Cheshire fire service receives fleet of Nissan Leafs

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has taken the delivery of a fleet of twelve Nissan Leafs in a bid to minimise its impact on the environment.

The electric fleet will replace a number of petrol cars and will be used by fire staff to travel between fire stations and for home visits in the community. Charging points have also been installed at nine fire stations in the region to maximise the fleet’s efficiency.

Four of the Leafs will be based at the Warrington Fire Station, four at Crewe, two at Chester and two at the service headquarters in Winford. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has subsided 75 per cent of the funding for the electric vehicles (EVs) and the charge points.

Ella Schubmehl, environment, energy and engineering officer who managed the project, said: “Some of the vehicles used by our support staff, whether by advocates visiting households in the community or station to station or headquarters to station visits, were nearing the end of their contracts and would need replacing.

“The Energy Saving Trust carried out an in-depth survey of precisely how and where the support vehicles were used and were able to see that, with the incorporation of strategically placed charging posts, a large proportion of the fleet could comprise EVs, thereby supporting our low carbon aspiration of 40 per cent carbon reduction by 2020.”

Councillor Tony Sherlock, Cheshire Fire Authority environmental champion, added: “We launched our Environment and Sustainability Strategy in 2014 to ensure we achieve 40 per cent carbon reduction by 2020 and have been very fortunate to be included on the OLEV readiness project for the procurement of electric vehicles and the implementation of a charging infrastructure. With their help we have been able to reduce our carbon footprint and work towards being an increasingly environmentally friendly Authority.”

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