BLOG: Holly McPhee talks Net Zero milestones in Scottish Water Fleet on World EV Day

“Transitioning to an all-electric fleet is a vital piece of our net zero jigsaw and sends a strong message about the actions we all must take in the hope of achieving a zero-carbon future”

Holly McPhee
EV Transition Project Manager

As World EV Day comes around on September 9, Scottish Water has hit a major milestone in its own journey towards a Net Zero electric vehicle fleet. 

In August 2023, the EV Transition team installed electric chargers at its 100th Scottish Water site across the country since the first installation 18 months ago. The chargers are vital to our transition to ensure new electric vans that are introduced into the fleet can be supported, ensuring continuity to the service we provide to our customers. The planned programme will see us reach more than 400 sites to cater for our fleet by 2028, with over 900 EV chargers installed. 

Our fleet now has 46 electric vans with over 100 more on order to be delivered in the next 12 months. We are focussing on replacing our existing vehicles with electric alternatives when it is both economical and practicable to do so and are dependent on manufacturers' technology improving in the coming years to build on this.

These commercial vehicles are joined by an impressive 12 electric pool cars and 209 electric lease cars already in the business. In addition to this, to enable employees not eligible for either a fleet van or lease car, we introduced a Salary Sacrifice scheme in August 2022. This has been incredibly popular with over 114 orders already. This gives our employees the opportunity to reduce their own emissions and get a brand-new electric car at a reduced rate. 

These shifts in our fleet have allowed our EV Transition team to ramp up their EV Charger installation programme, fitting a mixture of both fast and rapid charge points, to cater for those on sites and at offices for short periods or those who spend most of their day at a particular location. In busier office locations, such as our main office in Stepps near Glasgow, our team plans to install mini charging hubs that will house over 15 vehicles at a time, again supporting how we’re making the transition to a cleaner and greener future a reality for all. 

Scottish Water is sending a strong signal to the industry and leading by example with the work we have achieved so far. In fact, 200,000kWh of electricity has already been used by our charge point users – enough to power around 600,000 miles of zero-emission driving, which is the equivalent of driving to the moon and back...and a bit more!

Transitioning to an all-electric fleet is a vital piece of our net zero jigsaw and sends a strong message about the actions we all must take in the hope of achieving a zero-carbon future.

This is just the latest step in our efforts to tackle the climate emergency, reduce our own emissions, and show how we’re becoming a more sustainable business where we can.

It’s important to celebrate the achievements I’ve already mentioned, however, it is important to remember that this is a journey, not a destination. We will all need to keep working together to make sure that we continue to make progress and achieve our ambition of being a net zero fleet by 2030.