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Virgin Media O2 UK Unveil First Electric Vehicles for New Fleet

Wednesday, Nov 10th, 2021 (12:01 am) - Score 2,280
VMO2-EV-Electric-Van

Virgin Media and O2 UK (VMO2) have this morning taken the wraps off their first Electric Vehicles (EV), which will be used by their broadband ISP and mobile engineers. The company has just ordered 280 such vans (Vauxhall e-Vivaros) as a first step toward replacing their entire 4,300 strong fleet with EVs by 2030.

Just for some context, the Vauxhall e-Vivaro vans tend to cost from around £29,200 +vat (including plug-in Van Grant of £6,000) for a 50kWh battery variant with a range of up to 143 miles (WLTP), but there’s also a 75kWh model that can do up to 205 miles. However, we don’t know exactly which of those VMO2 have ordered.

Furthermore, any VMO2 workers who are assigned to these new vans will be able to have their own EV charging point installed at home, with the operator picking up the tab for all the costs and charges. We should point out that VMO2 also offers EV charging for employees at its Slough, Reading and Hammersmith office sites.

The move complements their existing Liberty Charge project, which is currently leveraging Virgin Media’s engineers and national broadband network, while aiming to deploy 500 public street-side EV charging points by the end of 2022 (here) – this charging network will be operational in 6 local authorities by the end of this year.

Tracey Herald, VMO2’s Head of Corporate Sustainability, said:

“With a fleet of 4,300 vehicles visiting millions of homes and businesses every year, we have a responsibility to swap to cleaner, more sustainable alternatives as soon as possible. I’m proud that we’re introducing the first EVs to our fleet, and giving our valued field engineers access to the charge points they need to keep moving.

The only way to encourage businesses and the public to make the switch to EVs in time for the UK’s 2050 net zero target is by making vehicle charging points widely available and accessible to all. We’re eagerly anticipating the Government’s EV strategy and plans for wider infrastructure rollout, and together with Liberty Charge, we’re committed to using our expanding national network and street furniture to help put charging points where they need to be – and drive the UK towards net zero.”

We should point out that VMO2 aren’t the only UK telecoms operator with EVs on the brain. Openreach (BT) also plan to convert their entire fleet to EVs by 2030 (here) and last year saw them purchase a similar number of Vivaro-e vans, as well as a smaller number of the Corsa-e cars.

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Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
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Comments
9 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Winston Smith says:

    The battery capacity should be kwh surely?

    1. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      Yes, but you know exactly what I mean either way :).

    2. Avatar photo David says:

      If we’re discussing kwh v kWh then kWh is correct as the unit is a Watt (W) and Watt is a proper noun and as such has an uppercase W 🙂

      If I’ve missed the point then forgive me 🙂

  2. Avatar photo Gary says:

    No. What a waste. Merely a gimmick. Never going to happen.

  3. Avatar photo James Buchanan says:

    Why would anyone would take that over a Transit Custom with the high roof?

    How you ment to stand up in the back?

    1. Avatar photo Radicalz says:

      No need as fully custom racking making pullout draws at the rear doors
      Fully tested one

  4. Avatar photo A_Builder says:

    I’d be fascinated to know what the real range was with a full load in the back.

    I’ve towed a 2,000kg JCB electric digger with my TeslaX – sulrisdinglr quick but the range was about halved.

    1. Avatar photo Radicalz says:

      Fully tested with a full load of tools a CPE done 190m

  5. Avatar photo Radicalz says:

    Still in talks at the moment

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