British Gas today announces that is has ordered 1,000 new all-electric Vivaro-e vans from Vauxhall – the largest commercial BEV order in the UK to date. The BEVs will arrive over the next 12 months and be rolled out nationwide across the British Gas engineer workforce.
Centrica, owner of British Gas, has committed to electrifying its 12,000 strong fleet by 2030 and will be making further orders with Vauxhall for electric vehicles as soon as they are available. This may include the all-electric Combo-e – available from Summer 2021.
The engineers who receive the new vans will be chosen from volunteers but also targeting areas where it is important to lower emissions and where a van already needs replacing. The British Gas engineers will install the chargers at engineer homes. The company is currently upskilling engineers in EV charging and is accelerating EV adoption for homes and businesses with charger installs and EV tariffs.
Recent events have demonstrated how the British Gas engineers and fleet can play a key role in the local area. British Gas has been working with the Trussell Trust since late March and the engineers have delivered over 4 million meals to those most in need.
The Vivaro-e was launched earlier this year with a 134bhp electric motor and range of 125 miles in standard form, rising to 188 miles with an optional larger (75kWh) battery pack.
