How one company saved 67% on costs when it swapped a diesel with an electric van

One of Malta’s leading drinks manufacturers is considering a switch to all-electric delivery vehicles after it found that using an electric van saved them nearly 70 per cent on the cost of energy compared to diesel.

Simonds Farsons Cisk partnered with the Foundation for Transport and the Malta Road Safety Council for a pilot project to switch one of their diesel delivery vans to a new electric Peugeot supplied by Michael Attard Limited.

They ran the project and collected data from May through August, which is their busiest time of the year, and found that charging a van cost them 67 per cent less than filling a van with diesel.

Furthermore, when delivery drivers were trained on how to drive the van more efficiently, the charge lasted even longer. Drivers with no training were returning to the factory after a day of deliveries with around 35 per cent left of charge while the trained drivers were returning with as much as 60 per cent.

“We had already successfully introduced a number of electric passenger cars but electric vans that are loaded with goods for delivery use energy somewhat differently because their range varies according to different payloads,” Farsons’ head of...