrol, as well as being underestimated in the calculation of social contributions and causing the company to lose almost 4 billion euros a year, according to T&E calculations. Carrefour said it has established an annual allowance for senior executives who give up a vehicle and an exceptional bonus for employees who opt for an electric vehicle for the first time.
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