Van drivers concerned of losing work time charging an EV

Almost half (44%) of van drivers believe they wouldn’t be able to fit charging time into their working schedule, according to Ford’s latest Go Electric report.

This may stem from a lack of charging options available, with only 20% of respondents saying there are always charging points available at work, and over half (52%) saying they don’t have access at home. On top of this, only 42 per cent of van drivers said they knew how to charge an electric vehicle.

The report, which includes the views of 500 van drivers in the UK, found that range anxiety is seen as one of the main concerns of van drivers, with the average range of an electric van thought to be under 70 miles. This is three times less than the actual range of the E-Transit, offering a range of up to 196 miles.
 
Drivers of company owned electric vans were also concerned about being out-of-pocket with 7-in-10 (71%) flagging they’re unsure how they’d get reimbursed for electricity costs if they charged their company vehicle at home. As the UK edges closer to 2030, when the ban on the sale of new combustion engine powered vehicles will come into force, cost still remains a concern among van drivers, with the outright cost of new vehicles (16%) being the biggest financial concern.
 
For businesses, almost one-third (29%) stated that the initial infrastructure cost of introducing electric vans would be too much of a burden for themselves or their business. In fact, recent statistics from the SMMT revealed that commercial vehicles account for 13% of vehicles on the road (4,604,861), yet data from 2021 showed only 0.3% were fully electric or plug in hybrids (source: SMMT, May 2021).  
 
The report found that there is optimism around the future of electric vans, with almost half (49 per cent) believing electric vans will be the most common type of van on Britain’s roads within the next 10 years – with only nine per cent disagreeing. On this, more than a third (36%) said they or their employer plan on switching to electric vans within the next four to six months and nearly two-fifths (38 per cent) said they thought it was a smart investment.