This award recognises efforts to reduce the environmental impact of business travel with innovative measures such as zero-emission vehicles, car clubs, car sharing, flexible rental and leasing, as well as the promotion of public transport and active travel.
2023 Winner: Hiyacar
Hiyacar is a tech company which has developed a versatile vehicle sharing platform. It is the only CoMoUK accredited car club operator allowing both P2P car sharing (Airbnb for cars) and traditional return to base car clubs on the same platform. It is currently allowing 33,000 verified drivers share 2,600 live vehicles. Hiyacar provides a low cost technology solution to allow community car clubs with all the tools to operate a fully automated return to base car club services. Hiyacar also provides Car Club Solutions for new developments, pool car fleet management systems for NHS Trusts, as well as for local authorities.
Most recently Hiyacar are working with a London Borough to allow their staff to share their pool cars internally amongst their staff during working hours and then opening them up to the public in evenings, weekends and holidays. This provides the public with affordable access to low emission vehicles as well as providing the Council with an income stream to offset the cost of the vehicles.
Commended
AX
Europcar
Co Wheels Car Club
Electrix Powered by LV General Insurance
2022 Winner: Europcar Mobility Group UK
Europcar Mobility Group UK’s ‘One Sustainable Fleet’ programme aims to have green vehicles account for 20 per cent of its global fleet by the end of 2024. Electric and sustainable vehicles have continually been added to the fleet this year, including 100 LEVC VN5s, more than 200 Tesla Model 3s, the Mercedes EQB and over 3,000 MG ZS and HS range, including EV models, are on order. Seventy-five per cent of Europcar’s company car vehicle orders for its own employees are EV and 15 per cent are hybrid. The company was recently awarded the EcoVadis Platinum medal and became the first mobility provider to have its carbon reduction objectives approved by Science Based Targets initiative and upgraded to AAA by MSCI Inc.
Highly Commended
Enterprise Car Club, part of Enterprise Holdings
Northgate
Reflex Vehicle Hire
Elmo
2021 Winner: Co Wheels
Commended
Europcar Mobility Group
Onto
Enterprise
Electric Zoo
2020 Winner: Onto
2019 Winner: Europcar Mobility Group
Europcar has seen a 55% growth in electric vehicles on their core rental fleet in the last 12 months, and a 150% increase in EV charge points at their own locations around the UK.
Commended
Green Motion
Zipcar
Enterprise
Co-wheels
2018 Winner: Enterprise Car Club
Enterprise doubled the size of its hybrid and plug-in fleet in 2018 and acquired 40 per cent of all hybrids available to the rental sector. Today, more than 30% of its fleet is either plug-in EV or hybrid with average emissions of under 100g of CO2 per km. It has recently partnered with The Royal Borough of Greenwich to launch a dedicated EV car club and is working closely with the council to help overcome range anxiety associated with the technology.
Commended
Green Motion
Green Motion (GM) has continually adopted the latest environmentally-focused vehicle technologies. This approach has achieved a CO2 reduction of its worldwide fleet of 30,000+ vehicles from an average of 105g/km in 2015 to 93g/km in 2018. GM also works to engage with its franchisees, leisure and business customers to adopt best practices which reduce the impact of their business on the environment. The Green Heart Donation scheme supports a carbon offset tree plantation in run by the Costa Rican government. 60% of direct online customers proactively contribute.
Zipcar
Zipcar, a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group, has seen a 65% increase in the number of new memberships in Jan-Aug 2018, compared with the same period in the previous year. 20,000 electric trips have been taken since it launched its eGolf fleet to London in July, and its recently published London Carscape Report surveyed 2000 Londoners on a range of topics including usage, parking and London air quality.
Europcar Mobility Group
Renaming itself in 2018, Europcar Mobility Group’s wide range of initiatives include a significant shift in fleet mix towards petrol and hybrid and a commitment to running one of the youngest rental fleets in the market with an average vehicle age of 6 months. The E-Car electric vehicle car sharing brand offers the Renualt ZOE and the 5 door supermini, with extended trialling of the hydrogen fuel cell Toyota Mirai underway at its Brunel chauffeur service.
EVision Electric Car Hire
Established in 2014, EVision Electric Car Hire’s fleet includes a wide range of Teslas (Model S and Model X), BMW i3s and Renault ZOEs, with the new Jaguar I-Pace added in October this year. The company offers a highly competitive long-term and multi-car hire rate as well as other incentives including free charge point supply and installation through approved charge point providers.
Co-wheels Car Club
Founders Pierre Fox, Richard Falconer and Paul Balmont set up Co-Wheels as a social enterprise which is annually assessed against transparent criteria. The independent car club delivers a network of low emission cars in more than 60 towns and cities across the UK. Specific solutions are provided to businesses and the public sector, with Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles and electric bike hire available.
2017 Winner: Northgate Vehicle Hire
In 2013, Northgate Vehicle Hire began its latest phase of growth but this was organic. In just over 12 months, 10 branches were opened in the Greater London area alone. With over 70 branches and 50 workshops nationwide to support fleet customers, downtime through breakdowns, maintenance and repairs is kept to a minimum. Northgate designed a flexible van hire solution for previous GreenFleet Award winner Gateshead Council, helping it replace large-scale capital expenditure with predictable weekly costs. It enables the council to flex the number of vans on hire to meet peaks in seasonal demands. Northgate’s vehicle tracking and telematics software provides powerful real-time information from a simple, intuitive user interface, and by offering the council the ability to tailor its choice of vans, the acquisition process was simplified. Northgate is committed to ensuring no one van is out of action for more than two hours without repair or replacement. The council extended its fleet of Northgate hire vehicles from 108 to 267.
Commended
Europcar UK Group
In 2017, Europcar has focused on giving public and private sector organisations greater choice when it comes to finding the right mobility solution for each journey. Current fleet analysis shows that 55% of vehicles are considered low emission at less than 120 g/km and 12% of these vehicles have a CO2 emission of less than 100 g/km. On average Car CO2 values on fleet has reduced to 116g/km. Furthermore, Europcar has committed to moving its fleet to 5% electric by 2020. Europcar currently holds over 100 alternative fuel vehicles including investment in 3 hydrogen fuelled Toyota Mirai as a result of the company’s successful bid for an Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) grant. In October 2017 the Europcar-Go Ultra Low Electric Vehicle Roadshow gave businesses and residents of Manchester the opportunity to see that electric vehicles can be accessed in many different ways, from outright ownership, to hire by the hour, day or longer.
Green Motion
Celebrating its 10th birthday, Green Motion continues to go from strength to strength with further expansion of its brand which is now present in over 30 countries. The company’s standard fleet is getting greener, with the overall emissions sitting at just over 90 g/km. The carbon emissions from the entire UK franchise operation are offset through a reforestation project in Brazil, making Green Motion carbon neutral. The company’s Green Heart Fee donation programme proactively engages the customers in the effects of carbon emissions and helps to educate safer and greener driving, and in November this year, Green Motion launched its new service Key & Go, which allows customers to book a vehicle online and collect the key directly from a dispensing key locker. It will be rolled out to universities and businesses and aims to dramatically reduce the number of vehicles required.
2016 Winner: Green Motion
Established in 2007 and a previous multi GreenFleet Award winner, Green Motion, the brainchild of Richard Lowden, is currently present in 26 countries and is concentrating on the further strengthening of its home market of the UK. The company continues to work closely with some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Citroen, Toyota, Honda, Lexus and BMW to procure vehicles that are at the cutting edge of environmental technology. The all-electric Nissan Leaf is available to hire in several branches, while sub 100g/km cars and vans are commonplace in its fleet, as are a range of filtered diesels and hybrids. Green Motion has concentrated on ensuring that the principle activities of its business have the lowest impact on the environment as possible. Each installation adheres to a list of environmental specifications from power generation through to shop fitting materials and paper use.
Commended
Europcar
This year, French manufacturer Renault delivered its biggest UK order of electric vehicles (EVs) to date, after agreeing to supply 55 all-electric Renault Zoes to rental company Europcar for its car hire service throughout major UK cities. This forms part of its drive to ensure that five per cent of its UK vehicles are electric by 2020. Last year saw also saw Europcar on the aquisition trail, snapping up a majority stake in E-Car Club, the pure electric car share club which operates from 20 sites across the UK. Vehicles are available for hire from just £4.50 per hour including power and insurance, with the all electric fleet made up from the Renault Zoe and Kangoo ZE light commercial, Nissan’s Leaf and the BMW i3. The latest installation, in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, features a fleet of nine Renault Zoes and one Kangoo van powered by energy generated by the local wind farm.
Electric Blue
Electric Blue is providing a fleet of fully licensed, electric taxis for short term hire to local taxi drivers and fleets in a bold attempt to demonstrate the benefits and suitability of electric vehicles as a hackney carriage option. Potential drivers can try before they buy, renting by the day for just £25 and 2 pence per mile. The partnership with Nissan offers bespoke packages of the e-NV200, which include a free home charger, trade-ins, advice on grants, specialist insurance, warranty & breakdown cover plus the added incentive of reduced licensing fees – Electric Blue has worked with local authorities to secure reduced rates for electric taxis. Primarily to support the vehicles, Electric Blue is installing a rapid charger network across the UK with dedicated ‘Taxi Only’ bays. These are all powered by renewable energy through a partnership with Good Energy and can charge the e-NV200 to 80 per cent in 25 minutes.