British Gas said it had ordered 1,000 new all-electric Vivaro-e vans from PSA's Vauxhall. It's claimed to be the largest commercial BEV (battery electric vehicle) order placed in the UK to date.

The vans will arrive over the next 12 months and be rolled out nationwide across the utility's engineer workforce.

Centrica, owner of British Gas, has committed to electrifying its 12,000 strong fleet by 2030 and will be making further orders with Vauxhall for electric vehicles as soon as they are available. This "may" include the Combo-e – available from summer 2021.

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The engineers who receive the new vans will be chosen from volunteers but also targeting areas where it is important to lower emissions and where a van already needs replacing.

British Gas will install chargers at engineer homes and is currently "upskilling" engineers in EV charging and is accelerating EV adoption for homes and businesses with charger installs and dedicated EV tariffs.

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Matthew Bateman, managing director of British Gas, said: "Our engineers and their vans are part of the local community they serve and it's important we reduce the emissions of our vans so that we are contributing towards better air quality in their area and the environment. We are committed to the transition to electric vehicles which involves changing our fleet as well as helping consumers and businesses with charge points and infrastructure.

"We chose to work with Vauxhall as they were able to give us a large number of high-quality and low emission vans to help us effectively serve our customers  and they will also work with us on future EV solutions. Transport is a key area where we can improve carbon emissions and is an important part of our strategy to meet our net zero targets."

A Centrica spokeswoman told just-auto the vans would be built by PSA in France but the company hoped future orders would be built in the UK.

PSA assembles some petrol and diesel versions of the Vivaro at its Luton vans plant which is adding a third shift to meet demand.

The Vivaro is built on PSA's versatile EMP2 platform and the line is also sold in the UK as the Peugeot Expert and Citroen Dispatch, both also with EV versions either on sale or due later this year.