One of British Gas’ new Nissan Primastar vans, which will be used by the company’s service engineers.

British Gas has taken delivery of 138 Nissan Primastar vans for its home and business fleets, in a vote of confidence for Nissan as a fleet van supplier 

Nissan has delivered 138 short and long-wheelbase Primastar medium vans to bolster the energy provider’s service fleet.  The British Gas home services division has taken delivery of 80 Primastars and the remaining 58 for its business services division.

All of the vans are in British Gas cyan blue and thanks to the support of Sunderland-based Nissan’s  Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) the vans were able to be equipped with internal racking to house the engineer’s tools and parts, a telematics system and an impactful livery .

Over five years of service each Primastar will cover up to 90,000 miles en route to delivering maintenance services to businesses and residential homes across the country. The deal comes after British Gas successfully trialled the Nissan e-NV200 last year as part of its ambition to switch 10% of its 14,000 LCV fleet to electric over the next three years.

British Gas general fleet manager Colin Marriott said:

“We’re delighted with the new Primastars and the conversion work to fit racking, telematics and striking liveries.  Throughout this deal the professional support from Nissan has been excellent and they are now proving to be a serious LCV fleet manufacturer.  The e-NV200 trial was a success and we’re happy to continue to build our relationship with Nissan with these new Primastars.”

Jon Pollock, Nissan’s corporate sales director said:

“This is a prestigious order that underlines our commitment to LCV growth .  The Primastar is an ideal van for British Gas and the engineers will enjoy the good levels of driver comfort and ample load space to carry all of their tools and equipment.  With SVO’s support on the conversion we were able to ensure that British Gas has taken delivery of some excellent bespoke vehicles without impacting the vehicle warranty.”

Nissan has never been a big player in the UK van fleet or van hire sector — but deals like this could help change operators’ perception of the brand, especially if it is able to deliver large number of pre-converted vans to fleet customers.