Helping Wightlink demonstrate its commitment to carbon reduction
“When I realised it was possible for us to give our employees the opportunity to lease an electric vehicle and save money, it was simply too good to ignore.”
Keith Greenfield, CEO
Wightlink wanted to show its customers that it's highly committed to reducing carbon emissions, by helping staff to switch to electric cars.
A focus on decarbonisation
Wightlink is an award-winning ferry operator, linking the Isle of Wight with Hampshire. It's striving for a greener future, with a hybrid-energy flagship ferry and lots of environmentally friendly initiatives.
It's already been recognised for promoting the use of sustainable travel and protecting the environment. And it's now building on decarbonisation by giving colleagues access to electric cars through the Octopus Electric Vehicles salary sacrifice scheme.
Keith Greenfield, CEO said: “It's a valuable employee benefit that engages our staff in our Green Agenda. As a company, we’re saying ‘here’s something you can do to make the switch to electric and there’s an attractive financial package around it’. It's something we can do to help our team with our plans for going green."
Supporting the Green Agenda
Wightlink has been working on its Green Agenda for a long time, and in 2018 they welcomed the first hybrid large ferry in England to their fleet, named Victoria of Wight.
Keith explained why he chose a purely electric car scheme from Octopus Electric Vehicles over one that offers hybrid, petrol and diesel cars.
“It's important for our customers to know that we're very environmentally conscious and we're doing everything we can to decarbonise. I really don’t think hybrids are going to make much of a contribution to that effort, I think it has to be electric.”
Creating a buzz around going electric
At the start of the partnership, there were already lots of employees ready to make the switch to an electric car.
“There was a lot of buzz when we launched. There were the early adopters who really liked the idea, it was great for those people who were already inclined to go electric.”
“We chose Octopus Electric Vehicles as I was quite confident that our employees would be well looked after if they join this scheme. 90% of our people are on the move, a lot of our team are out in the rain on ships or dealing with customers. We’ve found that the communication from the team and support with the setup has been helpful in getting internal adoption of the scheme.”
If you’re looking to do more to support your team to go green and reduce their carbon footprint, our electric car salary sacrifice scheme is right for you.
