10 Million Green Miles & Counting | How Otto Car Is Cleaning Up The Capital
In January 2017, it took only a matter of days for London to breach its legal pollution limits set by the European Union for toxic air. This startling piece of news came as a surprise to many, who might have not been aware of the dangers of living and working in London.
9,000 deaths each year in the capital can be contributed to London’s poor quality air and the recent legal case of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah, who died as a direct cause of toxic air, touched all of our hearts.
As London’s largest PCO car rental company, we knew we had to play our part and help accelerate the transition from diesel and hybrid to fully electric PCO cars, for our staff, the general public, and our family of PCO drivers. Like the tragic case of Ella Kissi-Debrah, ethnic minorities are disproportionally affected as they live in poorer boroughs where the most polluting air can be found.
Our goal is to help them to transition to EVs so they can contribute individually to improving the air in the communities and help all our parents, siblings and children breathe clean air.
Our progress so far:
- We became the largest private electric car fleet in Europe in 2020.
- In total, we covered 10 million green miles in 2020.
- Over 3,000 tonnes of CO2 was removed from the air (It’s the equivalent of the amount of CO2 absorbed by 50,000 trees grown for 10 years).
- Our EV fleet cumulatively drove enough zero-emission miles in 2020 to drive to the moon once a week.
The road is long but we’re making great strides. What’s more, we’re empowering our family of drivers to make the change directly into their local communities where they need it most. We created an EV Charger Request Tool, which gives PCO drivers in London the opportunity to request a lamp post charger outside their homes. This proved immensely popular, with over 600 submissions, and by working with local charging companies and local councils, we’ve already had the green light to install over 50 (and counting) in the first quarter of 2021.
We’ve got some exciting new electric car features coming this spring, which will ease the friction many PCO drivers face when transitioning from diesel and hybrid to electric. It won’t be easy but ignoring our air pollution problem isn’t an option and we want to be in the driving seat, helping enable change to those that need it most.
Otto Car — Lead The Charge
Watch our electric car campaign video from 2020
Written by Richard Tester