Scottish Fire & Rescue orders 45 Renault Zoe electric vehicles

Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) has ordered 45 Renault Zoe electric vehicles to support its frontline operations.

The world’s fourth largest fire and rescue service will use the cars as general pool vehicles, with each covering at least 10,000 miles a year.

They will be used by uniformed staff, office employees and management to interact with the public in non-emergency situations, which span free home safety visits to commercial events.

The Zoe cars, which has a range of 186 miles, will be distributed at sites across Scotland, including all major cities as well as Orkney and the Shetland Islands.

Scott Roberts, fleet manager at SFRS, said: “The best way to deal with an emergency is to prevent it from happening, and the Zoes will play a vital role in how we engage with communities and deliver our crucial safety messages.

“Introducing them has been a major step in our future direction and while we have previously adopted hybrid technology with a handful of vehicles, they felt more like a box ticking exercise and never really worked on a practical or financial basis.

“With the Zoe, we can see that having environmentally-compatible electric vehicles is a viable business model.”

The Zoe models have replaced traditionally fuelled hatchbacks and now account for nearly a quarter of SFRS’s pool car fleet.

SFRS is installing up to six charging points at each site, while additional charging will be carried out via ChargePlace Scotland – the country’s government-supported public EV charging network.

Roberts said SFRS will replace all its pool cars with Zoe models, and is evaluating the Kangoo ZE with a view to introducing it to its compact van fleet.

Earlier this month, Renault announce a revised Zoe with a range of 245 miles.