E Van: Try before you buy
About this good practice
Durham County Council (DCC) are delivering a 2 year project to promote the take up of EVs in SMEs by allowing them to borrow and test drive them on a short term hire.
Research from Highways England, BEEP and Fleet Revolution shows that SMEs want to change to low emission transport but need support to make the transition. The project allows them to test out an EV van without having to commit the large financial outlay.
The project involves:
• Purchasing up to 4 branded electric vans of varying sizes and specifications
• Providing free short term hire (1-3 weeks) to Durham SMEs and to DCC teams, subject to conditions
• Promote through Business Durham and Business Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP)
• After 2 years, the EV vans will become part of the regular DCC fleet.
The project will:
• Help accelerate the development of the low carbon transport sector to meet the 2030 target of no new fossil only fuelled vehicles.
• Contribute to the County Durham Net Zero by 2050 target
• Immediate carbon savings of approx 9t and air quality improvements
• Longer term carbon savings when integrated into Fleet
• Enhancement of Fleet by offering internal trials encouraging switching
• Fill gaps identified by the Business Energy Efficiency Project
• Through branding of the vans and promotion through networks of business organisations, it will increase visibility and awareness across the SME sector. This will lead to more referrals for this and other associated projects, such as BEEP
Resources needed
Total cost: £100,500
Broken down as
• Vehicle cost: £98,000
• Publicity/branding £2,500
• Staff time
• Booking system and customer journey procedure
Funding was provided by the authority as part of the Policy Instrument Climate Emergency Response Plan 2020-22
Evidence of success
There have been 8 hires in the first 5 months after the first 2 vans became available in November 2021.
7 more were booked for the next few months. These early results are with only 2 of the planned 4 vans.
Over the project, it is expected to hire the vans out approximately 80 times, but that will depend on the duration of each hire.
At least one company has gone on to purchase their own E Van after taking part in the scheme.
Potential for learning or transfer
The concept can be replicated easily by municipalities throughout Europe, especially where the authority has active engagement with the SME sector and plans for EV infrastructure.
By absorbing the vehicles into the regular Council fleet after two years, it provides an extra method of reducing their emissions and sharing the costs of the project.
Participants provide comments on what can be improved and what information they need to invest. We can use this to start changing the way SMEs or people look at EVs. We have already had a lot of feedback and started to implement changes to improve experience. The EVans have been a great success so far with the low noise and smooth drive being popular.
The main problem has been range, reported as unsatisfactory by the users. Communications and materials can be adapted to account for this.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.