Commercial vehicle dealer Steadplan has taken delivery of five Maxus eDeliver 7 electric vans in a strategic move projected to slash its annual energy costs.

The eLCVs join the company’s parts delivery operation and are expected to save more than £18,000 per year in energy costs.

The company’s projections are based on a weekly 500-mile duty cycle where a conventional diesel van achieving 34mpg at £1.76 per litre would incur annual fuel costs of around £6,100. In comparison, the eDeliver 7 – operating at an assumed 2.3m/KWh and electricity at 22p/kWh – requires approximately £2,500 a year in energy. This guarantees a minimum saving of more than £3,600 per vehicle. However, recent fuel spikes make the real-world savings even higher.

The delivery supports the growing commercial case for electric vans in high-mileage delivery applications. For Steadplan, the five-vehicle delivery provides a real-world demonstration of how electric vans can be deployed within a franchised commercial vehicle operation.

Hal Jackson, managing director at the dealership group, said: “We scrutinised the economics of electric vans for our parts operation and the calculations made for a compelling business case. The eDeliver 7 gives us the opportunity to reduce our day-to-day running costs while continuing to provide the service our customers expect.

“It tells us that a move to zero emissions is viable; it can make a positive impact on the bottom line. If we can reduce the cost of every mile we operate, we can reinvest that saving into the business and continue to deliver a competitive parts service without simply adding costs elsewhere.”

Gary Brown, commercial operations director at Harris Maxus UK, said the Steadplan order was a milestone moment because it represents a purely commercial decision driven entirely by operational economics.

“These vans are going straight into a franchised parts delivery environment, where mileage, uptime and operating costs are all under the microscope,” he added.

“The eDeliver 7 demonstrates that electrification can deliver genuine financial benefits for businesses running the right duty cycle. In this case, the potential saving is significant enough to make a direct contribution to operating margins.”