BVRLA EV report card says ‘could do better’

On vans, the 2024 report said: “Facing enormous headwinds, the zero-emission van transition is in crisis. Demand is constrained by the weak functionality of vans on the market and poor real-world total cost of ownership.

“Infrastructure is still focused on cars and does not cater to van needs. From bookability to universal fuel cards, more must be done. Until van fleets truly feel like the product, costs and operations will work for them, the transition will continue to stall outside of the largest fleets.”

There are just 60,000 electric vans on UK roads out of total of over 4m and sales are running at only 5% of total registrations – the government’s zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires that 10% of vans sold in 2024 must be zero emissions. Manufacturers failing to hit the target will be heavily fined and leasing companies are under growing pressure to take a higher percentage of EVs despite lack of demand from customers and low residual values.

When it comes, to electric HGVs, the report said “it is still early days”.

“Fleet figures are single digit and technological uncertainty is unresolved,” it said. “HGV-specific infrastructure is extremely limited.

“The future looks brighter. The Zehid programme will put a network of 57 recharging and refuelling sites into service over the next 12 to 18 months, through four funded projects. Operators are excited about the Zehid results and small-scale private sector pilots are starting to generate insights.”

Launching the report at the BVRLA annual ‘Fleets in charge’ conference held in London on July 10, BVRLA director of corporate affairs Toby Poston said demand from operators was weak because the total cost of ownership of electric vans was still “poor”. What public charging infrastructure there was in the UK was focused on cars and did cater for vans.

“The red light is flashing,” he warned. “The transition has stalled outside the largest fleets.”

With the price of used electric vans “collapsed” and accident repair costs unpredictable and often higher than for diesel vehicles – especially if the battery was damaged – leasing and rental companies were struggling to set profitable hire rates for EVs.

BVRLA chief executive Gerry Keaney – who is stepping down at the end of 2024 – said the UK used EV market was “close to failure” while Mike Hawes, chief executive of vehicle manufacturers’ association the SMMT admitted the ZEV mandate was “very challenging”.

“Labour said in its election manifesto they would bring the end of sale date of non-zero emission cars and vans back to 2030,” Hawes said. “You can compel the sale of zero emission vehicles but you can’t compel demand.

“We need consistency to build confidence among OEMs that they can deliver on the targets.”

Keaney argued that a single cut-off date for all cars and vans was a “blunt instrument” and a more nuanced approach was needed. “The challenges faced by an SME with a van are very different from a car driver,” he said.

Vicky Read, CEO of ChargeUK which represents 40 charger installation companies, said the “brakes were on” when it came to speeding up the roll out of public charging points due to delays with grid connections and planning consent. Other barriers included the fact that VAT is charged at 20% on electricity supplied at public chargers but only 5% when charging an EV at home.

Standing charges have also risen 300% in the last 12 months, Read added. “There is a £6bn commitment to private sector expenditure on charging,” she went on. “There is also £1bn of public money but we are struggling to get that out.

“These are all things we need the new government to speed up.”

Ash Tate, MD of payment provider Allstar Chargepass UK, said the cost of charging was “a huge part of the TCO” of running an EV, and to use a public charger costs 10 times the 7p/kWh a driver would pay at home.

Jack Palmer, strategy consultant with researchers Frost & Sullivan, said new models of electric vans were on the way that would improve sales, including the FlexEVan due to be launched in 2026 by Renault and Nissan.

Palmer explained the concept behind software-defined vehicles, where the vehicle hardware would be designed to last for many years but the software that defined it would be regularly updated, probably remotely over the air. This would allow new features – possibly including autonomous driving – to be added without the need to update or replace the vehicle itself.

Head of fleet at National Grid Lorna McAtear, sounded a positive note, insisting that the charging infrastructure had improved greatly in the last two years. “I am just back from the EV Rally and charger availability is there,” she said. But she conceded: “Anything bigger than a small van is still a challenge.”

Matthew Hammond, head of fleet at industrial maintenance provider Altrad Services UK which runs 1,800 vans and trucks, agreed, saying “infrastructure is still a challenge for light commercials and for HGVs it is not there yet”.

Rob Simister, head of fleet at Centrica, which has switched 30% of its vans to electric, also pointed out the loss of productivity if vans could not be charged at home overnight by their drivers. “We are introducing additional downtime and with 8,000 vehicles that is a problem,” he said, a point echoed by Colin Hutt, fleet and environment manager at Clarion Housing.

“We have 900 vans used by people who maintain our properties,” he said. “Most are charged at home overnight but some drivers can’t do that. So they are having to stop and charge during the day which means they are missing appointments and disappointing our residents.”

Hutt said Clarion was finding the operating costs of EVs was £2,000 to £3,000 a year higher than a diesel. “We need our own infrastructure but that is beyond my power,” he said. “It is a big commitment to sign a five-year lease when you are not sure if an EV will do the job we need it to do. We need more flexibility and it would be better to have one-year contracts.”

All the operators agreed that selling electric vans to drivers was not easy and proper training in how to use them was essential.

“Handing over 2,000 ele3ctric vans to our engineers was a challenging thing to do,” said Simister. “You have to plan properly for it.”

Hammond pointed out another large drawback with the switch to electric: “They can’t tow. Put a minidigger behind them and the range goes down to about seven miles.”

Without naming names, McAtear said there were “good OEMs who listen when we have a problem, and bad OEMs who don’t take any responsibility”.

She said that unlike cars, electric vans do not having battery cooling because they are not expected to rapid charge which can overheat the batteries.

“On the EV Rally four vans overheated because we were rapid charging them,” she said. “There are other basic issues such as the 12V batteries.”

Even though the drive motors on an electric vehicle run at much higher voltages, they are still fitted with a 12V battery to operate the lights, wipers, central locking etc. If these go flat the vehicle is out of service even if the main batteries are fully charged.

“Some OEMs charge the 12V battery when the main batteries are charging,” McAtear said. “Others don’t.”