Features
18 Jan 17

Trend, Poland: A long, green road ahead

In Poland, fleets choose low-CO2 cars because they have low fuel consumption. The emissions bonus is a side effect. Fortunately, this is slowly changing. Fleet management is becoming smarter, and greener.

Polish fleet managers often have excellent ideas on how to make their fleets more environmentally friendly. But when it comes to the required finances, they have their hands tied. Fleet management is all about being cost-effective. But without any fiscal incentives, it is hard to cut costs. Polish fiscal law does not promote any green solutions, at least not for vehicles with a gross weight up to 3.5t. So the only bonus of opting to reduce CO2 emissions – a direct result of reducing combustion – is lower fuel bills.

ECO-DRIVE TRAINING

But there are other elements at play. In recent years, eco-drive training have gained great popularity in Polish fleets. Taken together with new telematics solutions that offer analysis and advice on driver behaviour, it is leading to safer and greener driving habits. But again, the green bonus is a side effect. The incentive is a deal with the car insurance sector. Polish fleet operators who educate their drivers and install telematics devices can count on lower premiums.

Alternative mobility is fairly new concept in Polish fleet management. The average Pole still sees cars as a highly desirable luxury good and for employees, the company car is a huge benefit on top of the actual salary. Motivating Polish employees with substitute perks is hard, as they would then rather opt for a company car… with another employer.

INTRODUCING CAR-SHARING

As the latest analyses by CFM companies show, there is great interest in the Polish fleet community in car-sharing and other mobility solutions. Some leasing and rental companies are already introducing car-sharing to cities across Poland, but vehicle fleet managers are currently considering this as no more than an option, not a viable alternative to an existing fleet. As the Polish fleet market continues to grow and change, fleet managers will want to follow the trends set by Western Europe more closely, also in this field.

Changes to Polish fiscal law, planned to go into effect at the start of 2017, will also entail a deduction of input VAT related to cars. This could have a great impact on the future of fleet management in Poland. The Polish government recently also said that by 2018 it wants to introduce regulations to promote the development of electric vehicles and help fund the creation and production of Polish EV prototypes. The Energy ministry stated it will introduce tax relief for EV owners as well as subsidies for the first 100,000 cars. So far, only words. But still, a sign that Poland is finally seeing the economic sense behind greening its fleets...

 

Authored by Adam Dziedziński, FLEET Magazine Poland

 

Image: Fleet Magazine Poland