Liverpool building maintenance team buys first electric van27 October 2010

An electric van from Smith Electric Vehicles is helping Liverpool City Council to deliver quiet and clean operations in its building maintenance division.

Liverpool's transport services manager, John Carrington, explains that the local authority acquired its Edison van as part of the DfT's (Department for Transport) low carbon vehicle procurement programme (LCVPP).

"The electric van is perfect for the lower mileage requirements of our Premises Management services. It is clean, quiet and a pleasure to drive," he says.

And he adds: "The purchase of this initial van will help us to grow our understanding of electric vehicles, as we gather data from its performance and running costs. This experience will inform our future purchasing strategies of low carbon vehicles."

Based on the Ford Transit panel van, it has a range of 100 miles and a top speed of 50mph. Currently, the vehicle leaves its city centre location each morning and performs a range of duties during normal working hours, before returning to its base to be recharged overnight.

Carrington says that, even when recharged from a conventional electricity supply, Edison still delivers a CO2 saving of around 50%, compared to a standard diesel van.

Also, Liverpool's Edison is one of the first to feature Smith's new 51 kW/hr, lithium-ion battery pack. Running costs are less than 5p per mile and maintenance requirements are promising to be much lower than for an equivalent diesel engine vehicle.

Author
Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Smith Technologies Ltd

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