Ocado, AA and growing protest against London congestion charges for electric vans

Over 40 companies, including Ocado and the AA, have called for the Mayor of London not to expand the congestion charge on electric vans.

Christmas Day 2025 will see drivers of electric cars in central London paying the same £15 per day as those who drive petrol or diesel vehicles.

Businesses say that this will slow down the slow uptake of electric vans. The car industry also said last week that it was struggling to sell electric vehicles without the government’s incentives. Carbon emissions from vans have increased by 63% over the past 20 years, while car emissions have decreased.

The Federation of Small Businesses and Clean Cities have backed many of the companies that signed an open letter addressed to Sadiq Khal. They also invested in electric fleets. The companies say that the current system of paying £10 per year for each vehicle to be exempt played a fundamental role in their investments. They also claim that ending the exemption would result in a cost of £5,500 every year per vehicle to the businesses that have already switched from diesel. Abolishing this exemption would be detrimental to firms that have taken on debt in order to invest in our air.

Edmund King, President of the AA, said that ten years ago it was not uncommon to find black particles on a handkerchief after blowing your nose. This has changed thankfully. The policy of reducing the electric van discount is detrimental to the economy and health of Londoners. We need to encourage zero-emission transport, not discourage it.” The Mayor has previously defended this decision by saying that the congestion fee was created originally to relieve central London traffic. Electric vehicles have also increased from 20,000 to 112,000 in six years.

Only 2% of London’s vans are electric. When the mayor announced a £100m scrappage program for those affected by the Ulez expansion only 2% of the vans were converted to an electric model.

Electric vans can be more expensive than diesel vans and are difficult to charge because they are too big to fit into some public charging stations.

The Netherlands has twice as many electric vans as the UK. A Clean Cities report published last week showed that 20 Dutch municipalities are creating zones with zero emissions where all delivery vehicles are required to be powered by battery or hydrogen. The mayor of London has dropped plans to create a London zero emission zone.

Oliver Lord, UK director of Clean Cities, stated that Khan’s choice was “at odds” with his record and commitment to climate change.

Lord stated that “small businesses will be the ones to suffer most as the progress towards a cleaner and electric future is stifled in an economy already rife with challenges.”

How is it possible that in the UK’s most polluted area, a diesel van with a bad reputation pays the same price as an electric vehicle?

Laura Timm is the Federation of Small Businesses London’s Policy Chair. She said that small businesses in London have been facing a “cost of doing business” crisis for a good decade. Many have “done the right things” and invested in green initiatives.

According to a spokesperson for the mayor, the Cleaner Vehicles Discount is ending due to the increased use of electric vehicles which has reduced the impact on the congestion charge.

“However the Mayor acknowledges the issues raised in relation to electric vans. This includes the importance of supporting businesses that have done the right things and switched to cleaner vehicles.

We are working with TfL on what else can be done to reduce the impact of this phase-out and to further encourage businesses to switch to cleaner vehicles. The initiative is in addition to other initiatives such as freight consolidation and cargo bicycle deliveries. We continue to work on national measures which could make a significant difference, such as the extension of plug-in van grants.