Covering 40 town and city stops in between, communities will be invited to be part of the world record attempt to dribble a hockey ball up to 100 metres per participant to a total of 2012 kilometres (over 1,250 miles).

The van will carry equipment for the fundraiser, with power supplied by a network of npower’s Juice-e charging posts installed at each stage of the run. This allows the van to be charged up in six hours, giving a range of 80 miles, with npower supplying a unit of renewable energy back to the grid for each one used as the van recharges.

Steve Bridge, van sales and marketing director for Mercedes-Benz UK, said: ‘ ‘We are very proud to be involved and both to raise funds and awareness for WellChild, and to highlight the ease-of-use for running an electric van.’

The Vito E-CELL is manufactured alongside the conventional model, and available with a contract hire package from Mercedes-Benz covering one to four years. It is also one of the first seven vans to be eligible for the government’s recently introduced Plug-in Van Grant.