Stopping for breakfast once a week could give your electric van all the charge it needs for a week’s worth of work. The worry of charging time eating into valuable working hours is one of the key concerns for many tradespeople, according to both Confused.com and Vauxhall.
Vauxhall, has found that the typical van driver stops twice a week for between 15 and 45 minutes to grab a coffee and some nosh. And one of those 45 minute sessions could be all that it needs to replenish a van’s battery for that week, as that’s how long it takes to charge most mid-weight vans from 5% to 80% using a 100kw charger.
With Peugeot e-Expert, an 80% charge would give around 184 miles of range, just seven miles off the average tradesperson’s weekly mileage of 191 miles. However, other surveys have suggested wildly differing results in weekly mileage. Volkswagen lowballs it at 88 miles per week, whereas Builder.co.uk thinks it’s more like 262. Ultimately, only you know how many miles you drive a week.
Charging on the job
The survey also indicates that 70% of electric van owners think that customers would let them charge their car whilst on the job, with 78% having done so at least once. Van owners also told the survey that their van is stationary for around four hours a day, whilst working, during which time it could be charged.
According to Synergy, the car leasing company, an hour of charge from a standard home socket provides around six miles of range, meaning a four-hour job would give 24 miles of range, or a 10% charge to a Vauxhall Vivaro. This could prove expensive, however. Vauxhall’s survey said that van drivers are willing to give an average of £24 discount to customers who allow them to charge their van, which would cost around £1 a mile, far more than the average 12p a mile you could get with a home charger.
The cost of going electric
With fast charging costing as much as £60 for a 10% to 80% charge, it is cheaper to keep your van topped up at home or work, which costs roughly £10-£20 for a full charge. Octopus Energy predicts that customers could save as much as 87% when charging at home vs using a public charger. Many companies, such as Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen, offer a free home wall charger with the purchase of an electric van, so this would likely be the best option for keeping your battery topped up, or at the charging base at work.
There is also a good chance that where you stop for your 45-minute breakfast doesn’t have a fast charger. There are currently 82,369 charging points across the UK, but only 17.5% of them are rapid or ultra chargers. Chargers are considered rapid if they provide 50 – 149kW per hour and ultra if they provide over 150kW. The charging times become considerably longer on the more common 7 – 20kW ‘fast’ charger.
Although it is reassuring to know that you can charge your van to 80% in the time it takes to slurp back a bowl of porridge and a cup of coffee, assuming that time is 45 minutes, it certainly makes more financial sense to plug it in at home over night or at the charging base at work, and the coffee is bound to be cheaper, too.
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