Battery Vehicle Society

I had the belief that commercial electric vehicles do not require an MOT. Having now purchased a Berlingo I find it has had an MOT history. Is this because there are folding rear seats fitted? It does not state the no. of seats on the V5. There are no windows at the back which used to be important way back in 1963 when we bought a Purchase Tax free Mini Van.

Must dig out the V5 from my milk float and try to figure out the difference. Certainly I was able to Tax that without an MOT.

Rory

RORY, NO M O T required on electric commercial vehicles, the previous owners of you vehicle may have got the M O T just to show say a new purchaser that the vehicle is sound from the all the things on the M O T, I have had my (shiny) red van M O Td three times but haven't bothered fo the past two years, so stop worrying and drive ELECTRIC and try and stay faithful to the BLINGO for as long as you can, you can get NICAD BATTERIES when they go duff from our POLISH friend HIGHEND, contact GRUMPY B for ANY tech stuff or parts, and avoid the NISSAN LEAF for as long as you can ha ha, cheers HARRY MORRIS.

Rory[/quote]

harry morris wrote:RORY, NO M O T required on electric commercial vehicles, the previous owners of you vehicle may have got the M O T just to show say a new purchaser that the vehicle is sound from the all the things on the M O T, I have had my (shiny) red van M O Td three times but haven't bothered fo the past two years, so stop worrying and drive ELECTRIC and try and stay faithful to the BLINGO for as long as you can, you can get NICAD BATTERIES when they go duff from our POLISH friend HIGHEND, contact GRUMPY B for ANY tech stuff or parts, and avoid the NISSAN LEAF for as long as you can ha ha, cheers HARRY MORRIS.

Rory

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Actually the Van is part of a cunning plan to get to drive the Leaf by offering the van as a replacement to the prodigal who drives the Leaf most of the time. The MOT ran out some years ago. I suspect the rear seats make it no longer a commercial vehicle. The Van is currently dead but hopefully may charge when I put a replacement Aux battery in. Apparently one battery module is shorted out because it failed. I do not yet understand the difference between D and G cells but in time all will become clear.

Electrically powered light goods vehicles are exempt. My Multispace built from a new shell and subject to substantial discussions with DVLA is still registered as a LCV even with seats. Their choice and Im not going to argue with them. Interestingly I have found that you can get tax on an EV, without an MOT, I have three vehicles that were conversions where I have found this to be the case. I guess thats an error on the DVLA online system.
In the berlingo case MOT is your choice. Even without an MOT your vehicle still has to pass all the construction and use regs at any point the same as any oter vehicle. An MOT is not a statement of a vehicles roadworthiness, just a snapshot. The Police and VOSA can still pull you off the road even with a valid MOT.

Grumpy-b

Hi Grumpy-B

I think my Berlingo is not an LCV. The V5 looks exactly the same as my Seicento although I only have the page 2 of course. I am not sure if it says LCV or does it just populate the carrying capacity line with a weight figure? The LCV is usually on the soon to be abolished tax disc but is it on the v5?

Rory

What does the tax disc say

The body type is noted as Van , Panel van, or in the case of my Multispace Van/ Side windows.
TAxation class is noted as Electric.

Hence a van is a light good vehicle, and Its electric powered, so its exempt.
Its really not worth getting worried about. I have had these for over 5 years right now I have 5 of them, and all are the same in terms of registration, tax, MOT etc.
Your call if you MOT but as I stated before you still have to ensure roadworthiness even if you dont MOT, and Even if you do.

Grumpy-b

Grumpy-b wrote:The body type is noted as Van , Panel van, or in the case of my Multispace Van/ Side windows.
TAxation class is noted as Electric.

Hence a van is a light good vehicle, and Its electric powered, so its exempt.
Its really not worth getting worried about. I have had these for over 5 years right now I have 5 of them, and all are the same in terms of registration, tax, MOT etc.
Your call if you MOT but as I stated before you still have to ensure roadworthiness even if you dont MOT, and Even if you do.

Grumpy-b

Interesting....

I have a Smith Edison in the workshop ATM and the Tax class as printed is "ELECTRIC PLG". all non commercial vehicles I have seen or own just state "ELECTRIC".

PLG depicts Private/ Light Goods, Cars . Private vans, pickups etc etc fall into this category
Commercial vehicles are noted as that if they are taxed and used in that way.
This is important if you tow vehicles for a living, nowadays you need to have a Tachograph if you do x amount of towing over a certain weight. Im not sure how this relates to personal use, but of course there is no choice as your insurance for towing commercially is different from towing your horse box for your own (well your horses) use. Its also more advantageous to have your landrover / other pickup taxed as a commercial vehicle at £225 (or thereabouts) rather than a lot more if taxed o emmisions.
The berlingo V5 will be like mine , Van or panel van , and Taxation class electric. Whats on the tax disk is no of no consequence as you will no longer get them from the 1st Oct.

Grumpy-b

Rory166 wrote:I had the belief that commercial electric vehicles do not require an MOT. Having now purchased a Berlingo I find it has had an MOT history. Is this because there are folding rear seats fitted? It does not state the no. of seats on the V5. There are no windows at the back which used to be important way back in 1963 when we bought a Purchase Tax free Mini Van.

Must dig out the V5 from my milk float and try to figure out the difference. Certainly I was able to Tax that without an MOT.

Rory

Yep you dont need an MOT for a Berlingo VAN, however it still has to be road worthy

ChrisB