The company sought guidance from electric vehicle consultancy service AlphaElectric, to see whether the technology would work on its fleet. Over a ten-week period, ten diesel vans were monitored for average and maximum mileage covered, before working out where cost savings could be made.

Of the ten vans, six never exceeded the practical EV range of 75 miles per day, while three others only went further than that on 2-3% of the days studied. AlphaElectric’s data showed Saga could save £4,000 per year on two of the vans by replacing them with Renault Kangoo Z.E.s, based on 48-month contracts and 10,000 miles per year.

Based on the results, Saga replaced four vans with electric Kangoos last June, despite two offering slightly lower cost savings. Used for post and office supply delivery, and to transport maintenance staff, the company says it will save £1,400 per van, per year, as well as reducing CO2 output by 8.1 tonnes over their life cycle.

Lukas Jansen Van Vuuren, Saga’s fleet and in-house services manager, said: ‘The drivers use them all day, plug them in to charge at night and come back the next morning and off they go. To the drivers they are just like a normal vehicle.

‘As a company we are really aware of the importance of reducing emissions and we also want to keep our fleet on a sustainable path to the future. The AlphaElectric consulting team enabled us to measure and validate our vehicle options based on our own specific activities.’