Fleetdrive have delivered Slough Borough Council's 15th electric car.
Following a sustainable fleet analysis with Fleetdrive’s team, a number of practical operational uses were identified where electric vehicles could generate long-term savings for the Local Authority.
Slough Borough Council are currently leasing 4 electric vehicles, 2 of which are on a monthly rolling agreement, and staff and Councillors are participating in the electric car trial project, ‘My Electric Avenue’, which has seen them adopt an additional 11 Nissan Leaf cars for the 18 month trial.
‘My Electric Avenue’ is a pioneering project, funded by Ofgem, aiming to find out what impact electric cars will have on the electricity supply when more people start to use them and trialling a new technology to more effectively manage the power supply. Participants in the scheme feedback vehicle usage data throughout the 18 month period.
Electric charging points are available in Slough at St Martins Place, The Centre and Montem Leisure Centre so Council staff can charge their cars up while they are at work, and there are plans to install more across the borough soon.
There are also charging points at Hatfield Road and Herschel car parks, as well as Langley Leisure Centre, with plans to expand the network even further well underway.
The Council are also rolling out a series of rapid chargers, which charge vehicles in just 20 minutes. The first one has been located in Brunel Way.
Jason Newman, Environmental Quality Team Manager, who is co-ordinating the trial, said: “This is a great project and our staff are now reaping the many benefits of driving a brand new electric car.
“They are much cheaper to run than conventional cars, they don’t need road tax and they are great for the environment, with zero carbon emissions and very little air pollution.
“Feedback from staff using the cars has been excellent so far and the council will soon be looking into the possibility of buying or leasing electric pool cars for staff to use for business journeys.”
Cllr Satpal Parmar, Commissioner for Environment and Open Spaces, said: “We are always looking for new ways of encouraging more sustainable methods of travel, improving air quality and making the borough a greener and healthier place to live.
“Electric cars are the way of the future and I’m delighted Slough is leading the way with this trial.
“It is important we continue to build the charging infrastructure so motorists have the confidence to make that switch to electric.”
Mike Potter, managing director at Fleetdrive, says; “It’s great to see Slough Borough Council realising the benefits of electric cars and being pioneers of EV adoption among Local Authorities.
With driving costs as low as 2p per mile, and the commitment-free flexible leasing arrangements we can offer, electric vehicles make real business sense.“
Patriot - 12/11/2014 10:40
Jason Newman........................"and they are great for the environment," Another daft statement from someone who has no idea of the manufacturing processes involved in producing EV's. In the last year, a number of important studies tracking the environmental cost of EVs, and particularly lithium-ion batteries, have come out. What these studies have shown is that the environmental gap between internal combustion and electric power is not as wide as we want it to be, and that, regardless of carbon footprint, the process of making lithium-ion batteries leaves a lot to be desired. As great as lithium is for batteries, it has a dark side as well: The stuff is downright nasty. Lithium is flammable and highly reactive. A good rule of thumb is that any industrial process that makes liberal use of the word ‘slurry’ is not good for pandas, or for that matter people. And slurry does come up a lot in the battery-making process. With cars that supposedly generate “zero exhaust emissions,” how are these pollution numbers even possible? The simple answer is that as well as being messy to produce; battery production requires a tremendous amount of electricity. The initial production of the vehicle and the batteries together make up something like 40 percent of the total carbon footprint of an EV – nearly double that of an equivalent petrol-powered vehicle. In Slough the PC brigade has taken over from intelligence and common sense. Which is not so common.