UK's First E-Bike Lease Scheme Launches at COP26

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09 November 2021

The UK’s first product that enables employers to offer leased, zero-emission E-Bikes to their staff has been unveiled at COP26.

Initially offered through a group of 20 employers with which Arval already has employee car leasing schemes in place, the sustainable mobility provider has adapted its personal contract hire scheme to enable E-Bikes to be leased too.

It’s also available for Arval’s own employees, so that they can get first-hand experience to share with customers. 

Arval has partnered with two leading providers to supply and deliver bikes including mountain, commuter and folding models, as well as the option to add insurance.

The company operates similar successful schemes in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and other European countries. In the UK, employees can choose from a range of models which are typically leased over three years at a set monthly rate.

E-Bikes Can Help Overcome Barriers to Cycling

Research by TfL shows that more than a fifth of people who don't cycle are put off because they think they aren't fit enough, feel distances are too long or say they are too old. E-bikes can help overcome these concerns as the power-assisted bikes allow the rider to cycle further, and uphill, with ease.

The option also has obvious environmental benefits. Christian Brand, Associate Professor in Transport, Energy & Environment at the University of Oxford and his team estimate that urban residents who switched from driving to cycling for just one trip per day reduced their carbon footprint by about half a tonne of CO₂ over the course of a year. This saves the equivalent emissions of a one-way flight from London to New York. 

Paul Hyne, Arval UK’s Commercial Director, explained that the scheme was born from the company’s strategy to provide zero-emission mobility options for its customers.

He said: “COP26 is making sustainability headline news. We’re all thinking of how we can reduce our impact on the environment and giving employees across the country easier access to both a zero-emission and affordable means of travel via an E-Bike is more important now than ever before.

“With E-Bikes costing from around £500-£5,000 or more, leasing helps employees to spread the cost at a monthly rate they can afford, something that we believe Arval is the first to offer in this manner in the UK.

“The proposition we have developed is very much designed to sit alongside cars leased by employees. Our view is that businesses and their staff will increasingly be looking at a wider selection of mobility solutions and that a car – potentially an Electric Vehicle – and an E-Bike will each be the right solution at different times. However, people will also be able to lease an E-Bike on its own.

“We’ve drawn on intelligence from our global network, where Arval entities in other countries are successfully offering similar products to their customers, so we feel it’s a good first step here to test the British appetite for E-Bikes for work-related or leisure travel."

Picture: a photograph of a person wearing a cycling helmet, adjusting something on the back of their E-Bike.

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 09 November 2021

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