50 electric vans available for firms in Nottingham

Businesses in Nottingham are to be offered free trials of new electric vans after the city council was successful in winning a £2.69 million government grant.

The funding will pay for the Electric Van Experience (EVE) Project, covering the purchase of 50 vehicles for companies to take on a try-before-you-buy arrangement until March 2022. The EVE fleet will include some cars and smaller vans but will mostly be made up of larger (medium and long-wheelbase) vehicles.

Successful delivery of the new project will help make air-quality improvements on roads across the city and will contribute towards Nottingham’s carbon-neutral objectives to 2028.

As part of the existing Go Ultra Low Programme, Nottingham City Council had been successfully delivering an ULEV experience to businesses in Nottingham, enabling them to trial this type of vehicle. The project offered up to one-month loans from a fleet of ten electric cars and vans. The programme delivered 75 loans to 41 organisations across the city before funding for the project finished at the end of March this year.

Nottingham City Council has already converted 30 per cent of its fleet.

Sally Longford, Deputy Leader of Nottingham City Council and Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment, said: “Once again our ambition and forward-thinking in Nottingham has enabled us to successfully secure further significant funding for innovative transport projects in the city. Following on from our popular Go Ultra Low Programme, where businesses could road-test an electric fleet vehicle for up to a month, I’m delighted that this latest funding will enable us to hand over the keys on larger electric vans for a trial period – totally free of charge.

“This gives business owners who are interested in switching from traditional diesel and petrol vehicles the ability to do that without the initial, up-front costs of buying an electric van. We can also help them with the additional expense of setting up charging points at their premises.

“I’m proud that we are increasingly held up as an exemplar when the national debate is around climate change and ground-breaking environmental projects. Our electric bus fleet and extended tram system have moved Nottingham well ahead of other cities around the country and we are lucky to have them. This is only the start, however. We will need to redouble our efforts in the coming years as we strive for our target to be the first UK city to be carbon-neutral by 2028.”