With Black Friday just behind us, light commercial vehicles will of course play a crucial role in the lead up to Christmas, facilitating online deliveries across the UK. And it’s great news that operators are investing in new vehicles accordingly – this week, SMMT figures show that new van registrations have increased for 11 months in a row, up 12.7% in November.
The LCV market remains predominantly influenced by larger van models, specifically those weighing between 2.5 tonnes to 3.5 tonnes – representing 18,070 units and 65.9% of the market. However, medium-sized vans experienced significant growth in November, more than doubling by 161.1% on the previous year, with 4,552 units registered.
While it’s true that battery electric van (BEV) registrations declined for the second month in a row, the overall trend remains positive, with 17,289 BEV vans joining the road this year – up 15.0% on last year. However, with a zero emission vehicle mandate coming into force in January, it’s crucial to encourage even more van operators to invest in the benefits that zero emission technology offers, from lower CO2 emissions to increased performance, and potentially lower running costs.
A crucial part of that is ensuring plentiful and affordable vehicle availability – which is why SMMT has welcomed the European Commission’s eleventh hour proposal to extend the current rules of origin for electric vehicle batteries under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) until 2027. We, in consort with our European partners, have been campaigning for this pragmatic approach which will support competitiveness and avoid tariffs being placed on vital vehicles. With less than four weeks to go, every government should now back the proposal, which will be a vote for the economy, drivers and the environment – and then act fast to grow EV supply chains.
Green growth is within our grasp – we must now seize the opportunity.
