Vauxhall makes history with EV order

Vauxhall has announced the largest commercial order of electric vehicles in UK’s history.

It will supply 1,000 all-electric Vivaro-e vans to British Gas. This is part of a wider strategy for Centrica, owner of British Gas, to electrify its 12,000-strong fleet by 2030. As such, further orders with Vauxhall for electric vehicles will soon be announced.

The new vans will be used areas where it is important to lower emissions and where a van already needs replacing, with chargers installed at engineer homes.

Matthew Bateman, managing director of British Gas, said: “Our engineers and their vans are part of the local community they serve and it’s important we reduce the emissions of our vans so that we are contributing towards better air quality in their area and the environment. We are committed to the transition to electric vehicles which involves changing our fleet as well as helping consumers and businesses with charge points and infrastructure.

“We chose to work with Vauxhall as they were able to give us a large number of high-quality and low emission vans to help us effectively serve our customers – and they will also work with us on future EV solutions.”

Stephen Norman, managing director of Vauxhall Motors, said: “The strength of the quantity of orders for our all-electric van demonstrates that the Vauxhall Vivaro-e, the first step in the electrification of our entire van range, can contribute towards the transition towards low emissions vehicles whilst improving air quality.”