The latest installment in Nissan’s relentless and impressive campaign to promote its e-NV200 electric van is the ‘£2 Challenge’ — providing firms with the chance to see just how little an electric van costs to run on a daily basis.

The latest UK firm to take up the £2 challenge is The Ergro Group, a building and building services engineering group which operates a 35-strong fleet from its Dartford HQ.

Ergro engineer Charlie Morgan drove a fully loaded e-NV200 from the company’s Dartford base to central London (a round trip of about 40 miles) where he completed a full day’s worth of service calls (a few more miles) before heading back.

At the end of the day, he had used just £1.20’s worth of the vehicle’s full £2 charge, clearly demonstrating how the e-NV200 can help fleet operators and business van users significantly reduce running and whole-life costs. By way of contrast, a equivalent diesel-powered van of the same size would probably have used about £6-£7 of diesel for the same work.

Yes, but … you might say — what about the initial purchase cost of the e-NV200? Well, Nissan currently offers the e-NV200 from £13,393, including the benefit of the government’s Plug-In Van Grant. That compares very favourably with the cost of buying the diesel-powered NV200, which is priced from £13,890 on the road.

In addition to low running costs and emissions, electric van users will also benefit from low maintenance costs that make for unrivalled total cost of ownership: Nissan claims that the e-NV200 will cost £1,200 less than a conventional diesel van to run over four years – and an unbeatable proposition for businesses large and small.

A final benefit is that thanks to the unique driving experience of the e-NV200, drivers will feel less fatigued due to the lack of engine vibration in the cabin.