A fleet of four electric Nissan E-NV200 vans has been taken on by London-based cleaning firm Cleanology.

The firm says its move to an electric fleet, with vans in a mix of Acenta and Tekna trim levels, means a saving of £8,500 per year per vehicle, including £3,000 in fuel and £5,500 in congestion charging, as well as lowering its carbon footprint.

Cleanology CEO and founder Dominic Ponniah said: “There are so many advantages in swapping over to a fully electric fleet, from the environmental gains to costs savings, but it’s also about how our clients see us, and they expect us to demonstrate best practice in everything we do. It’s about taking a leadership position and setting a good example.”

Ponniah said that five years ago, electric vans would not have had the range to be a viable option, but with this now improved he thought all businesses that operate vehicles in London 24/7 should consider them.

He said: “We recharge back at base, but also make use of street-side charging points across the city. In Westminster and central London there are plenty of charging points, but in the outskirts, while the infrastructure is still developing, many supermarkets provide a good service.”

Ponniah did however described public charging as “unnecessarily complicated”.

He said: “When it comes to paying for parking, there are only one or two different apps, but when it comes to recharging there are around ten different companies providing the service and we need accounts with all of them. If electric vehicles are really going to become the future, this needs to be simplified.”