Halewood Artisanal Spirits PLC has taken delivery of 25 Kia e-Niro from Bolton Kia to help transition its fleet to electric power.
The company is one of the UK’s leading independent distillers, producing an award-winning range of spirits. Still family-owned, Halewood’s brands are distributed in 75 countries, with a turnover of £400m+ and 950+ employees. The company plans for 90% of its fleet to have transitioned to electric power this month.
An order for a further six e-Niros and three of Kia’s latest electric car, the EV6, has also been placed – bringing the total number of e-Niros to 31. The EV6 electric cars, which are capable of 10-80% charge in just 18 minutes, will be used by the firm’s senior management.
To support its switch to electric cars, Halewood has committed to installing workplace chargers at each of its UK facilities, allowing its electric fleet drivers to charge up when on site for work or while attending meetings, or travelling between Halewood’s own locations.
Halewood’s drivers will also benefit from comprehensive driver training, teaching best-practice to get the most out of driving efficiently in an EV, in addition to being provided with information about home charging and cheaper energy deals available with off-peak EV tariffs.
“Our previous fleet was made up of diesel and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and we’d monitored the EV market for quite some time before taking the plunge. The Kia e-Niro addressed all our concerns about EVs convincingly, thanks to its excellent practicality, range and charging speeds,” said Iain Wilson, Fleet Manager at Halewood Artisanal Spirits.
“We know that all of our fleet can cope with the car’s range, especially once we have chargers at all of our UK facilities, which will really make a big difference to the ease of adoption. We’re looking forward to adding to the e-Niro fleet in the near future too, having placed an order for a few Kia EV6.
“There are many reasons why fleets should at least look to go electric. There are significant savings to be had including the cost of electricity versus fuel, lower SMR costs and of course significant tax savings for our company car drivers too.”
Halewood’s drivers will learn best practice to get the most out of driving an EV efficiently.
Halewood chose the e-Niro ‘2’ Long Range, which was introduced in March this year and offers up to 282-miles (WLTP combined) or 382-miles (WLTP city) range from a single charge of its 64kWh battery. This e-Niro model also benefits from the high-power 201bhp (150kW) electric motor that top specification e-Niros are equipped with, while also offering an on-the-road starting price of £34,945. This qualifies for the UK Government Plug-in Car Grant, reducing the price by a further £2,500.
The ‘2’ Long Range also offers the same large cabin and spacious boot as other e-Niro models, with generous space for five occupants and 451 litres of cargo capacity.
“This is an excellent example of how seamlessly electric cars can fit into a fleet operation that knows its staff, their journey types and takes concerns out of the equation with charge points at all of its facilities,” said John Hargreaves, General Manager for Fleet and Remarketing at Kia UK Limited.
