Recharging Your Electric Van

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Driving a petrol, diesel or hybrid van creates CO2 because fossil fuels are burned when combustion engines are used.

But using an electric van doesn't mean that your driving is CO2-free.

Electricity for Recharging Electric Vans

Electricity for Recharging

Electric vans usually have a means of partiallly recharging the battery by capturing the energy created when braking the van.

In the main though, you need to recharge an electric van from the mains electricity supply.

Depending on weather conditions, between 40%-50% of the electricity generated in the UK is created by burning fossil fuels, which releases CO2, though the proportion of electricity from renewable sources is increasing.

If you've signed up to an electricity tariff that only involves power from renewable sources (or you are fortunate enough to recharge from a solar panel or wind turbine), you can pretty much claim to be recharging CO2-free.

But for the rest of us, recharging an electric van will still involve plugging in to mains electricity from the UK National Grid.

So, until the Grid is supplied 100% by renewable sources of electricity, recharging is likely to involve burning fossil fuels, which means your electric van recharge creates CO2.

But how much?