Full Electric Vehicles for Central European countries

Increasingly, local authorities and even national governments are banning the most polluting diesel and petrol cars. Some have even announced a ban on all cars with combustion engines by 2025 to 2030.

At the same time, electric vehicles are slowly hitting the mainstream. More and more carmakers are introducing affordable EVs with ranges of well over 300 kilometers. So, is the time now to electrify your fleet?

Optimal fleet electrification

Many international fleet managers ask themselves “To what extend can I optimally ‘electrify’ my fleet?” Electric cars are everywhere. Or, at least, you’d expect them to be everywhere, judging from how much people in the fleet and mobility industry are talking about them.

The answer to the question can be found in looking at the problem country by country. Realistically, each country has different circumstances, i.e. terrain, government incentives, taxes, public charging grid, maintenance grid, and many more. These have an effect not only on your TCO but it also effects the time drivers spend to get to the nearest garage, the time they wait at a charging station while their car is recharging, or even the time spend finding a charging station and planning their trips.

In reality

Only few fleets are walking the talk. European-wide EVs don’t even represent 6% of new vehicle fleet registrations but that is likely to change now new EU regulations have fixed the threshold in 2030 for manufacturers to allow selling fully electric vehicles from that point on. To know where to go is to know the full picture.

The facts

The E-mobility factsheet sums up the facts about;  West versus Central Europe, the numbers of charging stations, the number of PHEVs and EVs,  governmental regulations in Central Europe country-by-country and made a comparison with Western European countries. The E-mobility Factsheet shows you the latest data about electric vehicle adoption and charge point infrastructure.

Request the E-mobility Factsheet here

Central Europe is getting ready for electric cars, and so should you!

It’s a sign of the times: the no. 1 most leased car brand in CE, Skoda, has announced the launch of Enyaq iV, the first fully-electric business model of Skoda. It is slated to hit the market in late 2020 and it is proof, if proof be needed, that Central Europe is getting ready for plugged-in mobility. But is the required infrastructure available and are governments following with incentives to promote EVs?

Let’s get this out of the way first: the share of electric cars on the roads in Central Europe may be low, but even in the most electrified European markets the numbers still struggle to hit the 5% market share.  Of all cars on the roads today, 0.04% are electric in Poland, 0.56% in the Czech Republic, 0.10% in Slovakia, 0.20% in Hungary and 0.06% in Romania. Download the fact sheet.

Adding EVs to your fleet requires a tailor-made approach. The experts at Business Lease can help you take the steps to order and manage your first battery-electric or hybrid vehicles.

The future is clean mobility

These numbers need to go up and they need to do so relatively fast. The European Commission targets emission cuts in passenger vehicles of 50% by 2030[i] as part of decarbonization of the wider economy. This cannot be achieved without corporate fleets.

Car manufacturers have started churning out plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles in huge numbers and they are no longer limited to premium segments.

Buying EVs

Price is still an obstacle to EV adoption, though. Even a modest Opel Corsa-e has a price tag of just under PLN 130,000 in Poland, compared to just over PLN 50,000 for its petrol-powered sister. Getting fleets to add plug-in hybrid battery-electric vehicles to their offering without tax breaks and other financial incentives is difficult and governments in Central Europe have understood that.

Romania, for instance, put a scheme in place to give grants for buying electric vehicles. Slovakia, for instance, subsidizes plug-in vehicles[ii] and the Czech Republic allows municipalities to apply for subsidies to buy cars with alternative fuels.

More is being done on the tax front, though. All five Central European countries do not levy any motor vehicle tax and/or registration tax with some adding additional benefits like free parking while an EV is being charged.

Charging network in Central Europe

Having an EV is one thing, charging it is another. Charging networks can be sparse in parts of Central Europe, particularly away from motorways and cities, but they are expanding. The Czech Republic already has quite an extensive network and they are still planning further increase as to avoid being stranded with an empty battery in more distance regions from the big cities.

However, surveys have shown that most EV drivers charge their vehicle at home or at the office, indicating that’s where chargers are really essential. Fortunately, prices for EV chargers are going down and Business Lease has partnerships with experienced charger manufacturers in all Central European markets.

Various countries also give grants to refund part of the installation costs. This is the case in Romania, where the government refunds up to € 30,000 if you install a charger of more than 22kW. The Czech Republic and Poland also have incentives for EV chargers.

Business Lease set up a Mobility Expert Team five years ago, as a way to experiment with new mobility solutions together with clients and suppliers. One of its core missions is a focus on alternative mobility sources and CO2 footprint reduction.

Business Lease is a car leasing company operating in the Central European region and located in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Business Lease also operates on an international level and we are happy to provide you with further information on full electric and hybrid cars in your countries.

Get in touch with one of our International team members for more information.

Download the fact sheet  Here