The RAC has added an electric Renault Zoe Van to its patrol fleet.
The breakdown organisation said that there was currently no pure-electric van on the market capable of towing vehicles, however it would run the Zoe on a pilot basis to attend jobs where towing would not be required, such as flat batteries and punctures.
It said the van would carry tools and parts necessary to fix these breakdowns at the roadside, including up to six replacement 12V car batteries, two tyres, a trolley jack, a battery tester, and the RAC Scan diagnostic tool.
The RAC said the Zoe would be deployed in both urban and rural settings to test its suitability.
RAC group operations director Paul Coulton said: “We are very excited to be putting our first electric zero-emission patrol van into service. We have been assessing various electric vans for some time but have been frustrated by the fact there isn’t one on the market that can do what our diesel-powered patrol vans can do at the moment in terms of carrying 500 parts and tools and towing broken-down vehicles, with a range that’s even half what one of our standard vans can do on a full tank.
“While we continue to talk to manufacturers about our requirements, we’re confident we can put an electric RAC patrol van into effective use on the road by carefully deploying it to jobs that won’t require towing.
“This first RAC all-electric patrol van may be small, but it’s easily capable of successfully attending nearly half of the breakdowns we get called out to on a daily basis.”