Why it has not been so easy being green for the white van in the UK

Jordane Roach, an Openreach engineer, says: ‘This is so much easier to drive. I’d never go back to diesel.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Swinging a fully laden electric van around a training centre in Bishop’s Stortford feels easy, with instant acceleration that belies the racks of heavy equipment in the back. Perhaps too easy, as the sudden shriek of its proximity sensor suggests the Guardian was a whisker away from a bill for some new paintwork.

The van in question belongs to Openreach, BT’s fibre broadband subsidiary. It is one of 6,000 electric vans out of 23,400 in Britain’s second-largest commercial fleet – and a further 1,000 are expected to be added by March.