To reduce its carbon footprint Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has taken delivery of twelve new electric vehicles to be deployed across Cheshire for support staff.
The all-electric Nissan LEAF cars, distinctly liveried with the message Red Fire Engines, Green Values, replace some of the existing fleet of petrol cars used to go from station to station and home visits in local communities.
Multi-charge posts have been installed at nine fire stations across Cheshire, ensuring a network of fleet charging points.
Environment, Energy and Engineering Officer Ella Schubmehl managed the project. She said: "Some of the vehicles used by our support staff, whether by advocates visiting households in the community or station to station or headquarter to station visits, were nearing the end of their contracts and would need replacing.
"The Energy Saving Trust carried out an in-depth survey of precisely how and where the support vehicles were used and were able to see that, with the incorporation of strategically placed charging posts, a large proportion of the fleet could comprise electric vehicles, thereby supporting our low carbon aspiration of 40% carbon reduction by 2020."
75% of the total value of the vehicles is being grant funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service the remaining amount over a two year period. Similarly, charging posts have been 75% grant funded with OLEV paying £26,593.00 against the Service's outlay of £6,648.25.
Cllr Tony Sherlock, Cheshire Fire Authority Environmental Champion, said: "We launched our Environment and Sustainability Strategy in 2014 to ensure we achieve 40% carbon reduction by 2020 and have been very fortunate to be included on the OLEV readiness project for the procurement of electric vehicles and the implementation of a charging infrastructure. With their help we have been able to reduce our carbon footprint and work towards being an increasingly environmentally friendly Authority."
