One-in-five company car drivers are ready to switch to a pure electric vehicle (EV), but that move may not come soon enough for some of Europe’s carmakers who face big fines for failing to meet CO2 targets from 2020.

A Fleet News poll suggests significant interest in electric powertrains, with 43.8% of respondents saying they will choose either a mild hybrid (12.2%), a plug-in hybrid (10.2%) or a pure EV (21.4%) as their next company car.

Diesel remains the powertrain of choice for 42.6% and one-in-nine (11.2%) said they will opt for petrol.

In the retail market, the interest in electric motoring is even greater. A little fewer than two-in-five drivers (39%) say they are considering an EV as their next purchase, approaching three times the 15% who said the same in 2017, according to research from Close Brothers Motor Finance.

It’s Britain Under the Bonnet report also found a drop in concerns about the cost, range and charging time of EVs, in comparison to last year.

EV registrations are critical to Europe’s carmakers, who need to cut average CO2 emissions if they are to hit tough EU targets.

The average CO2 emissions cap for new cars in the EU is being cut from 130g/km to 95g/km and will be phased in from 2020, before being applied across all new registrations from 2021. In contrast, China has a target of 117g/km, Japan 122g/km and the US 125g/km, all to be reached by 2020.

In the EU, each carmaker will have an individual fleet target, calculated on a group-wide basis with allowances for vehicle weights.

There is also an average emissions target for vans of 147g/km, a reduction on the 175g/km set in 2017.

Furthermore, average CO2 emissions from new passenger cars and vans registered in the EU will have to be 15% lower in 2025, and 37.5% lower in 2030, compared with their respective limits in 2021.

Average CO2 values will initially be based on NEDC-correlated figures, before being taken from the new emissions test procedure, the Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP), from 2021.

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