Four electric response cars to be trialled by ambulance service

North West Ambulance Service is set to introduce electric rapid response vehicles to its fleet.

The NWAS will be one of the first ambulance services in the country to bring in electric cars as part of its fleet and is expected to save up £2.5 million in fuel costs over four years.

The ambulance service currently has 174 rapid response vehicles and will be bringing in four electric-powered vehicles as a trial.

The updated version of the electric BMW i3 model will be used in Bury and Rochdale.

It is equipped with a system that can support the vehicle by extending mile range by using a small petrol engine to generate electricity to the battery, which will only be used in “extreme circumstances”.

Neil Maher, assistant director for service delivery support for North West Ambulance Service said: “The Trust relies heavily on rapid response vehicles to be able to attend patients as quickly as possible.

“The introduction of these electrically powered cars will not only provide huge cost savings for the Trust, it will also have a huge impact on our carbon footprint, reducing the carbon contribution from our RRVs from 1379.28 tonnes to 100.8 tonnes.”

Neil added: “Although electric cars have been around for some time, improvements in technology from BMW have allowed the Trust to be confident enough to use them for emergency response units.”