The EV revolution is well and truly here in the UK – it’s one of the government’s key priorities, and almost every major car manufacturer now has their own range of electric vehicles. British brand Vauxhall is one of the core players in the market, and you can of course find a great range of Vauxhall’s electric fridge vans for sale on our own site right here at CoolVan!
Now, over the last few years Vauxhall has dedicated a considerable portion of its impressive resources to ongoing research that aims to get the edge over its competitors, and provide the very best vehicles to buyers. As one of its most recent research efforts, it surveyed 1000 van drivers who work as tradespeople in home repairs and maintenance. The survey covered lots of professions including builders decorators and gardeners.
It found that the typical tradesperson could get enough mileage for about a week’s worth of work, just by charging over their morning breakfast breaks – so if you drive an electric van yourself, or you’re considering buying one, here’s what you might want to know.
Maximise efficiency by utilising downtime
Vauxhall’s respondents said that drivers will typically stop twice a week for a morning break or breakfast before reaching a customer’s house. Most of those stops are between 15 to 45 minutes, which is more than enough time for a Vauxhall Vivaro (for example) to be charged. An electric Vivaro can go from 5% to 80% in 45 minutes with a 100kW rapid charger. (It’s also worth noting that the average tradesperson travels 191 miles for work over the space of a week, which is less than the 219 mile range.)
Vauxhall also found that on average, tradespeople receive nine bookings a week which require them to be at a customer address, and most of the survey’s participants (70% of electric van drivers) said that they think customers are likely to let them charge their electric van at their address while working. In fact, 78% have done this already, and 15% already do it regularly. Three quarters of these van drivers also said that they’d be happy to let customers have a discount on the work being done in exchange for being able to charge their van – which is a nice little incentive for customers too, so everybody wins.
What happens if the customer still isn’t keen?
Survey participants say that their vehicle is typically left stationary for up to four hours per day while they’re at work, so on-street chargers may well also be an option if the customer will not (or cannot) offer a charging point for use. Now, there are obviously still concerns about the UK’s overall charging infrastructure, and it’s true that it hasn’t been rolled out quite as fast as successive governments might have preferred, Vauxhall is working with leading charge point operators to improve the number of accessible on-street charge points.
So, while there are still some drivers are still cautious about electric vans, Vauxhall’s research demonstrates that they are more viable than ever – which goes some way to explaining why increasing numbers of businesses are adopting them. The government is also committed to making it progressively easier to make the switch; foe example, it’s just brought in £63m worth of funding to help build charging infrastructure, as well as a brand new electric car grant, to further illustrate that commitment. It’s also looking to boost domestic manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, and it’s setting aside £2 billion over the next five years on a range of technologies – so all told, the future is looking bright!
If you’ve got any questions about the switch to electric vans, we’re happy to help however we can here at CoolVan. Alternatively, if you’re already to get going and choose yours, you’re in exactly the right place. We have no shortage of electric fridge vans to choose from, including electric vans from leading marques like Ford, Vauxhall and Maxus. For any answers or advice, feel free to call us on 0161 751 7140. We’re always happy to help!
