Fruit delivery firm Fruit 4 London is the latest operator to take Nissan's £2 Challenge – testing how far it can go with the manufacturer's all-electric e-NV200 light commercial vehicle.
The operator trialled the van for deliveries across the capital, to see how many it could complete with a single £2 charge.
Starting with a full load at New Spitalfields Market in the East End, Fruit 4 London's director Laszlo Mulato made 15 deliveries across more than 36 miles, before returning to the depot – with 50% of the vehicle's original charge still remaining.
Based on that performance, says Nissan, the operator could expect to make 3,900 deliveries a year, covering almost 10,000 miles for a total electricity bill of £260.
The e-NV200 is also exempt from the congestion charge.
"This challenge ... has shown us just how much we could save by making the transition and, as a small business, it's hard to argue with figures like that," says Mulato.
The e-NV200 has a range of up to 106 miles on a single charge. It takes 30 minutes to charge from zero to 80% and costs 2p per mile to run.
