It appears that the EVHS grant will be removed this time next year and re-directed to the rental and leasehold side of the domestic sector. It will be interesting to see the effects of this on the private owner side. If the intent of government is to retain so-called smart charger roll-out then the cheaper dumb chargers will have to be outlawed! With the grant of only £350, clients already see the dumb chargers as a viable option.
Currently I have a Nissan NV200 diesel van and the idea of swapping to an electric van at this time is laughable, particularly one with a range of sixty miles.
However Nissan are now only making the NV200 as an electric vehicle, the diesel engine is to dirty to comply with the new requirements are too difficult to clean up, so they have simply tweaked and rebadged the Renault Kangoo and called it a Nissan NV250 with the existing Euro 6 Renault Diesel engine that runs on diesel and Adblue.
However it is not just as simple as having an “Euro 6” engine because there’s different classes of Euro 6 and no one trusts the test results anymore after the Volkswagen dodgy test results, plus the evaporation from the fuel tank and system has to be taken into account.
My issue is that my Renault NV200 van is classed as a car, around eighteen months ago the Heddlu sent me a speeding ticket for doing 59 MPH on the A road up past Wrexham whilst I was on my way the Llandudno Junction to do a job, after some muttering I picked the phone up and spoke to a lady in Rhyl who posted a cancellation letter to me because although it looks and works like a van, it is indeed classified as a car on the logbook, so I can do 60 MPH on A roads rather than being restricted to 50 MPH like vans that are not car derived.
So I cannot replace my van like for like and get a new one with a cleaner Diesel engine, but the range is too restrictive with an EV, Wednesday I filled up with fuel in several minutes giving me a range of over 380 miles, more than enough to get home from the other side of Cambridge.
If I swap to a “van” that isn’t a “car” I will have to drop my speed by 10 MPH on roads like the new A14 dual carriageway and other dual carriageways like the A449, A40, A30, A38 as well as single carriageway A roads, which will significantly increase my current driving times. It could add easily add half a hour or more onto my working day, last year I went to Lowestoft and back on motorways and A roads and averaged 60 MPH going past the same speed camera van in Norfolk on both the way there and the way back with the possibility that the guy inside will press the button to say I am driving a van like the Welsh guy working with the Heddlu did, as well as numerous fixed speed cameras without any issues, because I was driving within the speed limits, but if I were in a van that is not classified as a car it would have added a hour onto the working day. Had I been in an EV I may have to have recharged eight times to complete the journey, I would have been out overnight in a hotel to do a hour and a half of work.
So there’s no incentive for me to replace my van I need to keep it running as it is.
However all of this raises a different issue, if electricians and other trades are going to be pushed into having electric vehicles the trades have got to change they working practices significantly as working more than fifteen miles from home using a vehicle such as an electric Renault Kangoo van is simply not going to be an option.
So how firms are going to get electricians at the right place at the right time to complete work needs serious consideration and a massive change of working practices.
Firms will either have to severely restrict the areas they work in or they will need access to a network of tradespeople who will be able to get to the right place at the right time or there will have to be a massive improvement on the range of electric vans.
I should really be able to do another 100,000 miles in my NV200, so it should see me through until I’m pushing seventy, so it seems the best plan is to just look after the diesel van I already have.
Currently I have a Nissan NV200 diesel van and the idea of swapping to an electric van at this time is laughable, particularly one with a range of sixty miles.
However Nissan are now only making the NV200 as an electric vehicle, the diesel engine is to dirty to comply with the new requirements are too difficult to clean up, so they have simply tweaked and rebadged the Renault Kangoo and called it a Nissan NV250 with the existing Euro 6 Renault Diesel engine that runs on diesel and Adblue.
However it is not just as simple as having an “Euro 6” engine because there’s different classes of Euro 6 and no one trusts the test results anymore after the Volkswagen dodgy test results, plus the evaporation from the fuel tank and system has to be taken into account.
My issue is that my Renault NV200 van is classed as a car, around eighteen months ago the Heddlu sent me a speeding ticket for doing 59 MPH on the A road up past Wrexham whilst I was on my way the Llandudno Junction to do a job, after some muttering I picked the phone up and spoke to a lady in Rhyl who posted a cancellation letter to me because although it looks and works like a van, it is indeed classified as a car on the logbook, so I can do 60 MPH on A roads rather than being restricted to 50 MPH like vans that are not car derived.
So I cannot replace my van like for like and get a new one with a cleaner Diesel engine, but the range is too restrictive with an EV, Wednesday I filled up with fuel in several minutes giving me a range of over 380 miles, more than enough to get home from the other side of Cambridge.
If I swap to a “van” that isn’t a “car” I will have to drop my speed by 10 MPH on roads like the new A14 dual carriageway and other dual carriageways like the A449, A40, A30, A38 as well as single carriageway A roads, which will significantly increase my current driving times. It could add easily add half a hour or more onto my working day, last year I went to Lowestoft and back on motorways and A roads and averaged 60 MPH going past the same speed camera van in Norfolk on both the way there and the way back with the possibility that the guy inside will press the button to say I am driving a van like the Welsh guy working with the Heddlu did, as well as numerous fixed speed cameras without any issues, because I was driving within the speed limits, but if I were in a van that is not classified as a car it would have added a hour onto the working day. Had I been in an EV I may have to have recharged eight times to complete the journey, I would have been out overnight in a hotel to do a hour and a half of work.
So there’s no incentive for me to replace my van I need to keep it running as it is.
However all of this raises a different issue, if electricians and other trades are going to be pushed into having electric vehicles the trades have got to change they working practices significantly as working more than fifteen miles from home using a vehicle such as an electric Renault Kangoo van is simply not going to be an option.
So how firms are going to get electricians at the right place at the right time to complete work needs serious consideration and a massive change of working practices.
Firms will either have to severely restrict the areas they work in or they will need access to a network of tradespeople who will be able to get to the right place at the right time or there will have to be a massive improvement on the range of electric vans.
I should really be able to do another 100,000 miles in my NV200, so it should see me through until I’m pushing seventy, so it seems the best plan is to just look after the diesel van I already have.
