Greenwich receives Future Fleet Forum ‘most sustainable’ award

The borough contends with some of the most heavily polluted roads in London that are in excess of the legal limits. By the end of February 2018, seven new fleet management policies covering areas such as dangerous and specialist goods and anti-idling will have been introduced.

The Royal Borough is also working with a number of partners, including Jaguar Land Rover, TRL, Bosch and DG Cities, to provide data for modelling autonomous vehicles as part of the MOVE_UK project. The research aims to reduce the time taken to test automated driving systems and bring them to market.

Councillor Danny Thorpe, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Sustainability, said: “This is such a proud moment for Greenwich. We are determined to do all we can to make Royal Greenwich a cleaner, greener and more healthy place for our residents. Our Greener Greenwich Strategy, launched in 2016, includes creating more electric charging points across the borough, and a number of other initiatives to tackle air quality.”

The borough is investing over £17m over the next four years to ensure that its fleet is fitted with the newest technology and achieves high standards of safety and environmental performance.

Councillor Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Environment, said: “I am delighted that our fleet team has won such an esteemed award. We are dedicated to understanding the impacts of autonomous driving technologies and the opportunities they will provide to local residents and businesses in the future. This award recognises the work we are doing to ensure that our fleet is meeting the challenges of environmental impact, and leading the way in road safety innovations.”

Together with Magnetic Systems Technology and DG Cities, Greenwich helps leads the research of the first fully converted 26 tonne electric refuse collection vehicle (eRCV). The pioneering project aims to demonstrate the capability of the design whilst also producing zero emissions, reducing noise and extending the life of the asset, which was first registered in 2009.

Greenwich will only procure electric car derived vans from 2018, unless there are exceptional reasons for retaining a diesel alternative. The current replacement programme looks to include up to 18 electric vehicles by the end of 2018. Simultaneously the council has installed 20 new electric charging points at its main operational depot to assist in the electrification of its fleet.