TS : What ’ s your perspective on electrification in London , particularly when Addison Lee is a major service provider to international and business clients ?
AW : “ We focused on the private hire standard fleet – that ' s about 2000 vehicles operating in London . The reason we focused on that is because it ’ s the most significant part of the fleet . It ' s probably the bit that we ' ve got the most influence over as well . We can try and impact change more rapidly in that area .
“ We also have a lot of customers using those vehicles and clearly , given that the majority of them are corporate , they ' re really keen to see how we can support their net zero and sustainability targets .”
In its efforts to navigate the ZEV policies evolving in London , Addison Lee made a significant pledge to electrify its fleet by the end of 2030 . Despite having multiple EVs to choose from , the company settled on a single model , the Volkswagen ID . 4 , as its replacement for internal combustion .
Immediately , it became apparent that partnership with Volkswagen played a critical role in not only selecting a vehicle , but providing training and support to make the most of its functions , from an operational perspective , and to maintain its high-quality service to clients .
Leveraging the expertise of Volkswagen is critical for the business to understand all functions of a potentially alien automotive format , but , realistically , to understand the EV ’ s capabilities in an underserved area for public charging .
On the subject of charging , Westcott expands on this , pointing out how it affects the operation of Addison Lee ’ s fleet .
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