“However, anecdotal reports suggest users still have concerns over the front end costs of electric vehicles and there are questions often raised over battery life and range anxiety, all of which apply equally to used buyers in the wholesale market.

“Examples that do reach the used market have to be competitively valued and be complete with a full service history if they are to be remarketed successfully.”

A few used electric vehicles are now beginning to trickle through the auction halls, and James Davies, head of commercial vehicles at Manheim, said: “Examples of the kind of electric vehicles going through include a 2007 Modec box van with 41,578 miles on the clock which sold this time last year for over £10,000.

“In February last year, a 2007 Edison Transit T350M panel van with 6,000 miles on the clock sold for £2,500 over CAP.

When compared to the value of an equivalent diesel-engined Ford Transit, the Smith Edison achieved 129% of the diesel model’s book price.”

But, said Davies, alternatively-fuelled vans remain a rarity at auction, accounting for less than 0.5% of all vans sold by Manheim.

LPG is the most predominant, with around 100 sold in the halls over the past 18 months.

The average age of LPG vans sold to the end of October is 100 months, or just over eight years, while average mileage hovers around the 91,000 mark.

He said: “Demands differ between buyers of new and used vans. Take first-generation electric vans as an example. New demand was all too often driven by public perception, competitor activity and environmental credentials.

“In the majority of cases they were significantly more expensive to operate on a wholelife cost basis compared to standard combustion engine vehicles. Due to van funding solutions, the business case for electric vans often struggled to stack up externally.

“Consequently major van operators in food, logistics and infrastructure sectors preferred to fund them internally; many from marketing budgets, almost speculatively it could be said.

“Electric vans were branded to showcase the operator’s environmental credentials and operated in a small radius of their urban base right under their customers’ noses.”

While LPG technology relies on the combustion engine and therefore gains the confidence of the used buyer, it should not be forgotten that electric vehicles have been on the roads for more than 100 years.

However, said Davies: “The value of any asset is driven by supply and demand. Condition and usage are effectively complications that combine to influence values significantly.

The term ‘fit for purpose’ is entirely different between first and second life users, especially if, at decision time, a more traditional technology is available in greater numbers and therefore offering better value.