Fuel efficiency

To ensure we keep the country connected, we use our 20,000 engineering vehicles to reach the 120 million km of cable which is spread throughout Great Britain.

Our vehicles account for around 11% of BT Group’s total carbon footprint, which we aim to reduce every year.

Carbon efficiency is a key factor in every new vehicle purchase we make. We actively explore and continually re-assess the different types of vehicles available, and pay particular attention to fuel efficiency to ensure that the decisions we make are the best options for both the environment and for our drivers.

We are currently trialling a fleet of four electric vehicles. They have operated so far in Glasgow, London, Cardiff and Milton Keynes, and we currently have one in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

To mark the first anniversary of the launch of our EV trial, we ran a competition for our commercial vehicle drivers to find the next EV test driver, and received a really positive response about it from our people.

While the EVs are restricted in range and capability, where deployment matches the capability of the vehicle, driver feedback has been very positive, and customer interest is universally very good.

We believe the EV has a part to play within our fleet along with standard internal combustion engines and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). We are also trialling EVs from mainstream manufacturers to identify the potential impact of any larger scale roll out and the scope for the future.

We ensure that work is assigned with the aim of helping us to minimise wasted journeys in our fleet. This is achieved through assessing customer demand in line with our service priorities to assign the most relevant resources effectively, as well as through the introduction of GPS location systems, making it possible to pinpoint the nearest engineer at any particular time.

We've also implemented Network Health Initiatives, to regularly assess and improve the network, which has led to a reduction in engineering visits and costs, and an improvement in customer experience.

Training in fuel-efficient driving, vehicle management and technological innovation have also reduced fuel usage and CO2 emissions.

If you would like to know more about our sustainability work, please contact Ian Hill or read our Better Future report

360o Fleet Innovation = Reduced Footprint