REPORTS of the ending of sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans from 2030 (brought forward from 2035) will present additional challenges for commercial vehicle operators without urgent government action to ensure the energy and charging infrastructure is ready to support the switch to electric vehicles (EVs).
Denise Beedell, policy manager for vans and urban at Logistics UK, commented: ‘With electric vehicles making up only 1% of all vans sold in the UK in 2019, bringing forward the ban on conventionally fuelled cars and vans will cause additional difficulty for logistics businesses.
‘An industry-wide adoption of the policy will only be possible if the power supply infrastructure required to run electric fleets is reinforced, as well as finding a fairer way of funding the grid and energy upgrades.
‘Currently, if a logistics business does not have sufficient energy supply to power its electric vehicle fleet, they must pay to upgrade the entire local electricity hub themselves. This is on top of the premium to buy electric vans which are more expensive than conventionally powered vehicles.’
Logistics UK is also calling for hybrid vehicles to be excluded from the ban.
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