Electric van guide - everything you need to know 22 March 2018 by CJ Hubbard, Editor, Parkers Vans Last Updated: 27 Mar 2018 Simple explanation of electric van pros and cons Find out about current and future e-vans in the UK What they’re like to drive, plus links to reviews The Parkers Vans guide to the state of the electric van market – here’s what you need to know Whether you like it or not, electric vans are going to play an increasingly important role in the UK van market as it evolves over the next few years. Electric vans represent a tiny fraction of overall sales right now, but as concern about environmental pollution grows – especially in city centres – businesses and private buyers will come under increasing pressure to adopt so-called e-mobility solutions. For information about electric cars click here Beat ULEZs in an electric van In fact, in some instances, such as where Ultra-Low Emissions Zones (ULEZs) are in force, an e-van might be the only way to carry goods without facing a financial penalty – consider the so-called 'T-Zone' plans that are already in place to exclude pre-Euro 4 vehicles from London, for example. And of course, it’s not just vans – sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in general are set to rise dramatically in the coming years. Several car brands, Nissan and Renault in particular, already have an established reputation in this area, success they are already carrying over into the light commercial vehicle world. But while the Nissan e-NV200 and Renault Kangoo ZE do currently dominate electric van sales - especially now they have significantly extended driving ranges following improvements in 2017 and 2018 - they are going to face increasing competition from this point on. What are the pros and cons of running an electric van? We’ve built this page, packed with links to all the pertinent information on Parkers Vans, to help you find out – including details of workplace charging point grants, analysis from industry experts and details of current and future electric van models, including reviews. Electric vans – advantages Let’s keep things simple, these are the major advantages: Eco-friendliness – electric vans produce no CO2 or NOx emissions as they drive around, meaning their widespread adoption has the potential to dramatically improve air quality, especially in urban areas. Running costs – typically e-vans are considerably cheaper to run than diesel alternatives. Not only is the cost per mile of ‘fuel’ (electricity) lower, there are fewer moving parts and they are less hard on their brakes, reducing maintenance costs. Buying incentives – also helping to lower running costs, these include the government plug-in van grant worth up to 20% off the list price (up to a maximum of £8,000), plus reduced tax burdens for both business and private use. There are even grants towards the cost of workplace chargers available now. Other incentives – people driving electric vehicles are seen as brave souls, saving our planet, so local authorities like to encourage them. Such encouragement ranges from free parking in many areas, exemption from the London Congestion Charge, and even free charging in some places. Silent running – electric vans are much quieter than diesel vans, to the extent that some are virtually silent (aside from a hum you’ll only hear at low speeds). This makes life more pleasant for the driver, but also opens up a whole host of opportunities for unsocial-hours services, where a conventional van might otherwise bring noise complaints. Easy-going performance – seems unlikely, but because electric motors deliver instant torque they get shifting smoothly and quickly. Outright response falls away at higher speeds, but around town they’re very nippy, especially as they universally ditch manual gearboxes for automatic. Convenience – also seems unlikely, but electric vans do have some convenience features not often seen elsewhere, including the ability on many to set the air-conditioning to your preferred temperature while charging. This also avoids waiting around for the van to defrost in the morning. Image – want to give your business a squeaky-clean, socially conscious image? An electric van will certainly help… Hence high profile adoptees such as Harrods. Electric vans – disadvantages It isn’t all good news, of course. There are also some significant disadvantages to electric vans – which at the very least need careful consideration before purchase, to make sure an e-van will suit your needs: Range anxiety – this is the obvious big issue. While driving range is improving all the time, electric vans will not travel as far on a single charge as conventional vans will on a single tank of fuel. This not only means you will have to stop more often (and for longer; see below), it also makes them almost entirely impractical for long-distance use. Charging time – this varies, depending on the power of the charging system, but even in the best-case scenario it will take longer to recharge an e-van than to refuel a regular van. DC rapid chargers can give you an 80% charge in 40 minutes; home charging stations can complete a full recharge overnight; a normal three-pin plug may require an entire day. Charging convenience – not only does it take a long time to charge an electric van, you’ve got to find somewhere to do the charging, too. Certainly not as convenient as a filling a fuel station. Yet. Purchase cost – electro-mobility technology is still in its infancy, and is also made from individually expensive components (the very material that the batteries are built out of, for example), so it’s no wonder electric vans are so expensive. They are usually cheaper to run, though (see above). Weight – e-mobility tech is also heavy. The current crop of small electric vans are able to manage this through increased homologated gross vehicle weight (GVW), allowing them to retain the same level of payload capacity as non-electric equivalents. But as electrification moves into the large, 3.5-tonne van category (the heaviest the you can drive on a regular car licence), this will start to impact payload as there’s no GVW headroom to exploit, reducing vehicle efficiency. More on this below. Range variance – like all vans, you need to take the efficiency of an electric van as quoted by the manufacturer with a pinch of salt. Most claim they will go 106 miles between charges, but the reality is that you’ll be lucky to see more than 80 miles in practice. To be fair to them, every electric van manufacturer acknowledges this. Perhaps more significant, therefore, is just how dramatically that range can be impacted by other factors, including not only payload weight and driving style but also the weather conditions. EVs do not like the cold! Batteries lose performance over time – an unavoidable reality of all electric vehicles is that there batteries deteriorate over time, meaning they gradually begin to hold less charge. This, however, is why most battery packs are covered by extended warranties (up to eight years in some cases), ensuring they see out the working life of the van. Residual values – at the moment, uncertainty in the used market about electric vans means that they often lose value faster than their diesel counterparts. Renault's model of leasing the battery pack separately from the van hasn't helped matters here. Best use of electric vans Taking all of the above into account, you’d expect the best use for electric vans to be in urban areas – so towns and cities – where you’re never far away from a plug. While this is certainly true, it doesn’t automatically rule out other uses – particularly if you have a set route or known distance that you rarely exceed that falls within an e-van’s real-world driving range. Most current operators simply plug their electric vans in overnight, use them within their limits during the day, and then set them to recharge again. And many EVs include timers that allow you to set them to charge when electricity is cheapest. How do I know if an electric van is right for me? If you’re still unsure, the best thing to do will be to speak to your local dealer. They should be able to arrange for you to test one in a manner suitable for you to decide whether it will work for your business. They should also be able to show you a specific cost comparison between electric and conventional fuel, based on your business needs. Tell me more about the government plug-in van grant This is exactly what it sounds like - a government-funded discount on light commercial vehicles with a plug, including both hybrid and full electric vans. At present (January 2018), this discount is worth 20% of the asking price, up to a total saving of £8,000. You can find out more about eligibility on the official plug-in van grant webpage. What are electric vans like to drive? Generally speaking, very pleasant. We’ve tried every model presently available in the UK and although there are subtle differences, there are a few universal truths as well. Most prominent of these is the refinement. Electric vans are quiet at all speeds, with none of the diesel rattle you’re probably used to – and while that can result in wind and road noise becoming more noticeable, overall it’s a far more refined and relaxing driving experience. Electric motors also remove the need for a conventional gearbox, so you simply select Drive or Reverse, and go, when driving an electric van. No tiring out your left leg with the clutch during traffic jams here. No clutch also means reduced running costs, too. Similarly, you’ll find you need to use the regular brakes less in an e-van. This is because whenever you lift off the accelerator, the electric motor turns into a generator – a process that not only recovers energy to top up the batteries but also acts to slow down the van. On most electric vans, this action is quite pronounced – promoting what’s known as ‘one pedal’ driving. Watch the road well enough, and you’ll find you can often drive for long periods without needing to use the conventional brakes at all, reducing wear (and costs). Electric vans are also usually quite sprightly to drive, with motors providing maximum torque instantly giving responsive acceleration around town, while the position of the heavy batteries and other components low down in the chassis reduces body roll and increases road holding in the turns. But do take a test drive, because this sprightliness isn’t universal. The Iveco Daily Electric, for example, is very slow… What’s the driving range of an electric van? Until 2017, almost every e-van on sale in the UK offered a 106-mile official range – which in reality is more like 60-80 miles, depending on how you drive, and how cold it is outside. However, in mid-2017 the Renault Kangoo ZE was upgraded to 170 miles on paper, which should equate to up 124 miles in real life. We've driven this new Kangoo ZE 33 model, and it impressed us so much we awarded it a runner-up spot in the Best Van category of the Parkers New Car Awards 2018. Following on from that, in October 2017 Nissan announced an upgrade to the e-NV200 to a claimed a 174-mile driving range. We drove this 40kWh version in January 2018 and came away suitably impressed. With a real-world range similar to the latest Kangoo, it shows progress in the electric van sector is moving quickly. In large e-vans such as the Iveco Daily Electric, the range generally depends on how many battery packs you can afford to pay for. In the Iveco's case it comes with one as standard at around £60,000, and you can option up to two more, each at a cost of around £20,000… Comparison of official electric van driving range: Van name Van type/size Official driving range Renault Kangoo ZE 33 Small van 170 miles Nissan e-NV200 40kWh Small van 174 miles Citroen Berlingo Electric Small van 106 miles Peugeot Partner Electric Small van 106 miles Renault Master ZE Large van 120 miles LDV EV80 Large van 127 miles Iveco Daily Electric Large van Varies with batteries Renault Kangoo ZE 33 electric van review Nissan e-NV200 40kWh electric van review Why don’t electric vans like the cold? It’s not just vans, but all EVs, and has to do with chemical composition of the batteries – as well as the extra demand on them from drivers in cold weather. Need to run a heater? Then that’s going to dramatically reduce your driving range; some vans now use heat pump technology to reduce this disruption. It’s a similar story with the air-conditioning – switch it on and you’ll see an immediate reduction in the driving range shown by the on-board computer, simply because of the energy that needs to be diverted from driving the wheels to powering the air-con. This isn’t quite as pronounced in the summer as it is in the winter, however, as the cold weather really does reduce battery efficiency as well. What can be done about the electric van payload issue? While the added weight of electric van tech isn’t really an issue for small vans, when it comes to large vans it is likely to become a problem. This is because the legal maximum gross vehicle weight (GVW) for a standard UK driving licence is 3.5 tonnes – meaning that the additional e-mobility weight will have to come out of the payload capacity. Reduced payload means fewer goods on-board, which might result in a company needing to send two electric vans to carry what would legally fit into a single diesel. Which isn’t really progress. One solution for this – touted, by among others, Iveco – would be to raise the standard driving licence GVW for alternative fuel to compensate for the additional heft of the technology that enables them. Iveco’s suggestion for this 'payload bonus' is 4.25 tonnes. The UK government has now started a consulation on this issue, and in December 2017 the O Licence - or Operator Licence - exemption was increased from 3.5 tonnes to 4.25 tonnes; however, the O Licence issue is separate to the driving licence issue, which is still be resolved. More news as we have it. Government starts consultation on increased payload for electric and other alternative fuel vans What electric vans are on sale in the UK now? There aren’t a huge number of electric vans on sale at the moment, but their popularity is rising fast. This means we will be seeing more of them. For now, though, these are your choices: Renault Master ZE This all-electric version of the Renault Master is the first mainstream large electric van we've actually been able to drive - beating the new Mercedes eSpritner and VW e-Crafter to the punch, it goes on sale here later in 2018. The official claimed range is around 120 miles, though Renault is realistic enough to admit that 75 miles is more likely. Sounds bad but that is also a worst case scenario calculation, accounting for payload and poor weather. While it's not as quiet as we expected inside, it comes in four sizes and can carry over 1,100kg. Read the Reanult Master ZE review on Parkers Vans Nissan e-NV200 The best-selling electric van in Europe in 2016 and 2017 – and the UK is its biggest market. The electric version of the NV200 small van benefits from Nissan’s heavy association with electric cars (via the Leaf), but it also has generous load volume for a small van, boosting its efficiency. What's more, the 2018 version has a larger 40kWh battery pack, increasing the e-NV200's official claimed driving range from 106 miles to 174 miles. Read a Nissan e-NV200 40kWh review on Parkers Vans (January 2018) Read a Nissan e-NV200 review on Parkers Vans (May 2017) Renault Kangoo ZE Nissan’s alliance partner Renault also builds a convincing small electric van – in fact, it was Europe’s best-seller until 2016. Renault's battery rental model also means you’ll never be lumbered with a defective battery pack as long as you’re prepared to pay a monthly fee; this doesn't help used values, however. Upgraded with a larger 33kWh battery in 2017, the new Kangoo ZE 33 now boasts an impressive 124-mile real-world driving range. This or the latest e-NV200 makes the most sense in the small van sector for us. Read a Renault Kangoo ZE 33 review on Parkers Vans (July 2017) Read a Renault Kangoo ZE review on Parkers Vans (February 2017) Citroen Berlingo Electric / Peugeot Partner Electric The same van with different badges. Good value, including DC rapid charging capability as standard, and available in two different body lengths: L1 and L2. A distant third place to the Nissan and Renault in terms of sales and driving range (just 106 miles officially), but Peugeot-Citroen is keen to do more e-van business, so could be worth approaching for a deal. Read a Peugeot Partner L2 Electric review on Parkers Vans (June 2017) Iveco Daily Electric Ponderously slow and expensive. Iveco doesn’t publish an official price list (you negotiate at dealer level) but it’s approximately £60k for the single battery pack version, £80k for two battery packs and £100k for three. The technology feels far from the cutting edge here; we’d wait for some of the new large van contenders coming soon… Read the full Iveco Daily review on Parkers Vans LDV EV80 A surprise option if you're looking for a large electric van on a budget, this is based on the LDV V80 diesel, and went on sale in the UK in November 2017. At around £60k it's still not exactly cheap, but this includes enough battery power for a claimed 127-mile range, and the driving experience is nicer than in the diesel version. Read an LDV EV80 review on Parkers Vans Electric vans coming to the UK soon These are the forthcoming electric vans on the horizon: Mercedes-Benz eVito Following on from the Mercedes Vito E-Cell (2010), Mercedes next production electric van will be the eVito. Based on the current Vito generation (introduced in 2015), this is set to go on sale in the UK in 2019, as part of Mercedes' new electric van strategy. We've driven a prototype already, and liked everything except the limited 90-mile range. Mercedes eVito review on Parkers Vans Mercedes announces new electric van strategy Mercedes-Benz eSprinter An electric version of the all-new Mercedes Sprinter (pictured) has also been confirmed for around about 2019, promising a 1,250kg payload and (minimum) range of 68 miles. Mercedes announced it will be called the eSprinter in November 2017. Mercedes-Benz announces new electric van New Mercedes-Benz electric van will be based on 2018 Sprinter Volkswagen e-Crafter VW committed to building an electric version of the all-new Crafter almost as soon as it was launched, and the first examples are now in real-world trials. There are currently no plans to build a right-hand drive version, but as the UK is one of the largest van markets in the world, Volkswagen would be crazy to ignore us. Left-hand drive will be available here as a special order. Read more about the VW e-Crafter on Parkers Vans Vauxhall's future electric van plans Vauxhall has also confirmed it will join the ranks of electric van makers in the coming years, following its takeover by the PSA Group that also owns Peugeot-Citroen. Vauxhall vans to go electric from 2020 in radical turnaround plan Any other electric vans we should know about? Well, Ford has a partnership with Deutsche Post, supplying the Transit chassis for a bespoke Deutsche Post and DHL electric delivery van called the StreetScooter Work XL. Astonishingly, the partnership plans to have 2,500 examples in service by the end of 2018. Which would amount to a record number of electric vans in the large van category. Read more about the Ford and Deutsche Post electric van on Parkers Vans StreetScooter is actually an existing subsidiary of the Deutsche Post DHL Group, and builds bespoke small electric vans for urban delivery services. There are 2,500 of these already, with plans to increase production to 20,000 a year. Neither of these DHL ventures is set to appear in the UK at this stage, but we wouldn’t be surprised if that changes in time. In adition to this, there are cargo versions of the Renault Twizy (above), teh Renault Zoe and the VW e-Up (called the e-Load Up, below). You can get the former in the UK, but its carrying capacity is tiny. Does anyone make a hybrid electric van? There aren't any on sale quite yet, but there are two on the way - from Ford and new player the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC). Ford Transit Custom PHEV Ford's is based on the popular Transit Custom, and uses a range-extender plug-in petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain. It’s currently in development in the UK. The design means this has a battery pack big enough to delivery several miles of electric only driving, assuming you’ve charged it before setting off; once the batteries run out the petrol engine comes on, not to drive the wheels but to provide more energy for the electric motor. This should make it eco-friendly, while also providing the flexibility to travel longer-distances when required. We have all the latest details in our stand-alone Ford Transit Custom PHEV story, which you can read by clicking here. Ford Transit Custom plug-in hybrid electric van – all the latest news LEVC taxi-based PHEV van You may not have heard of the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC), but it's owned by the same Chinese automotive giant that runs Volvo these days, and it builds the new plug-in hybrid London taxi. As you can see from these spy photos, the taxi also forms the basis of this new van. Not a great deal more is known at this stage, except that like the Transit Custom PHEV above, it will use a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid drivetrain to achieve both zero emissions in urban areas and a longer driving range. We'll bring you more details when we have them - but in the meantime you can click here to see more spy photos and read about what we know so far. LEVC plug-in hybrid electric van - first details and spy shots on Parkers Vans Does anyone make an electric pickup truck? None of the manufacturers that currently sell pickups in the UK have made any noises about producing an electric production model, although a few have shown concepts. However, electric car gamechanger Tesla – maker of the Model S and Model X – has announced plans to build an electric pickup for sale in the USA. We wouldn’t rule out this making an appearance in Europe in time, but don’t expect it before 2019. Read the Parkers Vans pickup group test Also read: Should you be buying an electric van? Nissan Europe’s electric vehicle boss Gareth Dunsmore gives us the lowdown Study finds electric van range ‘almost halves’ with full payload – comparison testing suggests weight is particularly hard on e-vans Government to invest £7.5m in workplace chargers for electric vehicles What the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone means for van drivers The cheapest electric cars you can buy right now Tweet Related articles on Parkers Electric vans: everything you need to know Electric van guide - everything you need to know Electric van guide - everything you need to know Van scrappage scheme round-up Van scrappage scheme round-up Related van reviews LDV V80 (16-20) Volkswagen Crafter (17 on) Mercedes-Benz Vito (15 on) Ford Transit (14 on) Ford Transit Custom (12 on)