Electric van sharing for small businesses in Brixton

Small businesses in Brixton, including street and market traders, will be able to use a free shared electric van as part of partnership initiative that aims to tackle the area’s high pollution levels

Cross River Partnership’s award winning Clean Air Villages programme aims to encourage small businesses based locally in Brixton to start sharing a greener and cleaner electric van with other local businesses, all completely free of charge.
 
The EV shared van scheme is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, and is the result of a joint collaboration between Lambeth Council, Brixton BID, Zipcar for Business and Cross River Partnership’s Clean Air Villages Programme.  The project is funded by Lambeth Council and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The EV van will be located near Brixton’s Electric Avenue, a nod to both the street’s many market traders and its electric heritage, having been the first market street in London to be lit by electric lights back in the 1880s. However, evolutions in transport and technology have also brought major environmental challenges to the area, and nearby Brixton Road is now considered to be one of London’s most polluted streets.

The project sees DEFRA funding the overall scheme through Cross River Partnership’s Clean Air Villages Programme, Lambeth Council funding the van itself, which is provided and run through Zipcar for Business, and Brixton BID playing a key role in bringing Brixton businesses on board.

Cllr Claire Holland, Deputy Leader of Lambeth Council and cabinet lead for the Environment and Clean Air, said: “I’m proud that right here in the heart of Brixton we have got London’s first electric van solely for the use of local businesses. We are determined to help Lambeth’s local businesses transition to low-carbon ways of working and electric vehicles and cargo bikes are the way forward.  We all need to play our own role in tackling the climate crisis and by choosing to use electric vehicles, small businesses in Lambeth are leading from the front.”