Commercial sector set for EV shift
A dramatic shift towards electric vans has been predicted for the UK commercial sector.
According to research from the Arval Mobility Observatory, half of respondents (50%) said that they were already operating hybrids or planned to do so within the next three years. And for plug-in hybrids, almost half (48%) either already had them or planned to do so in the same time-frame.
For battery electric vans, 43% of respondents reported already operating them or planning to do so within the next three years.
Shaun Sadlier, head of Arval Mobility Observatory in the UK, said: “Even more so than their car counterparts, van fleets wanting to adopt low or zero emission vehicles have been hampered by both a lack of models and limited supply. This can be seen in the wide gap between the current adoption rate and that to which they aspire.
“But this situation is changing rapidly, so with a much wider range of electric and plug-in hybrid vans arriving on the market, we expect to see a dramatic shift. In some respects, these new vans are arguably less popular than electric and hybrid cars because their ranges tend to be limited and are also affected by the weight of the payload carried – but there is undeniably a high level of interest from fleets, as our research very firmly indicates.”
The survey also asked why companies want to adopt low and zero emission vans, with 43% saying that they wanted to limit carbon emissions and air pollution, 39% saying they want to reduce fuel expenses and 37% wanting to improve their company image.
A dramatic shift towards electric vans has been predicted for the UK commercial sector.
According to research from the Arval Mobility Observatory, half of respondents (50%) said that they were already operating hybrids or planned to do so within the next three years. And for plug-in hybrids, almost half (48%) either already had them or planned to do so in the same time-frame.
For battery electric vans, 43% of respondents reported already operating them or planning to do so within the next three years.
Shaun Sadlier, head of Arval Mobility Observatory in the UK, said: “Even more so than their car counterparts, van fleets wanting to adopt low or zero emission vehicles have been hampered by both a lack of models and limited supply. This can be seen in the wide gap between the current adoption rate and that to which they aspire.
“But this situation is changing rapidly, so with a much wider range of electric and plug-in hybrid vans arriving on the market, we expect to see a dramatic shift. In some respects, these new vans are arguably less popular than electric and hybrid cars because their ranges tend to be limited and are also affected by the weight of the payload carried – but there is undeniably a high level of interest from fleets, as our research very firmly indicates.”
The survey also asked why companies want to adopt low and zero emission vans, with 43% saying that they wanted to limit carbon emissions and air pollution, 39% saying they want to reduce fuel expenses and 37% wanting to improve their company image.
