Faster charging speeds are essential for the wider fleet adoption of electric vans, according to the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).

The organisation said that currently models from major manufacturers were rated at around 50-125kW, meaning a 10-80% charge could take around 40 minutes in ideal circumstances, and be slower still in real-world conditions.

AFP chair Paul Hollick said: “When it comes to tackling the reasons behind slow fleet adoption of electric vans, prominence has been given to issues of range and payload but there has been limited discussion of charging speeds.

“In fact, as discussed at a recent meeting of our megafleets committee, which consists of our members who operate very large fleets, charging speeds tend to be a bigger real-world frustration. Having a driver sitting around for an hour while their van charges is expensive.

“If vans were capable of faster charging then, to a significant extent, other issues affecting them tend to become more manageable. For example, the negative impact of higher payloads on range becomes less important if you can recharge to 80% every 125 miles in 15 minutes.”

Hollick said there was a perception among AFP members that vans were being built with slower charging capabilities because manufacturers believed achieving the lowest possible purchase price was crucial.

He said: “This misconception is understandable. However, the message that we are hearing from our members is that they would be willing to pay more for faster charging capacity. 

“Over a typical six-year fleet lifecycle, the additional cost of a rapid charging van would be more than outweighed by increasing the availability of the driver.

“There is no doubt that available van charging speeds now lag far behind typical electric cars and we believe that many more fleet operators would be won over to electric vans if an 80% charge was achievable in 10-15 minutes.

Hollick added that it was also important to ensure drivers were accessing chargers capable of matching the highest speed of the vehicle.

He said: “If the van can charge to 150kW, fleets need to get as close to this figure as possible from the public charger. Too often, drivers are charging at 50kW because of the high number of other vehicles tethered.”