His comments follow his six-month / 5,000-mile test of a Nissan LEAF to understand firsthand the merits and possible pitfalls of electric vehicles.

To get the full experience of driving an electric vehicle, he drove the LEAF on a 38-mile regular commute twice a day without major mishap, recharging the vehicle at no-cost at a special charging point close to Tusker’s car park during the day, available though Source London, the new, city-wide electric vehicle charging network.

Based on his experiences, Hosking has spoken about the benefits of such vehicles for certain fleet uses.

‘There is little doubt in my mind that EVs have a use within a corporate environment. They are ideal for the daily commute provided the range is limited to around 70 miles per journey and there is access to a charging point during the day,’ he said.

‘There is a belief in some quarters that EVs are only suitable for short, occasional journeys but my view is that they are more relevant for short, repeated journeys, such as the regular commute to work.

‘Then, the very low running costs make a lot of sense against the higher front-end costs that the EVs currently incur. I was running the LEAF at practically zero cost compared to my previous diesel car which cost around £60 a week in fuel for the same journeys,’ he said.

Hosking went on: ‘However, I don’t think EVs are always appropriate for a typical field-based national sales force that travels the country, because they may not have the necessary range so you would need to make sure there were fast charging points en route.’

Tusker has now made an even greater commitment to using EVs for its own employees by adding them to the company car choice list and investing in two dual-socket recharging posts installed in the car park at the company’s new offices in Hertfordshire.

Hosking added: ‘Personally, I am now a convert to the undeniable benefits of an electric vehicle for my particular circumstances and am currently looking at which electric vehicle to choose as my permanent company car.’