Council drives into future with clean green fleet

Members of the Waste & Recycling Collections team in front of the new fleet

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Rochdale Borough Council’s Environmental Management department has acquired a fleet of twelve new hybrid vehicles.

The diesel/electric hybrid vehicles are cleaner and greener and are estimated to reduce emissions and fuel costs by a minimum of 15-20 percent.

The fleet does not need any plug-in charging as the regenerative braking system delivers a constant charge to the battery. This ensures harmful CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere are reduced by 33 per cent.

Purchased with assistance from the Department of Transport under the Government Framework to replace the existing and ageing fleet, the new vehicles cost the same as the old fleet, but construction of the vehicles is far better quality than the old vehicles, meaning greater reliability and a reduced need for maintenance.

The fleet also features a driver behavioural tool which continuously monitors how drivers operate the vans and helps them identify and correct inefficient driving in real time.

Cllr Jacqui Beswick, cabinet member for place and regulation (including environment and transport), said: “This new fleet will make a real difference to the areas in which they operate, both in the quality of service delivery and the benefit to council finances and the environment.”