Battery electric vans reached a record 17.1 percent share of the UK new van market in August, according to industry analysts New AutoMotive, comfortably ahead of their 15.7 percent real-world target under the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate.
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Thereby, electric van registrations rose 22 percent year-on-year to 2,378 in August, marking the second consecutive month of record BEV share in the sector. The result came in a month that typically sees a seasonal slump ahead of September's plate change, pointing to strong underlying demand. Of the few brands to dominate the sector, Volkswagen recorded its best-ever monthly BEV share for vans, with four in ten of its registrations electric, while Citroen also set a new company record of 13.2 percent.
Vans a foothold for charging
Simon Smith, chief executive of charging company Voltempo, provided some context: “The growth in electric vans is hugely encouraging, as it helps solve the chicken-and-egg problem around charging infrastructure. Vans can provide the demand today that makes commercial charging infrastructure viable, while the same sites can be built to support the rapid growth of electric HGVs that will follow.”
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The mandate's headline BEV target for 2026 is 24 percent, but flexibilities built into the scheme, including credits for CO2 performance on non-electric vans, have lowered the real-world market-wide target to 15.7 percent, more than a third below the official figure. Compliance is also still uneven, with Volkswagen and Kia holding large credit surpluses, while Ford, Stellantis and Renault are running deficits despite the overall market clearing its target.
Charging a main constraint
New AutoMotive has pointed to barriers outside the mandate's reach, calling on the government to improve depot grid connections, support cross-pavement charging for households without driveways and reduce the cost of public charging as the UK's electric van fleet, and its used market, continues to grow. (TF)
The full electric car and electric van count reports are available at newautomotive.org
