Electric blue light services doubled in last three years

The number of electric police, fire and ambulance vehicles have more than doubled in the last three years, a new investigation by Gridserve has revealed.

They found there are more than 1,000 zero emissions emergency vehicles in operation across the UK, according to an in-depth Freedom of Information request.

The data shows that fire brigades are leading the charge, making the switch to electric quicker than ambulance services and police forces.

Currently, there are five fire services operating a fleet with over 10 per cent of electric vehicles, while the most eco-friendly blue light fleet is operated by Gloucestershire Police with 25 per cent of its vehicles powered by electricity.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (24 per cent) and Avon Fire and Rescue (17 per cent) followed closely behind.

Despite the rapid increase in electric emergency service vehicles, though, the total figure still represents just 3.3 per cent of the total blue flight fleet across the UK. 

And many emergency services still don’t have any electric vehicles on their fleets.

That’s despite data revealing the average mileage of an emergency service vehicle is 10,485 miles a year, with cars and vans operating within the strict boundary of an authority’s jurisdiction.

That means many support vehicles on emergency service fleets, such as incident vans, staff vehicles and patrol cars are suitable for electrification. 

A study by Cenex of one police force found over 75 per cent of the fleet could be replaced by battery electric vehicles with no impact operations while lowering costs and reducing emissions by around half.

The NHS has set up a Greener NHS team to explore ways to lower the authority’s carbon footprint and while various police forces continue to look at options, there are no firm targets in place.