Blue Lights, Green Fleets Report
Resource
Summary
Cenex collaborated with Emergency Services Times on the Blue Lights, Green Fleet insight report, a comprehensive analysis of how UK emergency services are transitioning to electric and hybrid vehicles. The report offers an in-depth and candid look at fleet electrification progress, key barriers, and plans, based on data obtained from 103 police, fire, and ambulance services (covering 95% of emergency services across the UK). It highlights the challenges of infrastructure, funding uncertainties, and the need for a coordinated national approach to fleet decarbonisation.
With only 13% of emergency service fleets currently electric or hybrid, the report underscores the urgent need for strategic planning ahead of the 2030 phase-out of new petrol and diesel vehicles. It further explores how data-driven insights and collaboration can accelerate the transition while ensuring operational resilience given the unique challenges faced by emergency services.
Key Points
Only a small portion of the total emergency services fleet is currently electric or hybrid
103 emergency services responded to the survey reporting a total fleet of just over 53,000 vehicles across the UK. Research uncovers that they have just under 7,000 electric or hybrid vehicles in their fleets.
Police forces alone have just under 32,000 vehicles but only 15% are electric or hybrid. As for fire and ambulance services, it was found that they have fleets of 10,000 vehicles and yet only 10% are green.
67% of emergency services do not know how much they will spend on electric or hybrid vehicles before 2030
Plans to deal with the upcoming 2030 deadline when diesel and petrol cars will no longer be on sale were severely lacking. This should compel organisations but, according to the data, very few services have detailed costed plans in place to get to that date. Many services reported they ‘had no plans,’ or ‘they were developing plans, or responded with ‘information not held.’
Infrastructure holds transition back
Making sure the EV fleet stays charged is critical to acceptance but there is no joined-up thinking presently to get efficiencies from having co-located charging points as services seem to be taking individual approaches. National fleet leads reported that unless there’s more funding for charging and strategies to get that in place first, it will inhibit the pace of buying more green vehicles.
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