The chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, Gerry Keaney, has spoken out about his concerns about the electric vehicle uptake when it comes to vans. He believes that the government and industry need to work together more than they already do. According to the latest SMMT figure, at the end of the first half of 2022, just 5.6% of vans (new LCV registrations) used for work purposes were electric, which is a worryingly low figure. In comparison, the domestic new car market showed sales of 14.4% of electric vehicles in the same period.
BVRLA Fleets in Charge Conference
Keaney made his comments at the BVRLA’s Fleets in Charge conference, which was held on the 7th of July. He noted that the electric vehicle market was thriving when it came to cars; however, vans, as he put it, were ‘struggling to get out of first gear.’ He feels that one of the most significant sticking points is the high price tag that comes with an electric commercial vehicle. This puts them out of reach as many companies cannot justify a business case for this expense.
No Incentives
One of the reasons he feels that things are not progressing with electric van sales is the lack of tax incentives. He said ‘there is an inadequate charging infrastructure to support the rather specific needs of the sector, and of course, there is an absolute scarcity of the right sorts of commercial vehicles with the many different use cases to be addressed. With commercial vehicles, there is no silver bullet that will address all the needs. Instead, tailored, rather nuanced solutions need to be put in place.’ This led him to conclude that the only way we would achieve the goal was if decision-makers collaborated on a much deeper basis.
What Support Already Exists?
Recently the government ended grants for plug-in cars, but there is still a scheme available when it comes to purchasing electric vans. If a company is buying a van under 2.5 tons gross vehicle weight that has qualifying CO2 emissions of less than 50 g/km, which of course electric vehicles do and has a range of at least 60 miles emission-free, they will qualify for a grant of up to £2500 or 35% of the purchase price. Vans over the weight limit above but meeting the same emissions criteria have a more generous £5000 or 35% of the purchase price grant.
Not Enough
Keaney felt that the withdrawal of the car grant was disappointing but suggested that the government is happy that this area is on target to meet the decarbonisation agenda. He said there were concerns over supply issues regarding electric vans with fewer vehicles being bought to market. He also spoke about problems with supply agreements and orders being cancelled at the very last minute. He does not believe that there is a short-term solution but puts the responsibility firmly at the government's and suppliers' doorstep to come up with a solution.