Bath & North East Somerset Council has invested in eight electric vans as part of its new fleet of vehicles used for highway maintenance, reducing carbon emissions and saving on fuel costs.

The majority of vehicles now used by the council’s highways staff are now fully electric Nissan Townstar vans. They will be used by a range of council inspectors, including highway, street works, public right of way and highway structure inspectors.

The adoption of electric vehicles for daily highway maintenance is an example of the action the council is taking as part of its Climate Strategy and Action Plan to tackle the climate emergency.

The council’s Highway Maintenance depot in Clutton, where the electric vehicles will operate from, recently underwent a redevelopment that included the installation of electric vehicle charging points.

Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Transport, said: “We’re excited to introduce our first electric vehicles into our highways fleet. These new vans will lower our fuel usage and carbon emissions significantly and support our action plan to tackle the climate emergency as we strive to become a Net Zero Council.”

“These new vehicles will help our inspectors service Bath & North East Somerset sustainably for the foreseeable future.”

The council hopes these vehicles will remain in service for ten years, similar to the previous fleet of vehicles which were acquired in 2014.