New research into the daily operations of light commercial vehicle fleets has highlighted both the challenge of electrifying vans and the need for bookable fleet charge points at public charging stations.
The survey of 161 fleet decision makers by 360 Media Group found that 43% of vans make frequent journeys of more than 100 miles, beyond the official WLTP range of large panel vans, such as the Volkswagen e-Crafter and Mercedes-Benz e-Sprinter, especially when the battery-sapping impact of cold weather and heavy cargoes are taken into account.
A further 7% of businesses said their vans made journeys of this distance once or twice per week, according to the study by 360 Media Group. The findings help to explain why 45% of van operators are yet to compile an e-LCV readiness report, effectively dismissing electric vans from their next renewal cycle.
Battery electric LCVs accounted for just 4.3% of new LCV sales in the first four months of this year, although the arrival of the Ford e-Transit, with its WLTP range of 196 miles has the potential to transform the market, boosted by the newly-announced e-Transit Custom that is due to follow in 2023.
A more positive spin is that half of the LCVs covered by 360 Media Group’s research have a usage profile that could be achieved by battery power without having to recharge batteries during the working day, so long as fleet operators can establish effective out-of-hours recharging strategies.
Fleets will not, however, be able to rely on van drivers recharging e-LCVs at home. Insights from the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) indicate that 65% to 70% of van drivers do not have off-street parking where they could install a home charger, which means that fleets will have to rely either on public charging or depot/workplace charging to power vehicles.
The AFP has worked with net-zero analytics consultancy Field Dynamics to create a national map that shows where UK businesses need kerbside charging within a safe four- to five-minute walk from the homes of company van drivers.
Paul Hollick, AFP chair, said,
“The high number of drivers without space available off-road to have a charger installed is a major obstacle to electrification. This is especially the case for electric vans, whose drivers are much more likely to live in a terraced house or apartment and lack this kind of parking. In these locations, kerbside facilities need to be installed in order for crucial overnight charging to take place.”
He added that until facilities are available, it will be very difficult for businesses to adopt electric vans to be adopted.
The SMMT, meanwhile, has called on the Government to ensure new public charging stations consider electric vans in their design and construction, with binding targets for e-LCV provision in national EV charging infrastructure plans. This would ensure, for example, that charging stations include bays that are big enough to accommodate a large panel van or an e-LCV that is towing a trailer.
The location of new charging stations is also important, with much investment currently going into high speed chargers on the strategic road network, rather than in dense urban areas where many van fleets operate.
The prospect of fleets being able to reserve charge points to avoid any queuing (and loss of productivity) is also on the agenda, with at least one charge card company working on a facility to block book chargers and then sub-let charging sessions to its customers, so drivers can arrive at a high speed charger with full confidence that they can plug in immediately. At Q-Park Park Lane, in London, bp pulse already has dedicated chargers for Uber drivers.
While the high tariffs of high speed public chargers weaken the wholelife cost business case for e-LCVs, the alternative of installing workplace charging can be prohibitively expensive if it requires upgrades to the local substation to deliver sufficient power capacity to a site.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said,
“When you have multiple chargers for a range of vehicles, your demands on the electricity grid are going to be significant. There needs to be a mechanism that avoids ‘first user disadvantage’, so if there are four or five companies in a street that are going to go electric, it’s not the first user that has to pay for the upgrade to the grid – that is inherently unfair. Otherwise, no one is going to make that first investment.”