Electric vehicle adoption across Australian fleets is not occurring evenly. While some organisations are accelerating their transition strategies, others remain cautious or stalled. According to Kristian Handberg, General Manager – Future Business and Origination at JET Charge, the difference often comes down to fleet management maturity.
“If you recall the work that Steve Nuttall does through Fifth Quadrant around fleet management research, the more advanced, leading firms — the enterprise type firms — have got the bandwidth to be able to look at these things in more detail,” Handberg said.
Enterprise Fleets Are Leading
Handberg points to larger, enterprise-level organisations as the early leaders in fleet electrification.
“They’ve usually, within their finance department, looked at it in a lot of detail,” he explained. “They’ve got the sophistication to navigate through change management.”
That capability — not just access to capital — is proving critical. Electrification is not simply a vehicle replacement decision. It requires policy updates, infrastructure planning, driver engagement, and cross-department coordination between Fleet Managers, Sustainability Managers and Finance Managers.
In organisations with mature fleet governance structures, those elements can be aligned more effectively.
“That’s certainly an indicator of what’s the likelihood that somebody’s embraced this change — this vehicle electrification shift,” Handberg said.
Bandwidth Is a Barrier
At the other end of the maturity spectrum are mid-sized organisations where fleet responsibility is often one of many tasks assigned to a single manager.
“The mid-sized firms that have got somebody who might be juggling a lot of different tasks, they just don’t have the bandwidth,” Handberg said.
Without dedicated resources, detailed whole-of-life cost modelling and structured transition planning can fall behind day-to-day operational pressures. In these environments, electrification decisions often revert to simple policy rules or employee preference models rather than strategic evaluation.
“You see things like some local government segment vehicles are very much used as part of employee packaging,” he noted. “It does vary. Fleet management is very diverse.”
Employee Choice Adds Complexity
Where fleets rely heavily on salary packaging or employee opt-in models, adoption can become more complex.
Some organisations are effectively “hostage to individual employees saying yes or no they don’t want to do this,” Handberg said.
Without strong internal support frameworks — including education, charging solutions and policy clarity — adoption can slow significantly. This is particularly relevant in novated lease environments, where individual behaviour influences fleet composition.
The result is a lag effect in the broader fleet market.
“I think that will continue,” Handberg said. “The fleet market lags the private vehicle market in this space.”
Private Market as Educator
Handberg suggests that cultural acceptance in the consumer market may ultimately support fleet electrification.
“I think it will take almost for the private vehicle market to educate people more generally,” he said.
As private buyers become more familiar with EV ownership, charging behaviours and operating cost benefits, resistance within employee-choice fleet models may reduce.
Until then, maturity — in governance, policy, and financial modelling — remains the key differentiator.
Soft Market, Clear Leaders
Overall, Handberg describes the current fleet EV market as measured rather than accelerating rapidly.
“We’re still seeing a fairly soft fleet market overall,” he said. “But there are some notable leaders in terms of people who are really leaning into it.”
For Fleet Managers planning their 2026 strategy, the message is clear: electrification success is less about vehicle availability and more about organisational readiness.
Fleet management maturity — including whole-of-life cost understanding, change management capability, and cross-functional collaboration — is increasingly the foundation for effective EV adoption.
Those with the structure and resources to manage the transition are moving first. Others may need to invest in capability before they can accelerate with confidence.
