British Gas Goes Electric

After a successful six-month winter trial, British Gas has ordered 50 all-electric e-NV200 vans, with a further 50 to be delivered by the end of the calendar year.

The trial of 28 vans was the UK’s electric commercial vehicle evaluation to date. And the subsequent is part of the British Gas commitment to ensuring that 10% of its fleet of 13,000 home service vans is all-electric by 2017.

In fact, such was the success of the November-launched trial that a number of drivers were reluctant to hand back their vans.

Colin Marriott, general manager, fleet at British Gas, said: “We have been extremely impressed with the performance of the Nissan e-NV200 during our winter trial.”

“The feedback from our engineers speaks for itself, with the majority saying they would be happy to keep the van permanently.”

“Taking on 100 of these vehicles on a permanent basis demonstrates our continued commitment to leading the adoption of this technology amongst large vehicle fleets in the UK. With technology and infrastructure improving all the time, we look forward to expanding this number in the coming years. ”

Fleet operations were managed by Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle, whilst training the drivers to drive the electric Nissan e-NV200s was handled by Gateshead College.

Hitachi Capital will be funding the purchase of the Nissan e-NV200s by British Gas as well as managing the fleet of all-electric vehicles.