Business leaders must urgently bridge the gap between corporate sustainability targets and frontline operations staff to prevent electric light commercial vehicle (eLCV) trials from failing, according to Alphabet GB.

The fleet and mobility management specialist said that while fleet managers and company executives are focused on electrification and advancing their ESG credentials, the wider stakeholder chain is often left out from decisions on electric van trials.

This can lead to a disconnect in sentiment between the policymakers and the user base, Stuart Cunningham, head of direct sales at Alphabet GB, said.

He believes that some electric van trials may fail to succeed as a result of negative feedback from operations teams which haven’t been engaged during the programme’s development stage and are focused on vehicle uptime targets.

“For colleagues working in operations roles, the sudden arrival of electric vans can represent a threat to business continuity, rather than an enhancement to the service provided. These team members are often tasked with seeking ways to mitigate risk and deliver results against tight targets. With that mindset, a diesel van typically behaves with a huge degree of predictability.”

In some cases, the operational pressures created by an unstructured implementation of electric vans may be passed on to the driver.

Unlike an electric car driver, who may have switched to benefit from tax incentives and reduced running costs, many van drivers have to bear the burden of added inconvenience without the financial trade-off. Some might be pressurised to take breaks or work more quickly to suit recharging schedules, while others could be expected to push the limits of their vehicle’s range in order to meet business needs.

Cunningham urged fleet managers, business leaders and the wider automotive industry to show stakeholders how electric vans can be made to work for them.

“Successful deployments require more than a happy procurement team: representatives from each vehicle touchpoint need to be considered, heard and included on the adoption journey to achieve a strong product fit.”

In particular, Alphabet GB stressed that a collaborative approach to optimising the correct vehicle specification is key, as is confidence around vehicle maintenance processes and uptime support facilities.

“An ability to trial a handful of vans and adopt feedback for future orders will also help in building trust. I’d also encourage fleet managers to spend some time operating an eLCV ahead of deployment, so that they have first-hand understanding of the changes and challenges of switching to electric,” Cunningham added.

Alphabet GB works closely with businesses to build process engagement amongst their stakeholder groups and has developed a total cost of ownership model to demonstrate the value gains at different points in a customer’s organisation.

However, the company believes vehicle manufacturers, dealers and the Government also need to rethink their approach to eLCV sales by switching away from top-down regulatory pressure and focusing more closely on the end user.

“Critically, the industry should think about shifting attention from vehicle mandates to one of customer understanding,” Cunningham concluded. “The focus on hitting quotas speaks to the pressures of corporate compliance, but fails to address the practical implementation of the vehicles. We need a collective approach where everyone is asking the same questions about customer pain points and deriving solutions for them. Of course, some of the challenges will be mitigated in time by gradual developments in product technology.

“There are lessons, too, that we can all learn from the early adopter businesses. How have they made their rollout work? Our job is to translate these findings and support others in their electrification journey.”