Highways team receives greener vehicle support

A new vehicle addition is supporting the delivery of major highways work across Denbighshire and neighbouring counties.

Denbighshire County Council’s Fleet Department has worked to procure a new Highways vehicle to help better support major work by staff in the department in a more efficient and long-term cost saving manner.

The department now have access to a Citroën Ë-C5 Aircross which delivers a 400 plus miles range, offering long term savings on running costs and a lower carbon footprint thanks to zero emissions at the tailpipe. This is replacing an end-of-life fossil fuel powered Highways vehicle.

Highways are responsible for the maintenance and repair of all 1,400 kilometres of Denbighshire roads. Staff carry out a planned programme of works to maintain and improve county roads, which ranges from the repair of potholes right up to major resurfacing schemes.

This vehicle will be used by major the Highways major projects team to attend meetings, visit sites for surveys and inspections, and supervise construction works.

Denbighshire County Council declared a climate and nature emergency in 2019 and has since been adopting zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) into its fleet. Currently, more than 20% of its vehicles in its fleet are made up of ZEVs.

The Council’s Fleet department has been transitioning end of live fossil fuel powered vehicles over to electric with significant support from Welsh and UK Government departments to help cut down on emissions produced reduce long-term costs for miles and maintenance across all services our fleet supplies to and lower the reliance on petrol- and diesel-powered engines.

Council staff with access to EV vehicles also take part in a training package run by Fleet which includes how to utilise the EV charging infrastructure safely and efficiently, making use of regenerative braking systems, and when to select a 'driving mode' based on conditions or payloads.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said: “This addition to the major projects team will help them deliver their work whilst delivering greener and also lower long-term costs for miles and regular maintenance.”