“The Rise of Electric Cars as a Pragmatic Choice for Fleet Managers and Commuters”

Electric cars, which were once used only as an element of building the company’s image, have become a completely pragmatic choice in a very short time. The changes are facilitated not only by the incentives and support applied in many countries for the purchase of such vehicles, but also by the rapid improvement of technology, the development of infrastructure and the expansion of the range of models.

Although electrified vehicles were long viewed with disbelief by fleet managers, now even the biggest skeptics cannot deny their benefits. Perhaps the biggest of these is the efficiency of the electric drive and the smaller number of moving parts in the motor, which guarantees cheaper operation.

The possibility of freely entering low pollution zones will become more and more important, as they will eventually be introduced in all large cities of Latvia. Also, these cars can be left free of charge in parking lots of Rīga Satiksme, which allows you to save the amount of legal fees.

Why did the segment slow down until now? One of the most important reasons is the not very convincing capabilities of the first models. At that time, manufacturers tried to launch such machines on the market as quickly as possible, and electrified versions of ordinary cargo vans and passenger cars were prepared in a hurry. Of course, there was also a desire to keep the price as low as possible, so these models could only cover a little over 150 kilometers on a single charge. This segment even now offers vehicles such as the Volkswagen e-Crafter and the Mercedes-Benz eSprinter with a battery of less than 40 kWh.

With the development of batteries, electric car technologies were also transferred from passenger cars to the commercial vehicle segment. The “Stellantis” concern paid special attention to it, and now the European electric commercial vehicle market is dominated by such brands as “Citroën”, “Peugeot”, “Fiat” and “Opel”. However, competition is intensifying, and manufacturers such as “Ford” and “Volkswagen” have also laid claim to their share of the “pie”.

The main winners in this competitive battle are the customers – they can choose from several electric vans that can travel more than 300 kilometers on a single charge.