The results are in! Busting EV myths with real fleet data at the 2026 EV Rally

Five days. More than 1,000 miles. Exeter to London. GreenFleet’s 2026 Mythbusters EV Rally set out to replace opinion about electric vehicles with evidence – and it delivered.

As Official Technology Partner, Quartix helped measure the efficiency and safety of every vehicle across the whole route, turning five days of real-world driving into hard numbers.

Organised by GreenFleet and sponsored by Lex Autolease, the Rally ran two routes this year – one for cars and vans (more than 1,000 miles), one for the new Trucks+Trailers class (around 900 miles) – travelling from Exeter up to Solihull, across Wales and past Newcastle before finishing at the Everything Electric show at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham. Here’s what the data showed, and the myths it helped put to rest.

The mission: busting EV myths with evidence

The Rally exists to tackle the doubts that still hold fleets back from going electric. This year’s Mythbusters theme took them on directly, examining EV fire risks, battery and tyre recycling, the used-EV market and the availability of charging infrastructure for electric trucks — each explored through daily checkpoints and live demonstrations.

As Lex Autolease Managing Director Nick Williams put it, the Rally gives people something concrete to react to, helping move the conversation from assumption to understanding. The Rally measures how far these vehicles really go, how efficiently they can be driven, and how safely – all in genuine working conditions.

Each day put a different myth to the test, with checkpoint hosts and teams running live demonstrations along the way:

• Myth 1 – “EVs catch fire easily”: Day 1’s route called at the Fire Service College, tackling EV fire safety head-on with the people who know it best.
• Myth 2 – “EV batteries just end up in landfill”: a checkpoint at Veolia’s Minworth plant, the UK’s first commercial EV battery recycling facility, built to recover critical materials like lithium, cobalt and nickel from end-of-life batteries helped to demystify what really happens.
• Myth 3 – “EVs are too expensive”: E.ON Drive showed how total cost of ownership tells a different story from the sticker price, with lower running and maintenance costs over time.
• Myth 4 – “Used EVs can’t do the job on range and charging”: Vaylens challenged this myth directly, backed by the real distances teams covered day after day.
• Myth 5 – “Electric trucks aren’t ready”: the new Trucks+Trailers class showed zero-emission HGVs, including a fully laden 44-tonne eActros 600, running real routes on today’s eHGV charging hubs, and stops like DAF’s Leyland factory let the teams explore what eHGVs can offer.

Head over to the EV Rally channel to watch the checkpoint interviews and learn more.

The results

Across more than 1,000 miles, the vehicles did the job – the data backs it up.

Cars & Vans: Most efficient vehicles

Team AA took top spot on efficiency (90.6%) driving a Toyota bZ4X Touring and a Toyota C-HR+, ahead of KwikFit (85.2%) and Speedy Hire (62.5%). Efficiency here is measured as a percentage of each vehicle’s peak official manufacturer figure for miles per kilowatt-hour.

Cars & Vans: Safety scores

On safety, Farizon led the field (92.8) in their new V7E medium electric vans, just ahead of AA Toyota (92.0) and Lex Autolease (91.6). It was a tight top three, with many teams driving smoothly and safely across the week.

Trucks & Trailers: Most efficient vehicles

In the debut Trucks+Trailers class, FSEW International Freight Forwarders – competing as part of Team SAGA Trucks in a Mercedes eActros 600 – led on efficiency with 140.2%. The Rally’s media crew took second (68.2%) in a fully laden 44-tonne eActros 600 driven by Sara Sloman, with GRIDSERVE third (40.6%) in an electric DAF truck. Trucks were benchmarked differently from cars and vans, because manufacturer efficiency figures vary with gross vehicle weight.

Trucks & Trailers: Safety scores

On safety, GRIDSERVE came out on top (99.2) in a DAF electric truck, narrowly ahead of FSEW for SAGA Trucks (98.9). Impressive numbers for heavy vehicles over a demanding route.

How it was measured

The rankings combine two separate measures. Safety came from the Quartix vehicle tracking system, fitted across the Rally vehicles, and is based on driving style – smoother, safer driving scores higher. Efficiency was calculated from the miles-per-kWh figures teams recorded from their own vehicle dashboards, expressed against each vehicle’s peak manufacturer figure. Because the scores are cumulative averages across all five days, the final standings are the overall result for the week. Any missed day counted as 0% efficiency, which lowered a team’s overall score.

Team Quartix’s EV journey

We didn’t just watch from the sidelines – or from behind our EV Rally live tracking screen – Quartix had a team out on the road driving the Rally alongside everyone else, taking on the same checkpoints and charging stops, and we thoroughly enjoyed taking part.

Huge thanks to the team at GreenFleet for having us as Official Technology Partner for 2026, to Lex Autolease and all the checkpoint hosts, and to every team that drove. Using fleet data to help dispel myths and uncover insight is what Quartix is all about, and it’s what we’ve been doing best for over 25 years.

Whether you’re running a mixed fleet, a fully EV operation, or haven’t yet made the switch – see what insights our fleet tracking system can uncover for your business. Check out our customer case studies, or arrange a demo with one of our team.