What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

This year’s Green Award goes to the Mitsubishi Outlander 4Work PHEV.

The PHEV stands for plug-in hybrid vehicle and the manufacturer broke new ground in the UK’s LCV market with its introduction last year.

The prize will come as a welcome fillip for Mitsubishi, which missed out in the 4x4 category that it had won for the previous two years with the conventional Outlander 4Work.

Together with the passenger-carrying Outlander PHEV, Mitsubishi claims the hybrid accounts for half of all plug-in vehicle sales in the UK.

The five-door all-wheel drive LCV qualifies for the Government’s Plug-in Van Grant that covers 20% of the list price up to £8000 and is capable of travelling for 30 miles on battery power alone, according to Nissan, before reverting to petrol-hybrid drive.

A 2.0-litre petrol engine coupled with a pair of 60kW electric motors connected to a lithium-ion battery pack powers the vehicle, which has a remarkable official fuel consumption  figure of 148mpg together with meagre C02 emissions of 44g/km.

The 4Work PHEV is equally at home on the road or when it ventures off the beaten track but it is not designed to tackle extreme off road conditions. As such it is a soft-roader rather than a hardcore off-roader. But for the sort of rural-based customers needing to negotiate grit free country lanes in the snow and ice it could be just the job.

The selectable 4WD system kicks in when you start to lose grip in front-wheel drive but for trickier terrain 4WD Auto can be selected to drive all four wheels continuously. In the toughest conditions Lock mode delivers more traction.

The Government’s Environment Agency has shown its appreciation of the plug-in hybrid by ordering 65 models.

If the PHEV does operate in the capital, then it is exempt from the London Congestion Charge.

Mitsubishi’s UK boss Lance Bradley says: ““With access to charging points it’s perfect.” This enables users to regularly top up the electric charge before it runs out – a process, Bradley says, that has come to be known as ‘nibbling’.

The road tax and company car tax incentives that benefit the passenger car version of the PHEV Outlander do not apply to the LCV derivative but Bradley insists: “Where organisations have a policy to be green or to be seen to be green it has an advantage.”

But it’s not just an environmental flag bearer, the PHEV handles well both on and off-road.

To encourage an economical driving style a dashboard feature displays zero to five green leaves, with five being the most frugal.