Should the next Government be doing more to accelerate van fleet EV adoption?

The Conservative’s Zero Emissions Mandate, whereby 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans need to be zero emission by 2030 – increasing to 100% by 2035 – has certainly helped to shift the EV adoption needle. So too has the increased availability of new EV vans, aided by £9,000 fines for every vehicle that manufacturers fall short of their annual EV van sales targets, representing 10% of new van sales in 2024, rising to 16% in 2025, 24% in 2026, 34% in 2027, 46% in 2028, 58% in 2029 and 70% in 2030. But is this enough to encourage mass adoption by fleets right now?

Volume of available vehicles is one thing, but our existing charging infrastructure is a problem. We may have passed 60,000 EV charging points in over 32,000 locations in the UK, but there are still fundamental issues with where these are located, the speed of available chargers, reliable access, and the cost of charging. 

Add to this a lack of appetite among van fleets to make the switch early, because the sums of EV ownership simply don’t add up, and it becomes apparent that there is a very real chance that the existing decarbonisation strategy will fail to deliver any meaningful change as far as EV adoption is concerned in the immediate future.

Real world issues

Latest stats show an increase in second-hand internal combustion engine (ICE) vans being deployed by fleets. This tells us something significant; that fleets are holding back from EVs. This is reflected in registrations of new, fully electric vans, which saw a fall in market share to 4.2% in May. 

Electric van uptake has fallen too. Year-to-date, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, this figure dropped by 2.1% in May, and now stands at 4.8% of market share, down from 5.2%. This is a long way short of the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate target for 2024 of 10%.   

There are a whole host of reasons that lie behind this, including concerns about vehicle charging downtime during the working day, range anxiety, worries about residual EV value, and frustration with the current charging infrastructure. Unless addressed, our future as an EV first fleet nation – for now – is in the balance.

The simple truth is that in recent years the Government’s focus has been on cars and HGVs. That’s why a new national decarbonisation van plan needs to be prioritised; recognising the issues that are holding back van fleets from going EV sooner rather than later.

Let’s take overnight charging. For EV company cars this hasn’t really been an issue, as most EVs are driven by property owners with driveways and access to overnight charging. However, van drivers are very different. 70% live in terraces, or in rented properties where they cannot access overnight charging. 

For this group, on-street overnight residential charging is key, but this is exactly where there is a woeful lack of availability. As a result, many van drivers rely on destination charging for top ups, or rapid enroute DC charging at purpose-built hubs, motorways, or forecourts costing up to 80p/kWh.

Whichever way you look at it, this presents a problem. Van fleets simply can’t afford for their drivers to be taking an hour or more out of their working day to top up. And they certainly can’t afford to pay up to four times what it would cost a homeowner to charge overnight. 

Add to that the fact that the total cost of EV ownership is built around low-cost charging, and it’s easy to see why many van fleets are holding back from taking the plunge.  Others are limiting EV van access to those with off-street charging access, creating a societal issue.

What should the next Government be doing?

To overcome these issues, more radical action is needed by the next Government.

Among the measures that should be considered is reducing VAT on public charging down from 20%, bringing this closer, if not parallel, to domestic electricity at 5%.

Increased fiscal support in the form of grants for EVs, or low-cost loans, should also be considered. This will help to make new and used electric vans more affordable, addressing the total cost of ownership quandary that continues to hold fleets back. 

And then, of course, we have the issue of addressing the charging infrastructure. Here changes in regulation are required that will speed the installation of the right chargers in the right locations.

When you consider that only 49 out of more than 400 councils have accessed the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund – which has a part to play in addressing the lack of community on-street charging – it becomes clear that much more needs to be done to speed up and simplify this process. City councils and Government need to invest in our urbanised environments.

This is why, we believe, the next Government needs to take the bold step of creating a Charging Czar with the responsibility for delivering a national plan that will bring about the revolution in EV charging that we so badly need; in a way that meets the need of van fleets. 

White rabbits and real-world solutions

So far, there have been few white rabbits drawn from the hats of the political parties vying for power. What we do know is that Labour has vowed to reintroduce the ban on the sale of new ICE cars from 2030 – no mention of vans – and has also committed to accelerate the roll out of charging points, but not how, or what kind of targets would be set. In a positive move Labour has also pledged to support the second-hand EV market by standardising information supplied about battery condition, which could aid the residual value of vehicles. Conservative policy remains largely unchanged.

With no real certainty on the detail of proposed policies as yet, we need to be pragmatic. Fleets need to think about what they can do until transitioning to EV fleets becomes economically viable, or until e-fuels, synthetic fuels, or hydrogen solutions become practical alternatives.

In the short-term, fleets could look at new diesel replacement vans or, as so many are doing, opt to run existing internal combustion engine vans for longer, extending a 5-year cycle to up to 9 years.

In both cases, adopting technology to aid the decarbonisation journey is key. It’s an approach that we’ve embraced at Lightfoot through our in-cab driver engagement solution. 

This delivers real-time driver feedback and coaching that helps avoid harsh acceleration, harsh braking, and harsh cornering. By putting the driver at the centre of the solution, recognising and rewarding them for smoother and safer journeys, fleets can dramatically reduce accidents. They can also cut vehicle wear and tear, lowering fuel use, emissions and pollutants and, in so doing, extend the working lifetime of their fleet vehicles.

But this is only part of the picture. Fleets also need a wider decarbonised strategy, and to do that they need to build up data that will enable them to deploy EVs where and when they’ll be most appropriate.

This is where analytics is critical. Fleet managers need to have a sophisticated understanding of route planning, the way in which their EV vans are driven, and the way that they need to be driven in different environments and scenarios to make economic sense. This will allow for tactical deployment of vehicles based on their usage in rural, urban, and extra-urban environments, and will reduce mileage through enhanced route planning. 

Lightfoot’s advanced telematics solution delivers exactly this, and it does so at the same time as enhancing EV driver engagement. This extends range, reduces tyre wear and tear, and rewards drivers for adopting a smoother style driving as well as good charging habits; whether that’s optimising overnight charging, or efficiently using destination and depot charging. 

Delivering real-world savings and greater certainty about delivery routes, and distances that vehicles can reliably fulfil, this level of sophisticated analysis is key to helping fleets understand what vehicle type will be best suited to which journey or delivery type, allowing for more informed future fleet van rationalisation. 

Combined with evolving hub and spoke solutions where fleets consider using alternative last mile delivery alternatives such as by bike or foot, this analytical approach will help businesses decarbonise in new and different ways, whichever party comes to power. 

Of course, how rapidly fleets adopt EV as part of the decarbonisation mix is yet to be seen. What is certain is that without positive Government intervention, support, funding, and policy, the pace of change will be slower than it should be. Only by adopting policies that will support fleets, encourage innovation, and simplify planning regulations to speed up the charging infrastructure will we have a rounded decarbonisation solution that is fit-for purpose.