Nottingham City Council has become the latest local authority to invest in hybrid vehicle technology for its fleet.
The council has purchased a number of Ashwoods Hybrid Ford Transit vehicles from Ashwoods Automotive in association with the GK Group and through the Nottinghamshire Procurement Consortium.
Paul Wood, Fleet Manager for Nottingham City Council, said: “The beauty of the Ashwoods Hybrid Transit vehicle is that it doesn’t have the limited range or high price tag of an electric van.
“The vehicles are performing well in a variety of applications across the city. They fit very easily into our existing fleet because it runs just like a normal Transit – we don’t have to ever plug it in, or do any extra service or maintenance work.”
The 3.5T cage tipper vehicles are being used in the Public Realm area. The purchase is part of the council’s ongoing investment in low carbon vehicle technologies. Nottingham was one of the first local authorities to deploy all-electric vans and is a member of the Midlands EXTENSION CABLE project, which is building EV charging infrastructure across the region.
The award-winning Ashwoods Hybrid drive technology reduces fuel consumption and CO? emissions by 15-25%. The system is entirely self-powered; it stores energy every time the vehicle slows down then transfers it to the wheels via an electric motor. Unlike other hybrids or electric vehicles, it never needs plugging into a charging point – and operators don’t have to worry about the battery going flat.
Nottingham is also trialling Ashwoods’ innovative Lightfoot driver behaviour system. Lightfoot advises the driver on how to operate the van in the most fuel-efficient manner, by using real-time audio and visual aids in the cab. The technology is proven on average to deliver fuel consumption improvements of 15 per cent.
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Nottingham City Council purchased the van through the Department for Transport’s Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP). . The DfT provides a subsidy of £3,430 per vehicle.
DfT is only providing subsidies for the first 500 Ashwoods vehicles ordered – and all orders must be received by 31st March 2013.