Academics leading the electric vehicles push

Universities are leading the way when it comes to buying electric vehicles, a new study shows.

Research by Intelligent Car Leasing shows that universities across the UK own a much higher percentage of vehicles powered purely by electricity than the UK average.

In the UK only 0.11% of registered vehicles are of purely electric powered, but when comparing with UK university fleets they far outstrip that proportion.

According the findings, an average of 7.78% of vehicles owned by universities are powered by electricity

This difference makes UK universities much more inclined to purchase and use electric vehicles in their operations.

The most popular vehicle was the Aixam Mega Van followed by the Renault Kangoo and then the Goupil G3, Nissan Leaf and E-Z Go Bunny.

Bucks New University topped the list in the electric vehicles stakes, followed by Edge Hill University, the University of East London and The University of Bedfordshire, with Royal Holloway completing the top five. .

A statement from Intelligent Car Leasing said: “A lot of people assume that electric cars are environmentally cleaner than those directly powered by refined fossil fuels (petrol and diesel). This is something that will hopefully be universally true in the UK in the near future, but we’re not quite there yet.

“In the UK a lot of electricity is generated by coal power stations, a relatively carbon negative way to produce power. However there are much cleaner sources of electricity production already in place and growing rapidly across Britain such as wind and solar. Once these electricity sources become a larger part of our energy production mix electric cars and vehicles will be definite winners in terms of real CO2 savings. Consequently universities who have incorporated electric vehicles into their fleet in a big way will automatically be in a position where their carbon footprint is reduced.”

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