Electric utility vans can claim to have roots in the late 19th century. Many aspects of the electric-vehicle industry also date back this far, but electric utility vans have one of the strongest claims to this length of time. This is because utility vans have been around in one form or another since almost the original creation of the automobile.

In the 1880s and 1890s when automobiles were first developed, carmakers developed electric systems in addition to the internal combustion engine. However, people found that electricity was too cumbersome. This was especially true for automobiles that had been developed with large storage areas for transportation of cargo. These early utility vans did not respond well to electrification and for the most part it was not attempted with them any farther.

But this does not mean that electrification was not attempted again until the present day. In fact, about 40 years ago there were several universities researching ways to electrify cargo vans in order to help the West cut down on the dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Sadly, advances in electric vehicles technology have really only been made after political crises (for example, the energy crises in the Middle East in 1973 and 1979, and in the last couple of years as gas prices have creeped steadily upward). The current energy crisis is a good example of these, and that is why electric vehicles in general, and electric utility vans in particular, have made a comeback in the last few years. Only time will tell whether this advance is permanent or just another flash in the pan.

The first side of the story starts in the middle of the 20^th century.  Around this time, a lot of experimentation was done on electrification of vehicles in the event of needing backups to the current fleet of combustible vehicles.  This was almost clairvoyant considering the oil shocks of the 1970s, but at the time it was little more than an idle interest in maybe creating a new class of roadworthy vehicles.  It was around this time that the first bits of experimentation with electric utility vans were done.  Because of this, the electric utility van has actually been around a lot longer historically than many of the other electric vehicles that you will see in the world today.

Unfortunately for the electric utility van however, the concept did not have many legs and was quickly dropped to the wayside.  Even during the 1970s, many parts of the western world did not take a second look at electric utility vans.  It is only in the current decade that they have really started to be looked at again by the major utility van manufacturers. Where things will go from here is anyone’s guess, but the high and low nature of the history of electric utility vans has certainly left our generation with a lot of catch-up work left to do.

Yep, you guessed it.  The lack of a decent storage system for electricity is what is really killing the electric utility van right now.  In fact, because the main purpose of a utility van is to cart things from one place to another, just about everything else is in place in regards to propagating the electric utility van.  The range is there and the ability to reach higher speeds is there.  However, the lack of a good and lightweight battery solution weighs the van down a great deal and in the end takes away a lot of what is supposed to make a utility van good.

This is why current trends in the electric utility van industry are actually not that encouraging.  When you take a look at what is holding the industry back, it is without a doubt the storage system issues.  This also means that we generally know where research is going to be over the next few years.  The next step towards making electric utility vans competitive is finding a solution to that storage problem.