Many fleets have already completed their first electric vehicle (EV) trials. A small number of vehicles are placed with early adopters, operational data is gathered, and initial assumptions are tested. The next challenge is scaling those trials beyond a handful of drivers and into a broader cross-section of the business—without locking the organisation into long-term commitments before confidence is established.
Car subscription is emerging as one option fleets are using to bridge that gap.
For Karmo, demand from fleet customers has increasingly centred on using subscription to expand EV exposure in a controlled way.
According to Nick Boucher, CEO at Karmo, subscription lowers the barriers that often slow the second phase of EV rollout.
“The beauty of our model is that they can generally try to see it’s going to work for them, because it’s a big shift, right?”
Moving beyond early adopters
Initial EV trials are often limited to enthusiastic drivers, defined routes, or specific teams. While useful, this can create a skewed picture of how EVs will perform across the wider fleet.
Subscription allows fleets to place vehicles with a larger and more varied group of employees—different roles, locations and usage patterns—without committing to multi-year leases.
“Once people are overcoming the fears with reality, they’re saying that with most vehicles, it makes a hell of a lot of sense.”
By rotating vehicles through different business units, fleet teams can gather more representative data on utilisation, charging behaviour and operational suitability.
Reducing commitment risk while increasing exposure
One of the challenges in scaling EV trials is uncertainty—particularly around how quickly employees will adapt and whether vehicles will remain fit for purpose.
Subscription models can provide defined minimum terms with the ability to return vehicles if requirements change.
“Why would I not do this for 15 per cent of my fleet or 20 per cent of my fleet?”
Rather than replacing the entire fleet strategy, subscription can sit alongside existing leasing arrangements, supporting a phased transition.
“Rather than having dead stock sitting there doing nothing… you’ve got the ability to then return those cars within the 30-day period.”
For fleets operating in multiple locations or project-based environments, this flexibility can be particularly valuable when expanding trials beyond head office or metropolitan areas.
Managing uncertainty around residual values
Residual value risk remains a concern for many fleets as EV technology continues to evolve. Traditional long-term funding models can expose organisations to that uncertainty.
Boucher acknowledges this as a common hesitation point.
“No one really has a genuine understanding of residuals yet on EVs.”
Subscription removes that variable from fleet balance sheets during the trial and expansion phase.
“The beauty of the model is you don’t have that risk.”
This can make it easier for finance and procurement teams to support wider trials, particularly when future resale values are difficult to forecast.
From trial to informed decision-making
The goal of expanding EV trials is not adoption for its own sake, but better decision-making. Subscription allows fleets to test assumptions at scale before committing capital or locking in long replacement cycles.
Boucher says the focus should remain on fundamentals.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve got three or if you’ve got 20,000 vehicles in your fleet. Are you getting efficiency out of it?”
By using subscription to place EVs with more employees and across more parts of the organisation, fleets can build the operational confidence needed to move from small pilots to structured rollout programs.
For fleets under pressure to decarbonise while managing cost and risk, car subscription is increasingly being assessed not as an alternative to leasing—but as a practical tool to help scale EV trials with greater flexibility and control.
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