With the ZEV mandate requiring 24% of new van sales to be zero-emission in 2026, rising towards 70% by 2030, fleet operators are under growing pressure to electrify. However, new analysis from Dawsongroup vans suggests that choosing the right routes for electric vehicles may be more important than simply increasing the number of electric vans in a fleet.
The analysis is based on 12 months of real-world telematics data from 49 electric light commercial vehicles, covering annual mileages ranging from under 10,000 to more than 45,000 miles.
According to Dawsongroup vans, the findings show a clear relationship between annual mileage, route type and electric van efficiency.
Simon Ridley, Managing Director at Dawsongroup vans, said: “The question most fleet managers ask is, how many electric vans do they need? The more useful question is which vans, on which routes? Those are two very different conversations, and the answer to the second one changes everything.”
The strongest-performing mileage range
Across the dataset, the most efficient performance was consistently recorded among vans travelling between 10,000 and 25,000 miles per year.
These vehicles were typically operating on urban multi-drop work, suburban service routes and local field operations, where frequent stopping, lower average speeds and regenerative braking allow electric vans to make better use of their efficiency advantages.
Figures from Uswitch show that the average annual mileage for UK van drivers is 8,232 miles, suggesting that many working vans already operate within or below the mileage range where electric vehicles can perform effectively.
“When electric vans are used on predictable urban and suburban duty cycles, they can deliver reliable performance all year round,” Ridley said.
“The routes that work best for electrification are usually the ones fleet managers already know inside out. The daily mileage is consistent, the vehicles return to base each evening, and overnight depot charging removes most of the uncertainty.”
Higher-mileage routes require more planning
Vehicles covering longer annual distances, particularly those operating predominantly on motorways, recorded lower efficiency throughout the year.
At sustained higher speeds, electric vans lose some of the efficiency benefits associated with stop-start urban driving. Dawsongroup's analysis also found that winter conditions can reduce usable range by a further 30% to 40% across the fleet.
This means vehicles already operating on energy-intensive routes can face even greater operational pressure during colder months.
The 2025 Arval Mobility Observatory Barometer found that around a third of fleets are already operating electric vans on routes covering more than 100 miles per day, making battery capacity, charging availability and route planning increasingly important.
“Higher-mileage routes are not unsuitable for electric vans, but they do demand a more disciplined approach,” Ridley said.
“That means specifying vehicles with larger battery capacities, building charging into the working day rather than relying on it happening opportunistically, and setting route lengths around worst-case winter performance rather than summer averages.”
Putting routes at the centre of electrification
The findings suggest fleet electrification strategies should begin by analysing existing routes before selecting vehicles.
Fleet operators should consider annual and daily mileage, payload requirements and where vehicles can realistically charge at the end of a shift when deciding which routes to electrify first.
This is particularly relevant for fleets operating in clean air and low emission zones, where non-compliant diesel vehicles can create additional operating costs.
England currently has seven charging Clean Air Zones, while London's Ultra Low Emission Zone operates across the capital and four Low Emission Zones are in place in Scotland.
For suitable urban routes, electric vans can therefore offer both efficiency benefits and savings from avoiding emissions-related charges.
Dawsongroup vans suggests that fleets operating a mixture of route types may benefit from a phased transition, beginning with predictable routes within the strongest-performing mileage bands before moving on to longer or more demanding operations.
“The fleets getting this right are not trying to make electric vans work everywhere at once. They are starting with the routes where the vehicles perform best and building from there,” Ridley added.
“Get that right and the performance figures do the talking. When it is not, confidence in the transition tends to unravel quickly.”
