Businesses warn Mayor against ‘choking off’ switch to electric vans

More than forty businesses are urging the Mayor of London to extend the congestion charge exemption for electric vans. 

Drivers of electric vans currently receive a 100 percent discount on the capital’s congestion charge, but their special status is set to end by Christmas 2025. 

Signatories of an open letter to Sadiq Khan urging a rethink include the AA, Ocado, Openreach, Lime and the Federation of Small Businesses, who say the change will inflict an “astronomical cost” of £5,500 per vehicle per year on London’s firms.

Led by campaign group Clean Cities, supporters of the exemption argue it has played a “fundamental role” in easing the cost of investing in environmentally friendly fleets.  Abolishing it would undermine firms who have “taken on debt to invest in the air we breathe”.

The latest data shows that battery electric vans still account for fewer than 3 percent of all vans registered in London while 67 percent of Londoners believe small businesses still need more support to help them switch to electric vehicles. Out of the estimated five million SMEs operating in the UK, one million are based in London (1).

Today’s letter coincides with a new report published by Clean Cities, which shows 20 Dutch cities – including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht – are leapfrogging London by implementing zero-emission zones for freight from next year through private and public partnerships. It is unsurprising that electric van sales in the Netherlands were around twice that of the UK in 2023.

Dutch city governments have implemented ‘zero-emission zones’ for freight from next year through private and public partnerships. In consequence, electric van sales in the Netherlands were around twice that of the UK in 2023.

Clean Cities launched Clean Cargo Capital in August, a campaign focused on accelerating the uptake of electric or pedal-powered commercial vehicles in London.