A new electric truck is being used for facilities maintenance and security services at Hillington Park business estate near Glasgow.

Hillington Park, which won a ‘Biodiversity Benchmark’ from the Wildlife Trusts - becoming the first business park in Britain to be recognised for the quality of its environmental management - is home to more than 300 companies employing around 6,700 people from sectors including retail, manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, technology and the public sector.

The new Alke ATX200E battery-powered utility truck, which will further lower Hillington Park’s carbon footprint and save on fuel, is being used daily for litter picking and is fitted with a cage body, allowing for easy storage of refuse sacks.  

Previously, a diesel van had been used for this task.

The cage can be removed, allowing the vehicle to also be used as a conventional flatbed truck.

Jerry Hanss, managing director of ePower Trucks, which supplied the vehicle, said: “Hillington Park takes environmental management very seriously.

“Once the company witnessed the high performance level of our battery-powered truck, it was happy to make the switch from diesel to electric.”

The two-seater Alke vehicle has a range of up to 60 miles on a single battery charge and is fully road legal. The truck can tow up to 3,000kg and carry payloads of up to 600kg. The batteries can be fully recharged in eight hours and running costs are less than 2p per mile.