One fifth (20%) of fleet managers would retrofit existing commercial vehicles in the immediate term to decarbonise, without having to bear the full cost of replacing vehicles.

The research for Bedeo, the electric vehicle supplier and manufacturer, sought the views of 200 fleets in the UK and France to uncover what strategies they were pursuing towards electrification and their awareness levels of particular options open to them.

Of fleet operators who were considering new vehicles, more than half (51%) were concerned that the lack of available range with new electric vans would negatively impact operations, and two out of five (40%) said that electric vans were simply too expensive.

A similar number (35%) said that even if they were inclined to buy new, the product range was currently too limited.

A new retrofit solution, widely popular and financially supported by public authorities in France but not in the UK, adds an electric powertrain to the existing diesel without replacing it, adding a further 70-plus miles of electric driving to its range (anything up to 600 miles-plus). Converting a vehicle costs around £25,000.

Bedeo’s founder Osman Boyner (pictured) said: “Our research shows that more fleet managers (i.e the remaining 80%) might be more inclined to consider a retrofit solution if there was greater awareness and that’s where Government can play its part through incentives: more than half (54%) had little or even no knowledge of retrofitting, despite the huge benefits it can bring in helping businesses transition to an electric future and accelerate their decarbonisation strategies.

“Awareness levels were much higher in France (65%), where the French Government offers a €9,000 retrofit subsidy; no such subsidy is available in the UK, and that is something we are looking to change.”

Bedeo recently launched its RE-100 Range Extender – an advanced retrofit solution which fits to existing diesel vans to make them both electric (first) and/or diesel at the touch of a button.

It gives vans 117km of electric range to add the existing 600km diesel range.