LEX Autolease has supported geographic information systems software company Esri UK with its drive to reduce its overall company vehicle emissions by launching a new ultra-low-emission vehicle salary sacrifice scheme for its 400 employees.
Esri UK works with a wide range of organisations in both the public and private sector, with its mapping and location analytics software helping them to make better decisions and improve operations. Customers include numerous central government departments, Vodafone, Scottish Water and the National Trust.
Since launching in June, orders placed have surpassed expectations, with employees opting for a wide variety of vehicles including the Volkswagen ID.3, Audi Q4 e-tron and Tesla model 3, as the business seeks to make all colleague car journeys more sustainable, whatever their individual needs.
In addition to the green salary sacrifice scheme, Esri UK’s company car scheme has also been enhanced, with allowances increased by 20%, on average, to encourage take-up of electric vehicles.
As a result, the business has already seen a 68% reduction in the fleet’s overall CO2 emissions, with electrified vehicles now accounting for more than 76% of the make-up of Esri UK’s fleet.
The move forms part of Esri UK’s wider sustainability efforts which includes the installation of ten on-site charge points at the firm’s head office in Aylesbury.
James Garrod, Internal Account Manager at Lex Autolease, said: “We’ve worked with Esri UK since 2016 to understand the business’s sustainability goals and develop electrification solutions to help them achieve their plans. The team at ESRI is aligned within our essential proposition to ensure their fleet is efficient, cost effective and fully optimised.
“The take-up of fully electric vehicles since the salary sacrifice scheme launched in June has been really encouraging, but our role isn’t limited to supplying more eco-friendly vehicles. Esri is also using our Sustainability Dashboard to access tailored metrics, recommendations and a future sustainability trajectory. Armed with these insights, together we can continually tweak the overall sustainability strategy to ensure it moves in the right direction.”
Gary Lockwood, Financial Controller at Esri UK, said: “Reducing our overall emissions by promoting more eco-friendly vehicles across our employee base is absolutely central to our sustainability targets. We deliver world-class environmental software for globally-recognised public sector bodies and private companies, so it’s only right that we remain on the front foot when it comes to our own sustainability credentials.
“We knew that launching a ULEV salary sacrifice scheme would need to be cleverly communicated to our employees to be effective, plus a new IT infrastructure to support it. The team at Lex Autolease have helped guide us through every step of the way, hosting a launch event for our 400-strong workforce to explain the benefits and details of the scheme. This was a huge factor in the initial appetite for the scheme, which we hope will only increase in the coming months.”
