I almost bought a van of a friend back in April then I found out about the ULEZ extension out to the South Circular in 2 years. The van is only 4 years old and doesn’t comply with the current ULEZ requirement (not a euro 6 engine).
I’d love to update my van but I’m sure even a Euro 6 will be outdated soon.
Hybrid electric vans by Ford and VW are on the way as well as other manufacturers with a massive 31 mile range, it’ll get me to my 1st job and then the diesel (or petrol) engine takes over.
So now what?
I guess I’m going to run my old Van as long as I can, probably till the ULEZ gets out to the M25, yes it’ll happen soon. Until then I’ll just keep dreaming.
Just feel sorry for everyone who has seen the value of then new vehicle plummet of a cliff.

probably till the ULEZ gets out to the M25, yes it’ll happen soon.

Cite for that, or is just made up?

I don’t think van values will plummet that much, the non-compliants will just be bought by people away from London.

So if you buy a leccy van with a measly 30miles range then the diesel kicks in, does it still comply with the ULEZ even if it runs 80% of the time on diesel?

Remember BITD when the T4 vans weren’t compliant with the congestion charge ?

Yeah, like my mates sold them all for peanuts only to find the increase in charge wasn’t very much at all.

Driving in the ULEZ zone will be similar to the congestion charge zone, you’ll be able to go in… for a fee.

What’s the source of information that Euro 6 will be “outdated soon”? Euro 5 coincided with a period when emissions were widely gamed by manufactuters and there’s no evidence of a similar pattern for E6.

ULEZ-type schemes are planned or in consultation for c.20 urban areas, not only London. Some will have lower thresholds, e.g. exempting passenger cars and light vehicles.

But, if one is considering a c.2015 van, then stretching to a 2016 (all compliant with E6 by then) seems sensible and not crazily more expensive.

We have a 2013 Euro 5 van and accept we’ll either pay or take our car when visiting relatives 1-2 times a year inside the M25 from 2021. We also live inside a proposed Clean Air Zone, but again accept that this is good (son has asthma).

So if you buy a leccy van with a measly 30miles range then the diesel kicks in, does it still comply with the ULEZ even if it runs 80% of the time on diesel?

150 miles is optimistic within London in a working day unless your job is just driving.

(And still 20%+ less diesel)

Euro 6 is here for a while yet, but it’s being phased in in four stages with the last not in force until 2021 (and that date won’t affect newly registered but older model vehicles)
The changes in the stages are around the testing regime imposed on manufacturers, with some changes to emissions although the numbers are broadly the same
Post-November we’ll still follow EU regs if we want to sell vehicles there

The Ford is a plug-in hybrid with a 1.0litre eco boost engine. It’s a step in the right direction but I don’t think the engine recharges the battery like Toyota’s hybrid system.
Very little info about anything else.
I have kept my vans until they’re 10 years old, which is why I was disappointed about buying my friends transit custom. It would have been 6 years old and not comply to ultra low emission zones.
If you think it’s only London that’ll remain ULEZ you’re in for a surprise, all the major cities will follow suit, so yes vans and cars will devalue significantly the day it’s announced.
Personally I’m all for it, getting rid of fossil fuelled transport. If I could I would cycle everywhere but I cannot get a van load of stuff on a bike.

There is so much coming. WLTP has been in force for a while with cars but is starting to filter to the commercial motors now. Our range of vans covers people carriers (cars) so that was dealt with a while ago. It’s integration into vans is becoming an INDUSTRY WIDE nightmare that no one is really sure how it will effect things. Our entire model range has been rejigged. Models dropped and options grouped together to ensure WLTP compliance. There will be only so many available slots for manufacturers to get things approved. So my brand has now brought out 2 options of the SAME vans. Same engine (euro 6 in some instances) same body etc etc. One is labelled HD and the other LD. light and heavy duty basically. Absolutely no difference in how they are registered, cost etc etc. We can only surmise from all our numerous meetings about this is they will are privy to something we don’t know about and are trying to limit the effect of things in the future. Ie London, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester etc etc etc all bring out low emission areas with whatever rules in place. We see a future of certain vans being costed out of main cities unless they are electric, extremely clean or as above Light Duty. I don’t think it’s going to effect anyone in the short 3-5yr term but if I was putting a lot of money into a van or a camper and I was funding over, say 5yrs I would definitely protect myself with a pcp type deal over 3yrs with the option to return. That way you will be much better informed over the next 3yrs before putting all your money into it.

The Ford is a plug-in hybrid with a 1.0litre eco boost engine. It’s a step in the right direction but I don’t think the engine recharges the battery

That is exactly what it does. The wheels are 100% driven by the electric motor with the 1 litre eco boost acting as a genny to top up the battery as required. I think it sounds great (for me personally way better than pure electric) & possibly will want/need to chop my van in at some point so I’m keeping a keen eye on it. Might even be available to order later this year, from what I’ve read the prototypes are VERY slow/lacking in power so apparently Ford have promised the double the power output. That might only put it in line with the power of the current mid-range diesel option i.e. very unlikely there’ll be a sport version any time soon. Also it will be extremely expensive and I don’t think the grants available will offset that.

why do you need sports versions of vans?

You don’t. (Where’s that eye-roll tag gone lol). Plenty of people want them though, especially if it’s their main/only/family vehicle as well as for work or hauling bikes about.

Ha!
A big manufacturer really needs to take it on the chin in the van market, lower their margins (even if they’re negative) and be the first to get the ball rolling on vans with a decent range.
Pollution from cars is not the issue in cities, it’s delivery / trade vans – they’re everywhere, all the time.

A big manufacturer really needs to take it on the chin in the van market, lower their margins (even if they’re negative) and be the first to get the ball rolling on vans with a decent range.

If Ford do that I’d definitely have one! As much as I like the idea of an electric (hybrid) vehicle though I’m not going to pay a massive premium for it! The big problem for someone like me (small business) is even if I were buying a “new” van I’d go for a pre-registered one (at a big discount) which I don’t believe would be eligible for the government grant (and hence would be a lot more spendy than a diesel)

Driving in the ULEZ zone will be similar to the congestion charge zone, you’ll be able to go in… for a fee.

It already is… £12.50 a day.

£39k for the base model Transit PHEV. That’s me out. That’s too much for a one person/small business. Ford have missed a trick here.

Nissan Nv200 electric van? Supposed to be decent range (150 mile real world reportedly).

VW transporter has a 2.0 TSI Petrol engine version.
I don’t do more than 8000 miles a year.
I think it looks awesome.

You can’t order the 2.0tsi at present as they can’t get it through wltp

Just seen an ad on telly for the Transit Custom PHEV so I guess it’s nearing release, no official date yet but the final production version has been reviewed (very positively from what I can see) by some of the big car sites.

Looks great IMO, perfect for mainly city/town driving, similar performance to the default-spec diesel (124 ish bhp) with no loss of load space. 30 miles max pure electric range with 4 hour charge (or 2 ½ hours on a fast charger).

Only sticking point is the price… have to see what kind of discounts the main dealers will be doing to push it… and the long-term reliability of course (not that the current E6 diesel has covered itself in glory here).

Only sticking point is the price…

I expect most vans are on finance anyway so if its another £100 ish a month, then would probably be offset by fuel savings.
Bit pricey if you buy them outright.
How long before VW introduce their £50k version 😂