With an ever-growing focus on electric vehicles and the environmental and financial benefits they can offer businesses, we caught up with Rygor’s Paul Naylor to understand a bit more about electric vans, following the launch of the company’s MAXUS franchise last year.
“To be honest, we all know that we need to be looking at ways we can each make changes to positively impact the environment. Whether that’s recycling more, turning off the lights when we leave a room, or switching to an electric vehicle, the time is now to be making a difference,” Naylor says. “Not every business is ready for switching their fleet to electric vans, but for those who are, the business benefits could be significant along with reducing their carbon footprint.”
Rygor launched its new MAXUS franchise last year, with a showroom based at its Newbury site and Naylor has been impressed with the level of interest in the product already. “MAXUS vans are certainly proving popular. At Rygor we offer the MAXUS eDeliver 9, a 3.5 tonne van with 51.5kW, 72kW or 88.55kW battery options as well as the smaller, eDeliver 3 of which there is a new 50.23kW battery model launching in April. Both of these vehicles also offer a great payload, up to 1,360kg on largest panel van for example.”
I ask Naylor whether businesses can really rely on electric vehicles yet, and whether their range is good enough to allow companies to carry out their fleet requirements. “Not every business is ready for electric vans and I really don’t think there is any point pretending that this is the case. However, companies who have a set or similar planned daily route, or who do a lot of city driving perhaps, could genuinley benefit from an electric van. The eDeliver 3, the smaller of the MAXUS vans offers a 150-200 mile range and the eDeliver 9 can do up to an incredible 219 mile range when driving in the city on the largest battery size. Those are some fantastic ranges for an electric van. In fact, the MAXUS eDeliver 9 and eDeliver 3 were even involved in the EV Rally of Scotland event at the end of last year, which saw a team from MAXUS travel 1,200+ miles across the Scottish terrain.”
With more than 24 years in the motor industry, it’s clear to see that after all this time working with many different vehicles, Naylor is excited by the MAXUS product. “It’s definitely a brilliant product to be working with and selling. There’s no doubt that these vans are class-leading and MAXUS was even announced as winners in the Clean Fleet Van of the Year category at the Motor Transport Awards 2021 for the eDeliver 9, and has been a five time winner at the annual GreenFleet awards. Each vehicle also has the award-winning Telematics and its #IntelligenceOnBoard enabled, which provides data to allow drivers to get the maximum return on every journey.”
For many, charging will be one of the greatest considerations when thinking about purchasing an electric van. “Charging is certainly an important point to consider if you’re thinking of investing in electric vans. The MAXUS electric vehicles have great charging times. For example, the eDeliver 3 will charge from 45 minutes (DC fast charge to 80%) and the eDeliver 9 will charge from 36 minutes on the chassis cab varient (80% on a DC fast charge). The UK charging network is growing and many chargers in the UK are currently 50kW,” Naylor confirms.
For many businesses, taking the leap towards electric vehicles can seem daunting, but Naylor assures that there are many business benefits to moving to electric vehicles. “Obviously one of the key benefits is helping to reduce your carbon footprint. But there are also other points to consider, such as the exemptions when it comes to driving in low emission zones and ultra low emissions zones. More and more cities across the UK are implementing clean air zones, so if you drive regularly into these areas, you could see huge savings from not having to pay these charges. Electric vehicles are also exempt from the road fund license and there are Government grants available on the eDeliver 3 (50kw battery) and eDeliver 9 of up to £5,000.”
Repair and maintenance costs on an electric van can also be significantly less and more and more dealerships around the UK are training their technical team to be able to look after electric vans. “Our technical team here at Rygor is second to none and are trained to be able to maintain electric vehicles. We’re proud to have won Service Provider of the Year at the 2022 WhatVan? Awards which is a testament to the skills of our technicians and service department.”
There’s no getting away from the fact that the lure of the EV option is exciting, but what about those who are not ready to move to electric vans; what’s the options for them? As passionate as Naylor is about the MAXUS electric van range, he’s incredibly positive about the Deliver 9 diesel van. “What I love about the Deliver 9 is that so much that you would expect to pay extra for, such as air con, colour coded bumpers, emergency breaking, well it all comes as standard. There are of course options which customers can add if they wish, but the product which comes in either FWD or RWD, has so much to offer.”
The future is electric and whether businesses are dipping their toe in the water with electric vehicles, or are dedicated to going fully electric, the options out there and the electric infrastructure are continuing to grow. “I think we’re all ready to be making these changes, not only for ourselves, but for future generations,” Naylor added.
