With more and more businesses now considering and making marked steps to reduce their carbon footprint and move towards electrification, Mercedes-Benz Vans Dealer group, Rygor Commercials has launched its first pair of electric mobile fleet servicing vans.
The launch of Rygor’s first electric vans for its technical team coincides with Mercedes-Benz Vans UK’s latest Business Barometer; a survey of 500 SME owners who have confirmed that they are focusing on sustainability this year. The report has shown the importance to SMEs of working with businesses who are true to their promises when it comes to environmental impact. Crucially, 61% of respondents said that they would cease working with businesses who were not endeavouring to live up to their green strategy commitments.
John Keogh, Rygor sales director, said: “As a business, we are working on enhancing our greener-future plan. Having recently carried out a robust programme of LED lighting installation across eight of our sites, we are also planning to work with external consultants to enable us to make more beneficial changes for the business, for our customers and for the environment. Moving more of our team into electric vans is just one part of this objective and along with some of our sales team who are already utilising eVito vans as their company vehicles, it is exciting to see these new Rygor eSprinter service vehicles hit the road.
“The data from the most recent Mercedes-Benz Van’s Business Barometer very much aligns with our own experiences as a Dealer. Customer interest in electric vehicles has never been higher and we continue to offer our team significant training on electric vehicles, from both a sales and aftersales point of view, to ensure they can work with our customers to find the best solution for them and their business,” John added.
Sean Joyce, Rygor service director, said: “Everything we do at Rygor is about providing the best possible levels of service, which is why our mobile technician offering for fleet customers is so important to maintain vehicle uptime. More than this though, we understand that businesses, including ourselves, want to be working with likeminded partners who may not yet be perfect when it comes to reducing their carbon footprint, but are actively making changes and want to do more to help the environment and climate change. I am delighted to see these new eSprinter vans on the road; may they be the first of many!”
Stuart Skingsley, Head of Fleet at Ocado Group plc, said: “We have set ourselves a target to be carbon neutral by 2035. This is an ambitious goal and isn’t something we can achieve in isolation as a company. We must look at the businesses and organisations we work with, such as Rygor, and consider our carbon footprint on a larger scale. We’re incredibly passionate about this objective and consider ourselves early-adopters, as we put our first electric fleet vehicle on the road back in 2010. This is why we choose to work with Rygor, because they are a business which is also choosing to make changes to benefit the environment and go greener.
“We already have Mercedes-Benz eVans on our fleet, with four eVitos used as shuttle vehicles for our team to site, from public transport depots. Our drivers love the vehicles; they have really exceeded expectations. The move has been seamless and the eVito has been a straight replacement for its diesel counterpart. The fact that Rygor is beginning to move its mobile fleet repair vehicles to the eSprinter, vans which are there to help keep our fleet on the road, is the perfect example of where electric can go and a business choosing to be ahead of the game when it comes to making greener choices,” Stuart added.