FleetCheck’s CEO, Peter Golding (pictured), has warned that the Government should modify the ZEV Mandate to allow other low emissions alternatives to electric vans.
Electric vans accounted for 9% of all LCV registrations in the year-to-date, short of the ZEV Mandate target of 16%.
Golding said that this was due to resistance from fleet operators, as electric vans lack sufficient capabilities for their needs.
Golding said: “Fleet resistance to electric vans remains high for reasons of range, payload, charging speed and charger availability that are not easily solved.
“It’s not like the electric car market where lower prices and higher incentives can be used to overcome consumer resistance – electric vans are simply not fit for purpose for many operators.
“There is no step change improvement in electric van technology on the horizon to remove these inherent problems and we hear from many of our fleet customers that as new diesel van availability decreases, they are simply planning to keep their old vehicles on the road as long as possible.
“The Government appears to be setting itself up for failure and it seems to us that a Plan B is needed in the instance that the ZEV Mandate for the van market simply doesn’t work.
“There is little point in having a scheme designed to promote zero emissions that is leading fleets to dig in their heels and hang onto their existing diesels for longer.
“At some point, we have to acknowledge the current approach isn’t working.”
Golding said that the Government should set emissions targets and allow van manufacturers to decide which powertrain technologies to use in order to meet the targets.
He said that this would reduce van emissions gradually, bridging the gap to electric vans once the technology is ready for widespread adoption.
The Chinese market has employed the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) plan, which promotes hybridisation and range extenders as alternatives to electric vans.
Golding said: “There’s a danger the Government is letting the great be the enemy of the good.
“Few people believe it is desirable to keep making diesel vans that are bad for air quality and contribute to global warming, but there are other low emissions options besides electric vans.
“The Chinese approach is to set emissions targets and let the engineers decide which solution will work best.
“As a result, they are using not just battery electric vehicles but range extenders, plug-in hybrids with significant electric range and even fuel cells.
“A multi-level approach could be adopted by our Government as a Plan B with inducements for fleets to adopt low emission vans using these technologies alongside zero emissions models, which would continue to enjoy higher incentives.
“That could create substantial improvements in overall carbon emissions and allow fleets to keep operating efficiently.
“Our view is very much that van operators need to be taken on a journey that leads from diesel models to intermediate NEV-style options and then move over to electric vans as the technology improves.”
