Alternative fuels drive the choices of companies
According to the Arval Observatory, the goal is to reach a 24% share of electric vehicles in the fleet within a few years, with plug-in hybrids at 11%
Adapting to thermal vehicle policies, introducing cars with alternative fuels and mitigating the increase in TCO: these are the most important challenges facing corporate fleets in the coming years, according to the 2026 edition of the Corporate Fleet and Mobility Barometer, the annual survey of the Arval Mobility Observatory.
Out of a total of over 10,000 interviews, 300 were conducted with Italian managers. A first trend that clearly emerges is the fact that fleet managers no longer make decisions on their own, but, given the growing importance of fleet management within company strategies, they are increasingly supported by their direct contacts and in some cases also by senior figures such as the CEO.
Returning to the priorities for fleet management, among the items mentioned above, concerns about compliance with thermal vehicle policies and the management of alternative fuels are on the rise compared to previous years. A special focus, since it involves all the issues identified, deserves the issue of fleet decarbonisation.
We start from a situation in which Italian fleet managers aim to reach a penetration of electric vehicles in the fleet of 24% within a few years, with plug-in hybrids at 11%, for a total of just over one third of all plug-in vehicles in the fleet. The remaining two-thirds will be thematic vehicles and hybrids, at 42% and 23% respectively. Managers who said they have already introduced alternative fuel vehicles into their fleets are 63% of the total, while those who plan to do so in the next few years are 21%, for a total of 84% of respondents.
Focusing on electric vehicles, those who stated that they have already put them in their fleet are 18%, while those who plan to do so in the next few years are 21%, for a total of 39%. The constraints for the inclusion of EVs in the fleet are linked first of all to the recharging network (public recharging points are considered insufficient and private ones are not yet available) and then also to the still very high purchase price, the limited range of models available, their reliability and the TCO, about which there are still strong doubts, particularly when compared with that of thermal cars. A decisive factor in speeding up this process, according to the interviewees, is the development of a charging strategy that focuses above all on company distributors and the public charging network, much more so than on home charging.
