Electric fleets ’The Italian Way’, leveraging on the fashion factor

“You know, if my colleague takes an Audi Q5, I'll take one too.” Luigi Sesana, the Country Head of Fleet Logistics Italy, manages multiple car policies and recognizes that emulation has always played its part in choosing a company car. Fashions, whether the refined Milanese catwalks or the more practical corporate car lists, ''Italians like them,'' continues Luigi, ''so they concern us and woe if it was not like that!''

“You know, if my colleague takes an Audi Q5, I'll take one too.”

In short, nothing new, but an interesting point if we consider how status can drive the choice of a company car, and in particular of electric ones.

“What will they say about me if I'm among the few to choose electric? Wouldn't it be better to align with the others?” In the end, everyone thinks it over - even Luigi did!

So much so that in recent years we have witnessed an emulation trend for plug-in hybrids, giving a nod to sustainability. Italians liked the idea of having so much power under the hood and the latest toy in the garage. 

Regardless of whether it was good or bad, there has undoubtedly been a rather evident desire for emulation among the corporate hierarchies. Suffice to say that in 2022, 27% of orders placed by Fleet Logistics were for hybrid cars.

The fact is, in Italy, the sale of BEVs are driven by company car policies and, alas, similar countries like France and Germany, have a significantly higher proportion of electric cars on the road. Could it be the fashion factor has not triggered Italians’ choices so far? Or is there more to it?

“Oh no, come on, we aren’t so emotional…!? The truth is that we lack trust in our country's infrastructure and the capability of the current charging network."

Italians indeed distrust their country’s infrastructure -a cumbersome cultural limit - but this decade is unquestionably the decade of electrification, including down to the Italian peninsula. It is not Fleet Logistics’ stating this, nor the government, but all the customers that Luigi meets, who undoubtedly have a sustainability goal for their fleets. How to reach those targets appears like a mirage, and fleet managers that have addressed the subject have experienced difficulties across a country of contradictions. 

So, start with a simple and well-known idea; Italians are good at getting by, very good.

"Those who do it themselves do it for three" is how locals exaggerate the English expression, “if you want something done, do it yourself,” simply amplified, times three!  Fleet Logistics’ suggestion starts from here, with a nudge, do it yourself to avoid being out of fashion. This may sound humorous but, the fact is, that it is all about communication.

Let us fix some points:

1) Installing home charging is do-it-yourself, it means autonomy from the public infrastructure

2) Being someone who enjoys the benefit of home-charging means being among the chosen ones, the fashionable ones!

Finally try to think of a corporate community with home charging, the ‘charging community’ instead of imagining an individual. This group allows the company to be able to electrify at least a part of the fleet, skipping the controversy of distrust towards the public charging infrastructure which is a relevant objective. Calling it a ‘community’ is the idea of contributing collectively, together with one's peers, to make something work that otherwise, according to everyone, does not. There's quite a difference.

Understand the subtlety of the communication, it's not a question of communicating that everyone is doing their part to try to contribute, but that we contribute together. It underlies the concept of a common address, of an acting group, of which it is much better to be part than not to be. Paraphrasing the fashion-emulation factor.

So, there is a possible ‘Italian Way’. Communicated like this, it becomes a fashionable trend in a positive sense, and collective involvement is what companies need to achieve difficult goals. 

“If my colleague installs a wall box, I'll install it too” that is the chat with a cappuccino. Sure, granting a home charging station is also a nice benefit with excellent resonance. The ’charging community' members will pay a lower benefit-in-kind and have well-performing cars while getting an upgrade to their home and, the icing on the cake, a goodbye to the grumbling of the old diesel engine and welcome the silence of the electric. All very glossy, let us face it, but why not take advantage of it, especially if the others do as well?

In short, it is a good project also because the wall box is there to stay. You don't have to change it for years, as it's like a water heater and they are simple, safe and long-lasting objects. Once installed they are faithful chargers. Exactly what we need to get by. It's just a matter of starting communication the ‘Italian Way’ and about the budget of course.

“Between saying and doing there is a sea in between” is another Italian expression. This is very true and we know it very well at Fleet Logistics. It was not always easy to organize charging from home, but today this has evolved and it can be done. The budget isn't eye-watering but it isn't zero either. The installation contribution that Fleet Logistics sees granted to employees ranges from €500 to €2,000 depending on how much the company wants to accelerate electrification.

Promoting the ‘charging community’ concept is one viable option but not the only one. Once installed, the wall box becomes a stable point in a sustainable fleet strategy that is often elsewhere scattered with second thoughts. 

For the record, Fleet Logistics does not sell wall boxes or even energy, however, it manages complex processes by integrating multiple suppliers whilst retaining a position of neutrality in the market. Let's say we lend a hand to our customers.