The 2018 Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC
The NEC in Birmingham once again hosts the Commercial Vehicle Show every April and for 2018 the event had over 500 vans, trailers and trucks on show, all of which could be explored in detail with plenty of expert advice from the van main dealer exhibitor’s resident at the event.
Not only were the latest commercial vans on display but everything related to the entire road haulage and logistics industry at your fingertips. This also included improvement to products related to fuel, fuel efficiency, engine lubricants, vehicle security, vehicle tracking, dash cams for vans as well heavy haulage transport etc, and all under one roof.
The Electric Van Market
One of the hot topics of this year’s show was the amount of interest in the electric van sector, particularly about developments in the electrical charging frequency which is one of the biggest concerns to van delivery drivers throughout the UK at the moment. Electric vans are extremely appealing to couriers at the moment but delivery drivers cannot hang around for an hour’s charge every 100 miles, it makes little business sense at all unless you only carry out local deliveries within your own ‘patch’. The other disadvantage at the moment is that the ‘adoption’ of electrical charging points in main stream garages is slow, making this another concern for the UK van industry as a whole.
VW’s E-Crafter All-Electric Van Stars at Show
Features: 100kW electric motor which is equivalent to 136hp.
Top Speed: 55mph
80% charge takes 45 mintes at a quick charging outlet. Less powerful outlets take over 5hrs to charge the battery fully.
Not exactly startling features but if your average daily mileage is 5-70 miles then the E-Crafter van is for you.
ULEZs Ultra-Low Emission Zones
Expected to be introduced into the UK in 2020. Cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester etc will only allow diesel vehicles into city centres if the complies with EU-6 regulations.
Last year over 619,000 vans entered the City of London and if you currently own a van that’s less than 3 years old now, by the time the bill is introduced then it’s very likely that your van will not be affected by the new EU-6 regulations.
You can see the advantage though of owning an electric van given the new regulations that will be adopted in major cities after 2020.
Government Grants, Get up to £8,000 off a New E-Van
In the market to purchase a new van for your business then why not take a look at E-Vans; the UK Government has introduced a discount scheme on a selection of electric van and are offering a discount of up to £8,000 off the price of a new van.
Vans that qualify for this grant are as follows
These vehicles have CO2 emissions of less than 75g/km and can travel at least 16km (10 miles) without any CO2 emissions at all:
- BD Otomotiv eTraffic
- BD Otomotiv eDucato
- Citroen Berlingo
- Mitsubishi Outlander Commercial
- Nissan e-NV200 (cargo van)
- Peugeot ePartner
- Renault Kangoo ZE
- LDV EV80 van
- LDV EV80 chassis cab
The grant will pay for 20% of the purchase price for these vehicles, up to a maximum of £8,000.
