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.

Nottingham is also trialling Ashwoods’ Lightfoot driver behaviour system.

Wood added: “Lightfoot has the potential to further cut our fleet fuel consumption at a time of rising diesel prices. It is a very cost-competitive solution and we expect it to deliver a good return on investment.”

Nottingham City Council purchased the van through the Department for Transport’s Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP). This initiative aims to help public sector bodies in England and Wales to procure and assess 500 Ashwoods Hybrid LCVs. The DfT provides a subsidy of £3,430 per vehicle.

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