London Mayor’s new electric van fleet helps cut toxic emissions

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is helping cut toxic vehicle emissions on London’s roads with a trial fleet of 25 electric vans which are delivering thousands of items.

Over half of London’s filthy air pollution is caused by dirty diesel and old petrol vehicle emissions.

Khan is determined to help Londoners breathe cleaner air and wants to work with freight companies to reduce the number of large lorries on London’s roads and encourage the use of cleaner vehicles like electric vans.

Freight vans and HGVs make up over 30 per cent of all traffic in central London and currently, 97 per cent of them are diesel. The new all-electric vans produce zero exhaust emissions providing a much cleaner alternative to diesel freight vehicles.

The new vans have been part of an all electric fleet that together are delivering an average of 80,000 parcels a week to Londoners during the Christmas season, reaching a high of 18,600 deliveries in a single day after Black Friday. The vans are some of the largest electric vehicles currently on the road and have been fitted with innovative hardware which remotely monitors environmental emissions performance, electric vehicle range, and electrical energy consumed.

The vans are funded through a £1.1million partnership with the mayor, Innovate UK, and freight company Gnewt Cargo who deliver parcels from a variety of retailers across central London. The trial will test and assess the commercial viability of electric delivery vehicles and encourage other freight companies to switch to cleaner vehicles.

Deputy mayor for environment and energy, Shirley Rodrigues, said: "Electric delivery vans have an important role to play in helping lower harmful emissions and improve air quality on our roads. The mayor is determined to take the bold action needed to protect Londoners from our toxic air and wants much greater use of electric vehicles as we move towards becoming a zero-emissions city."

The electric vans will be charged using specially designed rapid charging points at Gnewt’s depot which are fitted with SMART technology which identifies the most efficient time of day to charge the vans.