Electric vehicles are ready to roll in North Tyneside

A new fleet of zero emission vehicles is set to hit the streets of North Tyneside.

The council has taken delivery of 10 environmentally-friendly electric vans which are now ready for service. 

The Nissan e-NV200 vehicles have been brought in as part of the council’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and improve air quality. 

Significant progress has already been made with the council’s carbon emissions coming down by 45% since 2011 and the borough’s carbon emissions by 39%.

The new vehicles will help the council fast-track its Low Carbon Plan 2016-2027 so that the targeted 50% reduction is achieved four years ahead of schedule and to achieve carbon neutrality in the borough by 2050 in line with national targets.

The vehicles, said to be capable of doing over 180 miles on a single charge, will be used to provide construction, housing repairs, and maintenance services for 14,000 properties in the borough.

Councillor Steve Cox, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “The council recently declared a climate emergency. These vehicles will help to reduce carbon emissions in the borough in line with our new more ambitious targets and support the council’s commitment to provide a clean and sustainable environment.

“The vans are fully electric, they’re very quiet, and one of the benefits is that when the vehicles stop at traffic lights or junctions, there are no emissions coming out the back and no energy being used. For a relatively small borough, these vehicles could be ideal and we’ll be looking at their performance to determine when we can replace more of the fleet with electric vehicles."

Delivery of the vehicles comes after North Tyneside Council declared a climate emergency and pledged to take more urgent action to reduce carbon emissions across the borough.