Electric nibbles away at the dominance of diesel

Diesel is still the dominant fuel on the FN50 van fleet but, for the first time, the percentage of full electric vans has risen above one (to 1.5%), while orders are also at their highest level (2.9%, up from 1.3% last year)

The number of vans that 1.5% equates to is tiny –  3,584 out of a total van risk fleet of 399,827 (of which diesel makes up 96%  or 378,925 vehicles and petrol accounts for 2.4 % or 16,705 vehicles)  but compare this with just three years ago when full electric made up only 0.3% of the FN50.  

Average CO2 emissions for vans have continued their downward trend despite the more stringent Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Test Proced-ure (WLTP), falling from 156.5g/km last year to 154.2g/km this year, with the average CO2 for vans delivered this year standing at 150.8g/km. 

As with company cars (see page 18), independent leasing company Total Motion Vehicle Management, which sits at number 23 in this year’s FN50, leads the way with overall average emissions of 124g/km, thanks to the company being “huge advocates of alternative fuels”, according to its managing director Simon Hill. 

Its van fleet includes not only electric, plug-in and hybrid vehicles but LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and CNG (compressed natural gas) too. 

RCI Financial Services and SG Fleet are seeing the greatest uptake of full electric vans. For RCI Financial Services, they make up 19.4% of its van fleet (430 of 2,216 vehicles) and account for 32.24% of its orders, while for SG Fleet the numbers are 14.8% (590 of 3,984 vehicles) and 32.7%, respectively. 

SG Fleet has been supporting fleets to make the switch to electric through its eStart consultancy service.