A fleet of 13 electric vans is expected to annually reduce the council's carbon emissions by 25 tonnes and save £46,000 over the next three years.

The vehicles will replace an existing fleet of diesel vans which have reached the end of their contract.

12 of the vans, which can travel 106 miles on a full charge, will be used by the Estate Services team who make roughly 900 journeys each month to undertake a variety of essential tasks for council tenants such as cleaning, maintenance and excess rubbish removal.

The Kingston Community Library service will also receive one of the vans to help develop their expanding at-home service through projects such as Reading Friends which combats social isolation. Their van will be used to deliver books and other resources across the borough to residents and partner organisations in the Voluntary and Community Sector.

The 100% electric vehicles don't produce carbon dioxide (CO2) or Nitrogen Dioxide (NOx) particles and are quiet while running, which means the journeys they undertake will have less impact on the environment and cause less disruption to residents early in the morning and late in the evening.

They are also cheaper to run, costing the council roughly 4.6p per mile as opposed to the 15.3p per mile of a comparable diesel vehicle, nor do they require oil changes or transmission services.

Cllr Stephanie Archer, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainable Transport said: "It's great that we've been able to take 13 diesel vehicles off the road and replace them with their electric counterparts.

"It's important that we lead the way where we can by using more sustainable and environmentally friendly transport when delivering our services to residents."

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