Van fleets are facing bigger challenges than car fleets in going electric – and smaller businesses face still greater issues.

That’s according to Paul Kirby, owner of consultancy EV Essentials, who explained that, although there is growth in electric van sales, it is still some way behind the electric car market, with infrastructure a major issue putting van operators off.

Speaking on the AA’s ‘2022 State of the Nation’ webinar, Kirby said: “The challenge we have got is finding the infrastructure to support [electric vans] for SMEs. 

“We’ve got the big businesses going electric. British Gas, DPD, Mitie – big companies investing heavily, and they have the ability to invest both in infrastructure at their workplace and depots and also for their staff. 

“But smaller businesses are lacking the certainty, clarity, and confidence with which to go forward and know what’s best to do.”

Kirby said charge point operators had confessed to basing public charging facilities around cars rather than vans, causing problems such as requiring vehicles, through the positioning of chargers, to reverse out of bays – a much more difficult manoeuvre with a van than with a car.

He said: “The infrastructure does need to be dedicatedly thought out for vans, and it shouldn’t have to rely on big businesses, like I mentioned, to invest in that infrastructure to provide it for van users everywhere. 

“[The UK Government’s] Rapid Charging Fund should be considering van and CV hubs to provide it. 

“[Electrification] needs to move at pace, but we have to move with infrastructure in order to make it move at the right pace, and not necessarily the vehicles first, but the infrastructure, to provide support.”

Kirby did however say that he believed there was still scope for van fleets to get started with electrification.

He said: “It’s not about doing everything all in one go, it’s about starting in the right places with the easy to do stuff. 

“Because there are more challenges with electric vans, not every solution is fit for purpose, so what we have got to find is the areas where we can easily get going, and most businesses will find a pocket where they can get started and begin to learn about the technology and what they need to do.”