Van fleets meet Government to discuss electric vehicle problems

Government officials have met face to face with van fleet operators to hear first-hand about their problems with adopting electric vehicles.

The meeting, which was chaired by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) and attended by future of roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, explored the barriers to the adoption of electric vans and the solutions that are required to support the sector.

They were joined by representatives from leading fleet operators, including Royal Mail, Centrica, Amazon, ASDA, BT Openreach, Tesco, DHL, Dawson Group Vans and Lloyds Banking Group, while trade bodies, the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) and Logistics UK, and Government departments, the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and Department for Transport (DfT), were also in attendance.

Toby Poston, chief executive of the BVRLA, said he welcomed the open dialogue with Government in constructive talks.

“The needs of our sector are as diverse as they are plentiful,” he said. “We covered everything from charge points and regulatory burdens through to the ZEV (zero emission vehicle) mandate. There was a genuine sense of positivity in the room and a shared commitment to help take the sector forward.”

While there are pockets where adoption of electric vans has been brisk, acceptance across the sector as a whole remains sluggish.

The reasons for this are practical, according to AFP chair Paul Hollick. He said many fleets feel the electric vans currently available are too limited when it comes to range and payload, as well as being too expensive. “Swapping them into operational roles currently filled by diesel models requires too many compromises,” he said.

Transport minister Greenwood said it was great to join the BVRLA and van fleet leaders from across the UK to discuss how the Government can speed up the switch to zero emission vans.

“We will always be on the side of British businesses and van makers,” she said, citing the recent £120 million of funding to support the rollout of zero emission vans through the extension to the plug-in van grant for another year.