Fleets ordering new diesel vans are being hit by eLCV quotas stipulated by manufacturers in response to the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

Several major van makers now insist that a proportion of all vehicle orders must be for eLCVs

The Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) said several major van makers now insist that a proportion of all vehicle orders must be electric vans in order to reflect the percentage of ZEV vehicles they are now legally required to sell – creating a dilemma for fleets that can’t go electric yet.

AFP chair Paul Hollick explained: “It’s quickly becoming a widespread practice that when a fleet wants to order a quantity of vans, manufacturers are asserting that a percentage is electric – often 10% to reflect the 2024 ZEV mandate.

“The problem is that some fleets just don’t have a role for these electric vans within their business. Their payload and range requirements mean there is no operational profile for which the electric van can be practically used, or there is no suitable charging infrastructure.”

Hollick said that the situation presented a dilemma for fleets – whether to switch to manufacturers not insisting on order quotas, to not replace existing diesel vehicles and keep operating them for longer, or to buy quota electric vans and use them for occasional lighter duties or simply park them up.

“All of these courses of action are far from ideal. Changing van supplier can be quite an arduous task for fleets, meaning that the whole van unit has to be rethought including fitting out. Hanging onto older vans that really need to be replaced means that you are likely to experience problems with reliability and has potential risk management and environmental implications.

“Lastly, it’s just not viable to buy expensive assets such as electric vans and not really use them in the operational roles where you actually need a solution.”

The problem is likely to worsen rapidly – the ZEV mandate for vans rises from 10% in 2024 to 70% in 2030.

“We fully understand why manufacturers are having to introduce order quotas of this type – it is very much a result of the legislation. In a sense, we are seeing the policy in action but the issue is that there are fleets for which electric vans don’t just mean acceptable compromises but effectively won’t work. For that to change, sizeable advances in both the capabilities of electric vans and their supporting charging infrastructure need to happen.”

While similar quotas are being introduced for car orders, Hollick outlined that this wasn’t a problem for most fleets because they were already buying a majority of electric cars.

“Electrification for fleets is very much a story of huge success for cars and much slower progress for vans. While the ZEV mandate stipulates lower quotas for vans than cars, it doesn’t really reflect the extent of the differences in the speed of adoption.”