One company has reported issues with MOT tests (Image: Getty)
Experts at the have demanded immediate changes with one business finding it “impossible” to book crucial
The business, which has a fleet of electric vans, said they were despite searching availability at a local garage for months.
rules state that are treated as heavy goods vehicles (HGV).
This means vehicles have to undergo more strenuous examination and have to be checked every 12 months instead of three years.
Lorna McAtear, vice chair at the AFP, has called on officials to introduce some form of dispensation immediately.
Electric vans require checks every 12 months (Image: Getty)
According to the AFP, this would allow fleets to defer tests for a period of between six and 12 months.
She added: “It’s questionable whether 4.25-tonne electric vans require HGV tests, an argument we have been making to government for some time.
“The whole point of this category of van when it was introduced in 2019 was to provide easy access for fleets to an electric equivalent of a 3.5-tonne panel van. These vehicles are simply 3.5-tonne vans with bigger batteries.
“The difficulties members are encountering around their inability to book MOT testing only emphasises this confusion.”
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, one business owner has reported “limited success” in securing an examination.
They stressed the MOT testing rules were having a “serious impact on business” in a major blow.
Aaron Powell, fleet and logistics director at , explained: “These 4.25-tonne vans require a Class 7 HGV MOT test and, between generally poor capacity for HGV testing and few test centres being able to handle electric vehicles, we’re finding it impossible on a practical level to book tests.
“Our lease provider has spent the last three months trying to find garages with the ability to carry out the pre-testing and source available slots for the test with limited success.
“This is going to have a serious impact on our business because we’re going to have to take these vans off the road and no doubt many other fleets are finding themselves in the same situation.”