Cleaning up London’s air – one mile at a time

We are always keen to celebrate milestones at Addison Lee – or in this case one million! As of this week – and just in time for Earth Day – we have now completed over 1 million miles of journeys in our new electric fleet. We started rolling out our fully electric VW ID.4s late November 2021 and now have 450 serving our customers across London.

Not only does it show that there is high demand for our services as London’s economic and social activity returns to pre-pandemic levels; it also shows that we can return to growth in an environmentally friendly way. In delivering these million EV miles, we have removed approximately 300,000 kg of CO₂ from London’s air. To put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of the electricity use of 60 homes over one year or the amount of carbon sequestered by 5,000 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

We have always looked to raise the bar in London’s private hire industry. We launched the first app for private hire services in London; we developed the first auto-allocator, which has enabled us to operate more efficiently and save thousands of miles and emissions; we were the first private hire business to offset 100% of the carbon across our fleet; and most recently, we made the pledge to make our passenger services fully electric by 2023. This means we will be the largest fully electric private hire operator in London – two years earlier than any of our competitors.

While we celebrate this milestone, the exciting thing is that we can and will do more. Over the three-year period that these 450 EV’s will spend on our fleet, we will remove 11,000 tonnes of CO₂ from London’s air. Once we have completed our shift to a fully electric passenger fleet in 2023 this number will head above 50,000 tonnes.

These are not just statistics on a page but will make a material impact on London’s quality of life. They will help the Mayor of London in achieving his ambition to make London a net zero city by 2023. Londoners can breathe more easily as they go about their day-to-day activities. Visitors to our great capital can enjoy the sights and experiences knowing that they are not suffering from the impacts of serious air pollution.

We are really proud to have made this pledge to fully electrify by 2023 and in doing so hit this millionth mile landmark. We hope that others in the industry will follow our lead and help to make London a cleaner city – one mile at a time.

If you are interested in hearing more about our EV services and setting up an account, please contact sales@addisonlee.com