Grimshaw Lane Dairy in Ormskirk has taken delivery of four e-NV200 vans from Crosby Park Nissan in Liverpool and is using them to make its daily deliveries to homes and businesses in and around the town.

The four vehicles – named Tilly, Bovine, Ermintrude and Daisy by the drivers – have replaced a fleet of aging diesels and each covers around 50 miles a day making roughly 500 deliveries apiece.

Managing director Andrew Brown, who plans to swap his two remaining diesel vehicles with e-NV200s in the coming months, says the new additions to the fleet are already saving the company £900 a month in fuel.

What’s more, the smooth drive of the e-NV200 means residential customers are happy as early morning deliveries, which start at 1.30am, are now made in near silence.

Brown said: “Switching to the Nissan e-NV200 was a no brainer for us. Basically the savings we’re making on the fuel have paid for the contract hire on the vans and we’ll be saving on the maintenance too.

“We’ve effectively got four new vans for what we’d have been spending on fuel.”

Launched last year, the Nissan e-NV200 combines the NV200 – a former International Van of the Year – with the proven technology of the Nissan Leaf – the world’s bestselling electric car.

The manufacturer says it costs 2p per mile to run and users also benefit from low maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, the model, which is priced from £13,393 in panel van form (incorporating the Plug-in Van Grant) offers 4.2m3 capacity and a 703kg payload.