Record October for electric vans, still half the target

The SMMT's October figures, published on 5 November, show 3,369 battery electric vans registered in the month. That is up 58% on last year and a 12.9% share of a light commercial market that grew 11.4% to 25,510 units. It was the best October on record for electric vans, but the share so far this year is 11%, and the SMMT expects 10.4% for the full year against a ZEV Mandate target of 24% for vans up to 3.5 tonnes.

For operators running vans, the gap matters even if you never read the mandate. Manufacturers that fall short face compliance costs, and the SMMT says they are already discounting heavily to close the gap, so pricing, availability and lease rates may keep moving. The SMMT is pressing the government's mandate review for a more realistic path, alongside longer-term purchase incentives, more van-suitable public charging and faster depot grid connections, so the rules themselves could still change.

Rather than waiting for the review, base the decision on your own routes. Use telematics data to find the vans that run predictable daily mileage and return to base each night, as these are usually the strongest candidates, and check depot power capacity early, because grid connections are a known bottleneck. Treat today's discounts as a chance to test a small group of vehicles, not a reason to switch the whole fleet at once.

We start with the data the fleet already produces. Fleetgenius reads manufacturer telematics to show which vehicles suit electric on real duty cycles, and GreenTurtles puts the carbon numbers behind the decision. The free Data Readiness Score shows whether your fleet and depot data is joined up enough to make that call with confidence, and a six-week Pilot can test a small electric cohort before you commit.