How EY Belgium creates a buzz with a multimodal mobility plan: more than just electric driving

Sustainability is high on the list of priorities of EY, one of world's top four professional services firms. “By 2024, we need to have reduced our annual CO₂ emissions by 3,200 tonnes,” says Wim De Wit, HR Director at EY Belgium. “To achieve that goal, we introduced a multimodal mobility plan in 2016.”

Keywords are flexibility and authenticity

EY Belgium offers its employees sustainable alternatives to traditional company cars. “Our employees can choose the mode of transport that is right for them: from smaller vehicles and plug-in and fully-electric company cars to public transport or leased bikes,” says Linda Kumps, Facilities Manager at EY Belgium. “Since April 2021, we have resolutely opted for the electrification of our fleet.”

The company wants to use its flexible multimodal mobility plan to drastically reduce its ecological footprint. But there’s more. Wim: “We want our employees to think about their own mobility. Although the tax benefits of an electric fleet are a nice bonus, the transition to a sustainable fleet should be done in an authentic way. Our HR policy is: ‘Building a Better Working World’. This is not just for our customers and the community but also for our own people.”

Photos: © Marble Moon

Linda continues: “Sustainable, flexible and stress-free transport is essential to our mobility approach. After a comprehensive preliminary study, we were ready to fully embrace electric mobility. And according to a survey, the same was true for over 70% of our employees!”

Looking for an all-inclusive partner

EY Belgium needed an e-mobility partner that knows its stuff to achieve its electrical transition. Linda: “The market for electric charging infrastructure is still in its infancy. It proved a challenge to find a clear overview of all available options. We approached various providers, out of which MobilityPlus emerged as the winner.”

“Our contacts’ technical knowledge was immediately apparent,” Wim confirms. “They contributed actively to finding tailored solutions for our corporate sites and our employees’ homes. For example, energy management was vital for keeping our energy consumption under control.”

Electrification in the highest gear

EY Belgium got MobilityPlus to install its first charge points in early 2021, and is already planning a substantial expansion. Linda: “We now have twenty charge points at our site in Diegem and twelve in Ghent. We want to double those numbers next year. And we will be really taking it to the next level at our new site, which is under construction. There we will provide cabling for some 200 charge points. This means that we will be ready for the electric future.”

EY’s nine other Belgian offices are rented. The company is talking to the landlords about the possibilities of installing charge points at these premises too. “For the time being, our employees there are using public charge points with their MobilityPlus charge cards,” Wim explains. “The costs are invoiced automatically and correctly to EY. MobilityPlus does not charge uplift fees for public charging, which gives you confidence in them.”

Anticipating a rapid increase in home charge points

All EY employees who switch to electric or plug-in hybrid company vehicles can have charge points installed at their homes. MobilityPlus has already installed 79 home charge points, with plans for another hundred. After that, the number of new charge points at employees’ homes will keep growing.

Linda: “We currently have around 200 electric company cars on the road. The leasing contracts of more than 300 employees will expire soon. When that happens, they too will be able to switch to electric vehicles, which means we will soon need additional home charge points.”

* these were the figures at the end of February 2022 – more installations are being added all the time!

“Before every installation of a home charge point, we carry out a comprehensive technical audit. MobilityPlus has developed an online tool that speeds up and simplifies the audit process to handle the influx of new orders smoothly. Of course, a demonstration and clear instructions are given after the installation.”

Towards 70% electric or hybrid by 2025

EY Belgium will keep raising awareness about sustainable mobility among its staff in the coming years. Electric vehicles have an increasingly prominent role in this. “We are simplifying the transition,” says Wim. “With charge points at work and at home, and with charge cards, we ensure that everyone can charge their electric vehicles at all times. We want at least 70% of our fleet to be electric or hybrid by 2025.”

Linda concludes: “MobilityPlus will keep supporting us as a partner for our charging infrastructure to achieve these goals. We will put our best foot forward together. Out of a fleet of 2,000 commercial vehicles, 800 are already low-carbon: 200 electric and 600 hybrid. And we have only just started!”