Cars and vans are absolutely central to people’s lives—it’s how most of us get around and for many journeys they are, and will remain, the only practical and convenient travel choice. Nevertheless climate change is a global challenge we simply have to meet head on. It cannot be ignored or side-stepped.

The new Plug-in Van Grant—offering up to £8,000 off one of these seven innovative vans---also makes business sense as it’s been estimated that a small electric van will typically cost £100 less in fuel for every thousand miles driven compared to a diesel equivalent.

—Transport Secretary Greening

The first seven vans to be made eligible for the grants are:

• Azure Dynamics – Transit Connect Electric
• Daimler Mercedes-Benz – Vito E-Cell
• Faam – ECOMILE
• Faam – JOLLY 2000
• Mia-electric – Mia U
• Renault – Kangoo ZE variants Kangoo VAN ZE, Kangoo Van Maxi ZE, and Kangoo Van Maxi Crew ZE
• Smith Electric – Smith Edison variants SE2 and SE3

The Government’s assessment is that the number of installed chargepoints in the UK is more than 2,500, of which 765 have been delivered (to 14 October 2011) through the Government’s Plugged-In Places trials and the remainder through private sector organisations’ investment. The private sector organizations have commitments to deliver approximately a further 4,000 points across the UK by the end of 2012.