A new report published by the BVRLA highlights some concerns over the rate of progress in decarbonising van fleets.
The rental and leasing industry body’s ‘Road to Zero Report Card’ assigns a ‘traffic light’ green, amber, or red rating to van, car, and HGV fleets, ranking their progress against EV supply, demand, and infrastructure.
The section on van fleets assigns an ‘amber – brakes on’ rating for all three of these criteria, which according to the BVRLA reflects growing concerns about a shortage of suitable electric vans for many key use cases, issues with public charging infrastructure and insufficient government support in the form of grants and tax incentives.
This puts van fleets behind car fleets, which receive ‘amber – accelerating’ and ‘green’ ratings, but ahead of HGV fleets, which receive a ‘red’ rating across the board.
BVRLA chief executive Gerry Keaney said: “Every fleet is on the ‘road to zero’, but the task ahead is easier for some than others.
“There are ‘sweet spots’ where the tax incentives, total cost of ownership and typical journey patterns make going zero emission an attractive choice.
“Elsewhere, progress is much slower as fleets grapple with a shortage of appropriate vehicles and eye-watering charging infrastructure costs.”
According to BVRLA stats, 1% of currently leased vans are all-electric, compared with just 0.1% of rental vans and 0.4% of vans overall.