THE transition from ‘normal’ drivetrains – ie petrol and diesel – to green technologies can be daunting.

But fleet leasing company Arval is taking away much of the difficulty factor.

The company has just launched ‘Electric Vehicle’: it’s designed to help SMEs transition to greener fuels.

But it’s not necessarily a one-way street to an EV.

Arval’s consultancy team will look at the requirements of your small fleet and establish the energy mix transition that is appropriate for your business.

“In some cases diesel will still be the answer. Others a hybrid may be the correct solution. But more and more it will be electric vehicles,” explained Arval’s Andrian Cainarean, head of autonomous connected and electric cars, at the presentation of the new programme in Paris, France (13 February, 2018).

Arval has teamed up with automotive EV experts Renault and Nissan, and charging experts NewMotion to provide a package that addresses the EV issues your business will face, and provide an efficient transition to an EV fleet.

It means you can have an EV trial period of three to six months to make sure going EV is right for your business. Or not.

Once you have gone EV, the programme includes a petrol or diesel car during a short period – such as when going away on holiday and greater range maybe required.

There is assistance with the installation of charging points both at the workplace and home. But there’s more to the programme.

Other ways Arval Electric Vehicle helps you go green

An electricity payment card – with automatic refunding for charging at home

Load bearing consumption analysis – identifies when is best and cheapest to re-charge (eg 8pm would be peak demand while the system can be set to charge from 2am when electricity is cheaper and demand much lower

Clean energy commitment – if you charge your EV car with ‘dirty’ electricity, Arval will ad an equivalent amount of green energy to the grid

“Our role at Arval is to support customers in this energy mix transition period,” added Andrian Cainarean.

Arval Electric Vehicle is launched this month in the UK.