Upgrading To Electric Vans

[RecyclingBiz]

Hi Everyone

I run a business recycling company where we specialise in providing recycling systems & collections for office based businesses, care homes, schools & colleges & even home businesses.

We currently have a small fleet of petrol & diesel vans but we are looking into the possibility of changing the vans to electric or other low emission vehicles.

Does anyone know of any grants available to purchase lower emission vehicles?

Any knowledge would be grateful

Thanks

[imadam]

subscribing to this thead as i'd like to know this too. we are looking to get a van soon and it makes sense to get as eco-friendly one as we can afford but i fear they'll be extremely expensive. anyone know of any decent lower emission vans/larger spaced vehicles?

[benjamin_c]

I read an article a while ago that said something along the lines that electric powered commercial vehicles are uneconomical as due to the high usage the batteries are going through many charge/discharge cycles which reduces the life and then will lead to a new battery being required to replace the depleted one, and this causes more indirect carbon emissions than an equivalent modern diesel version of the same vehicle would cause with the same usage. Not to mention that most of the electricity from the national grid is generated by burning fossil fuels. LPG is an alternative to diesel, or bio diesel. The true future is hydrogen though, fuel cells initially but ultimately fusion.

[imadam]

I read an article a while ago that said something along the lines that electric powered commercial vehicles are uneconomical as due to the high usage the batteries are going through many charge/discharge cycles which reduces the life and then will lead to a new battery being required to replace the depleted one, and this causes more indirect carbon emissions than an equivalent modern diesel version of the same vehicle would cause with the same usage. Not to mention that most of the electricity from the national grid is generated by burning fossil fuels. LPG is an alternative to diesel, or bio diesel. The true future is hydrogen though, fuel cells initially but ultimately fusion.

thanks for the info. definitely given me something to think about when getting a van as i never thought about the discharge issue (even though i stupidly knew they did that).

[benjamin_c]

try contacting local councils and see if theres any grants or incintives but i doubt it, diesel is the best option at the moment, if you want to be green then use bio diesel and advertise it on your vans, but check with the manufacture to make sure it doesn't void the warranty. good luck :) if you're operating in london then lpg might be a better option as i beleive lpg is exept form the london C charge (not 100% sure though)
good luck :)

[fundingportal]

Have you tried the Carbon Trust?

[Greg.M]

just subscribed to thos thread because it is a personal interest of mine to see how many people out there are interested in eco fleets from vans to cars. it has just spun more ideas in my head about ideas i have had for ages!

[accufleet]

Keep the vans you have and invest in some eco-driver training for your staff.
Much cheaper.
Wink, wink :rolleyes:!