With Government Mandates in place and the latest clean air zones, the move towards Electric Vans is inevitable. Whilst we understad they don’t work for all customers, especially for those who need to do mega miles in the day. For local tradesmen, local delivery companies and food outlets, an electric van might fit into a business better than you can imagine.
But before you sign-up for a long-term van lease or you go and purchase one, it might be worth considering taking one of the latest electric commercial vehicles on a short-term van lease. This allows you to evaluate how it fits into your day-to-day jobs.
Positives of Electric Vans
- Avoid ULEZ, Clean Air Zones and Congestion Charges*
- Electric vehicles could be cheaper to run than Diesels
- Environmentally Friendly
- Show customers you are committed to Zero Emission Vehicles
- Automatic gearboxes, customers find them much easier and relaxing to drive
Negatives of Electric Vans
- Limited range and range anxiety can be off putting
- Public chargers can make top-ups expensive without research
- Payload might be reduced when comared to ICE vans
- Monthly costs of electric vans may be higher than equivilent ICE
- Not always suited to workers who take their vehicles home at night
Short-Term Electric Van Offers
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Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Electric Vans that we get asked by customers:
Can I avoid ULEZ and Clean Air Zones with an Electric Van?
If your a business operating in or into London, you’ll know about the ULEZ and Congestion Charge zones that apply to those vehicles emitting hig CO2’s. If your van doesn’t meet to criteria, you will pay the charges.
There are also new Clean Air Zones being introduced in cities across the UK, these inckude Birmingham, Bradford and Oxford. If you can doesn’t meet the emission levels as stated, you will be paying a charge to access the zone.
With Oxford, they have introduced a Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ), this means that only zero emission vehicles such as an Electric Van can drive into the city.
It is always worth researching these as they can change at anytime and some require registration or pre-payment.
Is it cheaper to run an Electric Van?
If you operate an electric van in the correct way, an electric van can work out cheaper than an alternative Diesel van. Within these paragraphs, we’ll be talking about fueling the vans than anything else.
If you have home or office chargers, when paired with the specialist tariffs offered by the likes of Octopus Energy, you can charge your vehicle for as little as 7.5p per kwh (Correct at the time of publishing). Having a home charger allows you to leave the house each day with a full tank, as it were.
Whilst the public charging networks are growing in the UK, the price to charge your vehicle can vary from location to location, you could pay as much as 70p per kWh at some of them, which works out on par with running the equivilent Diesel.
For an electric van with a 60kWh battery, charging at home will cost around £17, giving you around 160-180 miles of charge. A Diesel van may have a 70 litre tanks and cost around £100 to fill, whilst it may travel further on the tank, it will also cost you more money.
Are electric vehicles quiet?
Whilst many of the modern Diesel engines are quieter nowadays, there is still the consistent hum of the engine that even sound insulated cabs just cannot isolate. Electric vehicles provide almost no noise in the cab, if anything a high pitched whine when accelerating. If you’ll hear anything in the cab, it will be the wind noise as vans aren’t the most aerodynamic vehicles on the road.
However, driving a vehicle that is quieter can be more relaxing and the lack of gear changing can also help with the overall pleasure of driving an electric commercial vehicle.
Are Electric Vans easier to drive?
Electric vehicles are all fitted with automatic transmission, in reality its a big swtich that allows forward motion, reverse and a neutral switch. Electric motors produce a lot of torque, so you will find that ‘off-the-mark’ electric vans feel nippier than their equivilent Diesel vehicles.
One thing you may find different is that some vehicles offer ‘one pedal driving’ – This is due to brake recuperation to harvest the waster energy and top the battery up with charge, think of it as a large dynamo that you may have had on your bike. Its important to maximise the brake regen to get as much range as possible out of your van.
How far can you drive in an electric van?
When it comes to range of an electric vehicle, it is really difficult to provide a real world figure. There are so many different factors when it comes to any electric vehicles such as weather, temperature, battery state and what you may have on in your cabin.
The figures that we have provided below are based on manufacturer guidelines and not real world figures, we’d highly recommend looking at the EV Database for more research figures:
- Ford E-Transit: 196 miles
- Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo: 254 miles
The figures quoted above are WLTP figures and do not take into account payload, weather conditions, etc.
