British Gas to trial new e-NV200 electric vans this winter

Good news for the electric van in adding to its future fleet potential, as Nissan recently posted a press release regarding British Gas’ trial run of 28 new electric e-NV200 Nissan vans this winter. The company are helping to test these vans ahead of the vans late 2014 release and as part of their own goal towards reaching an impressive figure of having 10% of its 13,000 vehicle fleet fuelled by electricity by 2015. They have already begun assessing how well the e-NV200’s will perform in the colder months (between November and April 2014) by putting them on the road with their home service engineers in everyday situations. British Gas aims to closely evaluate the electric vans performance and if all goes well, will add them permanently to the company van fleet.

Nissan describe the new upcoming e-NV200 van as “a breakthrough zero emission compact van that promises an dramatic reduction in running costs while also helping the environment by bringing CO2 emissions down to zero at the point of use.”

Jim Wright, Nissan GB managing director, said: “We’re proud to be providing the vehicles and services for the UK’s largest ever electric commercial vehicle pilot in conjunction with our strategic partners. Piloting such a large number of vans with British Gas in advance of the e-NV200 going on sale in 2014, underlines the closeness of our relationship and marks the final stages of the vehicle’s development.”

I will be looking forward to the results of the trial and hope to see more sustainable automotive manufacturing and cleaner technologies on our roads in the near future. If the vans do well, will you consider adding an electric van to your business/fleet next winter?