Vans must be given high priority within any rethink of the government’s Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate objectives, says FleetCheck.
Barrie Wilson, strategic relationship manager at the fleet software specialist, pointed out year to date sales data from the SMMT showed that while new cars were just five percentage points short of their 2026 target, new vans were 16 percentage points adrift.
‘There has been extensive reporting during the last few days that a shake up of the ZEV Mandate is imminent but the conversation has almost exclusively been about cars.
‘To an extent, that is understandable. There are roughly 35 million cars in the UK compared to five million vans. Electrification of the car parc will affect many more people and thanks to the investment needed, is having a huge impact on the viability of the UK motor industry.
‘However, vans are an essential component of UK industry and so far, have failed to catch on in electric form to anything like the extent the government’s targets are demanding. We need to ensure they are not an afterthought in any revision of the ZEV Mandate.’
Electric vans were failing to find sales for a variety of reasons, he added, including high initial costs, poor residual values, difficulties with accessing both overnight and highway charging, limited range, the impact of carrying a heavy payload and the reliability of some models.
‘Fleets buy the vast majority of new vans and are rejecting electric options because the compromises they demand make them almost impossible to adopt for many operators,’ said Barrie.
‘In the company car sector, where electrification has been relatively successful, these issues were much less pertinent. Also, there was a huge incentive in the shape of zero or very low benefit in kind taxation and most drivers were able to install their own low cost, off-road, overnight charging. The van market is a completely different situation.’
Barrie said there needed to be an understanding that operators were unlikely to substantially increase purchasing of electric vans unless more capable designs became available.
‘Range, payload and cost are all improving but not really quickly enough to make a massive impact on electric van acceptance. Even if the government introduced higher incentives on current designs, which is unlikely, they still wouldn’t be suitable for most applications,’ he explained.
Also, the government should not assume that forcing a winddown of internal combustion engined van production will prompt a mass switchover to electric equivalents, he said.
‘We speak to many fleet operators who say if new diesel vans are not available, they are more likely to continue to operate their existing vehicles for as long as possible rather than electrify. Any potential rethinking of the ZEV Mandate needs to reflect this reality,’ concluded Barrie.