A new chance to accelerate electric vehicle adoption

What are the key areas that this new government can do to overcome barriers to mass electric-vehicle adoption? Matt Adams, transport policy manager from the REA, shares some thoughts.

The UK is leading the way in many respects when it comes to electric vehicle policy. However, it has never opted for pro consumer methods to purely focus on EV adoption. It has provided funds for a domestic chargepoint but not helped bridge the gap for the average consumer, whereas we have seen grants in place for new vans and trucks.

So, what are the key areas that this new government can do to accelerate EV adoption? For a commercial fleet, there is already some support in place through the plug in van and truck grants.

However, as co-signatories of the Zero Emissions Van Plan, we are conscious that the cost of an ICE van or truck is still cheaper than their EV equivalent.

Extending these grants is crucial until the point where electric vans and trucks are on par with their ICE equivalent at which points the lower running costs of an e-van or truck will attract fleet managers to go electric.

Grants are currently available for fleet operators purchasing new vans. But for every new van sold there are two and a half second hand vans sold. And there is no support in place for SMEs to purchase a second-hand e-van.

Those of us who signed the Zero Emissions Van Plan believe that additional fiscal support is needed to accelerate the second-hand e-van market. From a purely emissions perspective, every second-hand e-van that replaces an older ICE van is saving a greater amount of carbon than say replacing the same ICE van in another few years when the cost of an e-van is cheaper.

We understand that OZEV might be concerned if such a scheme was operating for a prolonged period of time that they may be subsidising one van multiple times which we would obviously want to avoid, but a short-term fiscal support mechanism that bridges the gap while ICE vans remain cheaper would hopefully ease such concerns.

Policy changes to inspire change

There are also a number of policy interventions that government could look at to accelerate the adoption of electric fleet vehicles.

For e-vans, classifying a 4.25t van as a van and not an HGV would make a significant difference. Any fleet manager worth their salt will see that a 4.25t e-van will have to be MOT’d as an HGV, meaning they are MOT’d once a year rather than once every three, as you would expect from an ICE van.

As a result of being classified as an HGV they must also only travel up to 62 miles from depot or face EU drivers’ hours rules. Limiting vans to only 62 miles from depot will not work in many business cases and so this once more is slowing down the adoption of e-vans.

Improving the public charging space for vans should also urgently be looked at. Research by Field Dynamics highlights that vans will have the most public charging demand of any vehicle type by 2030, yet many car parks are simply not built for vans.

Height barriers for example are used to deliberately keep vans out of car parks and as we move away from the petrol station model, more vans are going to need to access public car parks to charge up.

Many large fleets of vans do not return to depot, and so as we start accelerating the chargepoint rollout, car park owners need to be conscious of this opportunity.

Obstacles for HGVs

We are also conscious that for HGV owners, there are a number of obstacles to adoption, including the upfront cost, despite the grants that are already in place. For fleets using HGVs, there are some crucial concerns around public charging infrastructure to be addressed. There are only one or two HGV charging sites in the country. Although we know REA members through their participation in the Electric Freight Way project will look to quickly counter that narrative.

HGV drivers will expect at these sites to have wider spaces, no height barriers matched to well-lit safe and secure parking with space to perform long turning circles, as well modern food and shower facilities.

One of the key ways to accelerate HGV charging infrastructure deployment is through the rapid charging fund. We were delighted to see that HGV charging infrastructure was included with in the rapid charging fund pilot.

However, it’s not certain that it will be included with in the final fund. A failure to do so will severely impact on HGV charging infrastructure delivery and mean in a few years times, CPOs and MSAs will have to get new grid connections, which will be costly to finance and take time to do.

Supporting the fleet manager

In addition, there are other areas where fleet managers could do with additional support.

Obtaining a grid connection is not easy, and beyond providing additional funding, local authorities should work with fleet and logistics businesses to identify where grid reinforcement is most likely needed to decarbonise their fleets and factor that in to local plans.

The newly released ‘Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system consultation’ says as much and I’d encourage GREENFLEET readers to read and respond to this consultation which could make a significant long-term impact for fleet operators.

Lastly, for fleets operating HGVs, the upfront cost of replacing an ICE truck with an electric truck can be in the region of £300k to purchase a new electric truck, whereas the existing grant in place only covers between £16k-25k depending on the size of truck.

This gives a fleet manager only up to around a 12th of the cost of an electric truck back. So, there is also an argument here to say that the grant should be larger, bridging a wider part of the cost difference between an ICE and an Electric truck.

Cost savings

We have recently worked with the Energy Saving Trust to publish a new resource titled “Electrifying the fleet. A practical resource for fleet managers.” This resource aims to provide fleet managers with a detailed roadmap to successfully electrify their fleets, offering step-by-step guidance, demonstrating value for money and efficiency savings, and insights into overcoming current barriers to adoption.

One of the key sections of the report focuses on the extensive savings fleet managers can expect from electrifying their fleets. The resource reveals that they can expect to save around £1,500 annually per light commercial vehicle (LCV) driving 15,000 miles a year if charged at the depot or home.

For rigid HGVs driving the same distance, the savings could be approximately £3,500 annually. These significant cost savings are attributed to the fact that electric vehicles (EVs) only require 25-30 per cent of the energy that a diesel equivalent would need to deliver the same performance, highlighting the substantial efficiency gains from electrification.

Working together to meet objectives

Overall, there are a number of barriers to electric van and truck adoption and the new government’s manifesto commitments have so far been vague on how they plan to help improve adoption of electric vehicles, beyond battery health tests. The fleet sector should come together now around a key set of asks like the Zero Emissions Van Plan to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.