New electric vans bring council closer to carbon neutrality
Winchester City Council’s fleet of housing services vehicles has gone fully electric, bringing the local authority closer to its ambition of becoming carbon neutral by the end of 2024.
The fleet recently replaced the last two petrol vehicles in its housing fleet with two new electric vans, meaning a total of 5 petrol vehicles have now been replaced.
The replacement of the 5 vehicles will result in an estimated total saving of 6 tonnes of carbon emissions per year – the equivalent of boiling a kettle around 85,000 times.
The vans are charged using 100% renewable energy, either at the council's City Offices, which are supplied by a REGO-certified renewable energy tariff, or at Barfield Park and Ride car park, where the EV charging points are powered by both the car park’s solar panels and renewable energy from the grid.
Speaking about the fleet, Cabinet Member for the Climate Emergency, Cllr Kelsie Learney, said:
“Low and zero carbon transport are key to our commitment to go greener faster, and I'm really proud that we now have a fully electric fleet for our housing team.
“Our clean energy supplies at our city offices and Barfield Park & Ride mean the vans can be powered completely by renewable sources - that's a huge carbon saving and a big step towards becoming a carbon neutral council.”