Portsmouth City Council contractor starts roll-out of all-electric vans

The company deliver heating repairs, maintenance and installation to homes across the city on behalf of Portsmouth City Council.

The current commercial fleet is made up of 847 vans and Liberty plan to have 10% of the van fleet fully electric by 2024.

Liberty’s vehicle fleet is its biggest contributor of CO2 emissions. In 2021-22, Liberty used 1.32m litres of diesel and petrol - equating to 3,282 tonnes of CO2.

Liberty is engaging directly with its fleet drivers to identify those who would be eligible for a home charging solution. Delivered in partnership with Hypervolt, this allows chargers to be installed at the drivers’ homes.

Charge usage will be monitored remotely by Liberty and reimbursed directly to drivers for charging their work vehicles at home.

Sam Greenwood, Head of Fleet at Liberty, explained: Our target to have 10% of the commercial fleet fully electric by 2024 is an ambitious task made more challenging by the lack of public infrastructure.

‘With the public charging network struggling to keep up with demand, we knew we had to be proactive to continue our mission to reduce CO2 emissions.

‘By partnering with Hypervolt, we have been able to offer our drivers the chance to switch to electric vehicles without the worry about where to charge them.

‘We’ve already begun the rollout and are keen to keep the momentum going with more and more of our drivers taking on electric vehicles.’

Warren Yates, Senior Supervisor at Liberty, one of the first drivers to receive an all-electric van, said: ‘After driving it for a couple of weeks I’m really pleased with it.

‘The driving range was a concern before I got it, but I’m regularly seeing over 190 miles from a full charge. It’s a really impressive piece of technology, and so nice to drive.’

Meredydd Hughes, Assistant Director of Building Services from Portsmouth County Council, remarked: ‘We are pleased to see that our contractors are committing to electric vehicles.

‘Liberty is taking the necessary steps to achieve their goal of reducing emissions and establishing a complete electric fleet that all employees can use.

‘Reducing emissions is an important step towards Portsmouth City Council's goal of Net Zero by 2030.’