8 reviews
Bought my fist EV from electric van man. I’m very happy with the van, and it’s great to experience good old fashioned customer service again. Can’t fault them at all.
I really recommend I’m verry happy whit my van and good communication thank you EV Essentials thank you Paul
Super helpful service. Highly recommend if you are looking to switch to an electric vehicle. I was quite vague about what buying or owning an electric vehicle involved and so needed a lot of support to get started. I bought a used Mercedes e Vito from them earlier this year and it has been brilliant. The team helped me to decide what I needed and have given me great support and ongoing advice from start to finish. I initially had a chat to discuss my budget and specifications and was able to look through all the options. Because I was purchasing a van for my business, I was on a tight timetable and it was immensely helpful to be able to tap into Paul’s industry expertise and to get the purchase made. My van came immaculate, fully charged and ready to drive. They also checked in with me after a few weeks to make sure that everything was going well. One of the most helpful elements was being able to get all the facts and dispel some of the myths and fears around electric vehicle ownership. As well as the vehicle the team supported me to set up home charging, ensure that I had everything I needed. Before I made the purchase, they talked me through the logistics and costs of charging, the kind of trips I would be making as well as helpful explanations such as how the range varies in different temperatures. This team is 100% set up to help make customers feel confident about making the switch and to getting a great vehicle that works for them. Definitely support that made a difference!
Paul and his team have a great knowledge of electric vans and the electric van market. With a wide range of products on site, I was able to test and compare. Paul also helped me understand the numbers and financial benefits, having had no prior experience with electric vehicles. Would highly recommend them!
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Let me start with something important: I remain resolutely electric-positive.
Electric vans work. They are better to drive, quieter in our communities, capable of reducing operating costs and essential if we are serious about improving air quality and decarbonising road transport.
That is precisely why I am frustrated by the Government’s latest review of the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate.
The Mandate was created to accelerate zero-emission vehicle deployment and provide a clear pathway that stimulates investment. Both are entirely sensible aims. Manufacturers, charging companies, fleets and finance providers all need certainty before investing billions of pounds.
Unfortunately, reopening almost every part of that pathway risks delivering the opposite: uncertainty, hesitation and delayed decisions.
Here we go again: cars and vans wrapped together as though they are essentially the same product with a different-shaped body.
They are not.
The electric car market is relatively mature. In June 2026, zero-emission cars represented 29.1% of new registrations. The 2026 headline Mandate target is 33%, with manufacturers also able to use various compliance flexibilities.
Vans are in a fundamentally different position. Zero-emission vans accounted for just 11.3% of registrations in June, against a 2026 headline target of 24%. The Government itself acknowledges that uptake has not matched the rapid growth assumed when the original trajectory was created. Government ZEV Mandate review
That is not a small variation. It is a flashing warning light.
The current van trajectory rises to 34% in 2027, 46% in 2028 and 70% in 2030. The consultation now offers alternatives that could reduce the 2030 van target to 60%, 50% or even 40%.
But changing the number does not solve the underlying problem. It merely changes the number on the spreadsheet.
Vans need their own properly considered strategy, based on how commercial vehicles are bought, funded, operated, charged and eventually sold into the used market.
The electric van market has moved forward enormously. More than 40 zero-emission van models are now available, and nearly two-thirds of van models offer an electric version.
For a significant—and growing—proportion of operators, there is now an electric van capable of meeting the required payload and operational duty cycle. The 4.25-tonne provisions strengthen that position further and, in some cases, allow an electric van to offer more payload than a traditional 3.5-tonne ICE alternative.
Challenges remain in certain specialist, towing-intensive and very high-mileage applications, but it is increasingly difficult to argue that a general lack of capable product is the main barrier to adoption.
The bigger problem is that customers are not being given sufficient reasons—or sufficient confidence—to buy.
The ZEV Mandate places the legal responsibility on manufacturers. It tells them what proportion of their registrations must be zero emission, backed by substantial compliance costs if they miss the required level.
But where is the equivalent demand mandate?
Nobody is requiring—or sufficiently encouraging—the operator to buy an electric van. Manufacturers therefore find themselves discounting vehicles, supporting finance and absorbing costs to stimulate a market that government policy assumes will simply appear.
Stellantis says it has complied with the Mandate and intends to continue doing so, but warns that genuine customer demand remains out of step with the required trajectory. Ford wants policy to reflect how customers actually buy and use commercial vehicles. The SMMT describes the current year-to-date electric van share as less than half the 24% headline target. SMMT van-sector response
This is not the industry rejecting electrification. It is the industry pointing out that regulating supply without adequately stimulating demand is unbalanced.
Businesses do not make fleet decisions in isolation. They plan vehicle replacement cycles, charging infrastructure, depot connections, property investment, driver engagement and finance years ahead.
If operators believe targets may be reduced, deadlines might move or further flexibilities could be introduced, some will wait.
Why commit today if the rules might be easier tomorrow?
That delay weakens demand, makes manufacturers’ targets harder to achieve and increases pressure for another policy revision. It becomes a self-fulfilling problem.
The Government says the review is intended to provide certainty quickly. The consultation closes on 23 October 2026, but businesses need a definitive outcome during 2026 if changes are to apply from 2027.
We have already spent too many years moving dates, changing language and reopening decisions. Every alteration gives those who do not want to change another excuse to do nothing.
Certainty does not mean blindly defending an unachievable trajectory. It means reaching an evidence-based decision—and then sticking to it.
The biggest omission remains the used market.
Every new electric van will eventually become a used electric van. Its expected future value directly affects today’s lease rentals, finance costs and willingness to invest.
Yet government policy remains overwhelmingly focused on the first registration.
Where is the strategy for the second owner? Where is the support for battery-health certification, technician training, affordable warranties, insurance, buyer education and a dependable route to market?
The BVRLA warns that volatile used values can undermine confidence among the leasing and rental businesses that have already invested heavily in electrification. Its members have committed more than £36 billion to approximately 750,000 electric vehicles. BVRLA response
If funders expect poor disposal values, financing the new vehicle becomes more expensive. That makes an electric van less attractive to its first operator, weakening new demand and making Mandate compliance more costly.
The used market is not an issue for later. It is part of the new-vehicle market today.
I do not want the transition abandoned or indefinitely postponed. I want it made deliverable.
That requires a dedicated zero-emission van plan, built around commercial-vehicle reality:
A clear van-specific Mandate trajectory, decided quickly and protected from repeated political tinkering.
Demand incentives aimed directly at SMEs, fleets, rental operators and sole traders—not just obligations imposed on manufacturers.
Long-term certainty for the Plug-in Van Grant and charging support.
Faster, simpler access to depot charging and grid connections.
Practical charging solutions for drivers without off-street parking.
Tax and capital-allowance measures that make electric vans the obvious commercial choice.
Serious support for the used market, including recognised battery-health standards, warranties and buyer education.
Proper consideration of residual values when designing new-vehicle policy.
Clear, independent guidance helping operators identify which vehicles and duty cycles can electrify now.
The consultation contains a single broad question asking whether current demand measures are effective and what else might be required. Given that demand is the central issue facing the van market, that feels remarkably thin. Government consultation
The Government remains committed to all new cars and vans being zero emission by 2035. I support that destination.
But pretending cars and vans are travelling along the same road, at the same speed and facing the same obstacles is not credible.
The electric car market is progressing. The electric van market needs focused help.
We need ambition—but ambition must be accompanied by action. We need targets—but targets must be supported by demand. We need new electric vans—but we also need customers who will confidently buy them when they become used.
Above all, we need certainty.
Review the evidence. Listen to operators. Separate vans from cars. Support the whole vehicle lifecycle. Make a decision—and then let us all get on with delivering it.
Because every month spent wondering whether the rules will change is another month in which fleets postpone the change we all say we want.
