Power firm Schneider Electric to turn its 1,200 cars all electric

One of the biggest energy services specialists in Britain is switching its entire transport fleet to electric vehicles and will install chargers at employees’ homes. 

Aveva owner Schneider Electric, which has been behind huge projects such as Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium, is to move its UK fleet of 1,200 vehicles to green models – including Teslas and BMWs – by 2025. 

The Government’s decision last year to ban sales of new diesel and petrol cars by 2030 has raised questions over whether the UK’s network of chargers will be able to cope with demand by then. 

Charging ahead: Schneider Electric is to move its UK fleet of 1,200 vehicles to green models – including Teslas and BMWs – by 2025

But Schneider UK chief Kelly Becker told The Mail on Sunday that trials had shown there were sufficient chargers. 

She added: ‘You have to make it accessible. If you say to an employee, ‘I’m going to give you an electric car, but you’ll need to drop it at the local McDonald’s and walk two miles home because you can’t charge it at home’, then the adoption isn’t going to happen.’ 

The UK switch is part of a push to make Schneider’s entire 14,000- strong global fleet of vehicles electric. The €27billion French giant, whose clients include Hilton and Deloitte, has 4,000 UK employees and nine manufacturing sites. 

Electric vehicle use is expected to bring down its direct carbon dioxide emissions from company cars in the UK by 80 per cent by 2025. 

The electric car market is hotting up: this month, Jaguar and Ford announced plans to switch to making solely electric vehicles, while Tesla shares have rocketed over the past year.