By Joanna Gaudini, Marketing Executive
Earlier this month in Bedford, I went to see VEV CEO Mike Nakrani take to the stage and chair a panel on decarbonising fleets at the Cenex Expo 2025, one of the UK’s leading showcases for low-carbon vehicle innovation. The event drew thousands of attendees, hundreds of exhibitors, supported by a strong seminar programme and a popular “ride & drive” featuring the latest HGVs.
Hall 3 hosted a broad mix of engineers and suppliers demonstrating cutting-edge EV tech, while outside displays included heavy trucks from MAN, Maritime Transport Ltd and others.
Decarbonising Fleets Panel: Who were on stage?
Chair: Mike Nakrani, CEO, VEV
Panellists: Brad Miller (Vauxhall Motors Ltd), Benn White (Transport for the Southeast), Matthew Clark (Steer), and Dr Rishabh Ghotge & Sophie Naylor (Cenex Netherlands and UK).
My Key Takeaways from the Panel
1) Electric Vans and the Business Case
The first presentation was from Brad Miller, who focused on the transition to electric vans and the commercial impact. He shared positive sentiment from operators: 91% say moving to an all-electric fleet would improve public perception, and 83% report tangible business benefits. The major constraint remains charging infrastructure, which requires accelerated rollout to match growing fleet demand.
Miller also confirmed that Vauxhall has cancelled its hydrogen programme due to limited infrastructure, constrained availability and the need for stronger purchase incentives. This to me, indicates a signal to fleet managers to prioritise EVs and stay ahead of the curve!
2) The Importance of TCO’s
Dr Rishabh Ghotge and Dr Sophie Naylor from Cenex were up next, and they discussed the expansion of battery electric trucks, a huge sector which is already dominating in China (90%) and growing markets across Europe, falling battery costs, air-quality policies, and corporate reporting rules drive adoption. Case studies show upfront costs remain 1.5–3× diesel and mid-life battery replacement (7–8 years) matters, but TCO can approach or beat diesel depending on lifetime, electricity price, utilisation, and discount rate.
3) Regional Charging Strategy in the Southeast
Benn White teamed with Matthew Clark from steer to lead the section of the panel titled “Unblocking Obstacles to Fleet Electrification”, Benn outlined Transport for the Southeast’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) workstream, which supports local authorities in scaling public charging. He covered the likely impacts of commercial fleets on public networks, and they shared case studies, such as looking at the area of Slough and the capabilities of charging infrastructure there.
An illustrative split for HGV charging was highlighted: roughly 50% depot/workplace and 50% public en-route. That balance underscores the need to build dependable, high-power public hubs on strategic corridors while upgrading depot power where duty cycles allow overnight or dwell-time charging.
Benn also shared case studies showing how targeted hubs, logistics-cluster planning and early engagement with DNOs can unlock capacity and reduce project risk. The direction of travel is pragmatic and positive: align where vehicles dwell long enough, match connector/power standards to real duty cycles, and coordinate regionally so fleets can rely on the network.
Adding to the regional lens, Matthew Clark (Steer) distilled the fleet manager’s gating criteria the practical hurdles that must be cleared before large-scale electrification proceeds:
- Capability: Available EV models must meet duty cycles (range, payload, uptime, temperature).
- Cost: Total cost of operation must avoid a sustained uptick in transport costs.
- Charging: Energy must be available, where and when needed, cost-effectively (at depots and en-route).
To Wrap Up
The Cenex event was a huge success: the buzz of people, excitable atmosphere and passionate industry experts. Mike’s panel showed how great it is to have these discussions, gain insights, fuel the conversation, and help promote stats and analysis surrounding fleet decarbonisation.
With a great turnout at the event, as well as Mike’s panel talk, it is clear that this is a fast-growing sector, with an increasing number of questions asked but with this comes a demand for data which is evidently growing year on year- this was prominent throughout my day at Cenex, and I’m excited for the next!
If you would like to find out more, please get in touch: Ask@vev.com
