Beginning in October 2021, DNS Belgium has made the choice to only allow full electric vehicles into its fleet of company cars. This – radical at the moment of writing – choice, was made for many reasons.
We have always taken our role as climate ambassadors very seriously. According to our calculations, choosing for full electric vehicles would shave another 50 tonnes of CO2 off our carbon footprint. This would reduce our CO2 total by another 45%[1], which, of course, is not to be underestimated.
But this choice is not only a win for the planet, from a purely managerial perspective it is also the right thing to do. After all, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of these vehicles boils down to being much lower than for diesel- or petrol-powered cars. We must not forget that the TCO will continue to shift over the following years to the advantage of full electric vehicles. We expect to see taxes rise on vehicles with a combustion engine. This fact, paired with the probability that the cost of electric vehicles will decline over the following years through advances in the production technologies, has also strongly influenced our decision.
Of course, we must also consider that the choice is only radical today. The Belgian government has already announced that this choice will no longer be a choice for company-owned vehicles starting 2026. Nevertheless, we can pride ourselves on being among the first to take this step, with another four years to go until the government deadline we certainly haven’t waited until the last moment to take the leap, and we hope many will follow. The car-afficionados among us might respond that driving a combustion engine powered vehicle is quite simply more enjoyable than driving an electric one. However, having tested both, we can only say that the driving experience of an electric vehicle has greatly improved over the last couple years and will certainly continue to do so in the future.
Driving these vehicles is much more eco-friendly, and thus a general image boost, which will certainly be enjoyed by our employees.
Lastly, we must also note that DNS Belgium was one of the first companies in Belgium to offer the mobility budget. This new form of benefit plan allows for a certain budget for employees to use on either their transport needs, or a whole host of other possibilities. In this circumstance, we have considered that it is more interesting for our employees to start using full electric vehicles, since all the money they don’t spend on petrol, they can use on other things which are included in this plan. Which makes it extra advantageous for our employees to make the switch as soon as they can.
The eventual goal is to phase out all non-electric vehicles from our fleet by 2025, thereby not only reducing our carbon footprint by 45%, but also offering all other previously named advantages to our employees, the environment, and the company. And we’ll still have a year to spare before the governmental deadline comes into effect, thereby confirming our position as a forward striving employer, and as an eco-friendly company bent on doing as much for society as we can.
[1] Of our carbon footprint of 2020
With this article, we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.