Iveco says it is relatively well placed to sell electric vans in the UK, due to a significant proportion of its customers being large corporate fleets.

The UK electric van market has struggled recently, with the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showing that electric LCV registrations fell by 30.3% year-on-year in August, while a year-to-date market share of 5.1% is just over half that required by the UK Government’s ZEV mandate.

However, Iveco says the issues are mainly being faced by the retail market, to which it less beholden than other manufacturers with its eDaily van.

Iveco business line director (full range) Mike Cutts told What Van?: “I think the whole industry recognises that the retail market on electric vans is not progressing at the speed that people maybe expected. 

“For us as a brand, because we are predominantly B2B, typically we’re finding that our customer base is more open to electrification, because we’re dealing with large corporates that have their own specific CSR strategy, which means they are looking to accelerate that move to electric faster than the retail segment. 

“This year we’ll be supplying Tesco with 150 eDailys, and that continues through into next year, where we will supply them with even more volume. Also, this year we’ll supply UPS with 171 eDailys.”

Cutts added that another strong market for Iveco was local authority fleets, which he said were also keen to electrify.

He said: “Obviously they are very much committed to a net zero journey, so with the combination of the robust chassis that we have, the 3.5t towing [capacity] which is massive in that sector, I’d say we are able to target specific segments that are more open to electric products.”

Going places

Cutts spoke to What Van? at the opening of Iveco’s new UK HQ in Basildon, Essex – the latest sign of progress for a brand that has been implementing a one-billion-euro global investment programme, which includes 2024 model year updates for the eDaily.

Cutts explained: “We now have a 5,100mm wheelbase, which on our 7.0t product range has always been well received, because of customers always wanting to build on the longest wheelbase vehicles, and having that four-battery model now available on the eDaily really gives customers the opportunity to electrify more of their fleet, which they didn’t do before, so that’s a really great addition to the range that we’ve got.”

The eDaily is also now capable of faster, 125kW DC charging, and has a new interior which includes larger screens, while five years of connected services are now standard across the full Daily range.

Cutts said: “Those services are really comprehensive with regards to the different data that they can access through our Iveco On portal, which helps to monitor performance, track vehicles, and probably most importantly help to manage driver behaviour, to improve fuel economy, performance, [and] the way drivers are interacting with the vehicles.”

Consolidation plan

Iveco has seen strong recent sales growth, with the Daily having doubled its UK market share over the past five years. When asked if further growth was the aim, Cutts said the immediate plan was a period of consolidation.

He said: “We’ve grown quite rapidly over the last five years, which is what we needed to do in order to protect the viability of the brand and the dealer network. For us now it’s kind of consolidating and holding that, whilst we ensure the rest of the business gets itself in a position to be able to continue to support customers in the best way possible. 

“Rapid growth puts everybody under pressure, and we want to make sure that we don’t compromise our service levels by continuing to grow faster than the rest of the business and the dealer network can catch up. 

“That period of consolidation now gives us the ability to make sure we can continue to maintain our service levels for that growth, and our increased parc, and then once we’ve been through that consolidation period we can decide what we do next. 

“I think the end goal is that we’d like to see Daily in the UK at 10% market share. Currently, we’re at 8%, so definitely moving in the right direction, but we need to pace ourselves and do it in a responsible and sustainable way for our dealer network and our customer base.”