GREENER: Lower emissions for Ashfield Council
Potentially 25% more fuel-efficient than the vehicles they are replacing, five new Ashwoods Hybrid Transits are being deployed by Ashfield District Council’s Environmental Services Team.
The vehicles, fitted with tipper bodies, are a combination of medium and long wheelbase Ford Transit chassis cabs.
Thanks to a Department for Transport subsidy, Ashfield Council are further benefiting by purchasing the vehicles at standard diesel van costs.
They bought the vans through Phase Two of the Department for Transport’s Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP), which provides a subsidy of £3,430 per vehicle.
David White, Transport Services Manager for Ashfield District Council, said: “A lot of green vehicles do cut carbon but come at a premium price, require extra driver training and usually the installation of refuelling or recharging infrastructure.
“The Ashwoods Hybrid Transit vehicle doesn’t have any of these drawbacks.
“It is cost-effective to purchase and will actually lower our fleet fuel spend and reduce CO2 output.”
Negating the need for re-charging, the Ashwoods system is entirely self-powered, storing energy every time the vehicle slows down before transfer to the wheels via an electric motor.
All of Ashfield Council’s hybrid vehicles are also fitted with Ashwoods’ Lightfoot driver behaviour system, designed to deliver an average 15% improvement in fuel consumption.
Lightfoot advises the driver on how to operate the van in the most fuel-efficient manner by using real-time audio and visual aids in the cab.
