The 13 electric vehicles will be used for collections and deliveries of health supplies, mail and samples across Northumberland and North Tyneside, and were deployed following a recent trial. It’s estimated that they will cover up to 110 miles per day, with a predicted annual CO2 reduction of 59 tonnes.

Michael Taylor, the trust’s hotel services manager, also responsible for the fleet, said: “With increasing financial challenges on the NHS, we needed to make the service more efficient while being more environmentally friendly so decided to look at whether electric vehicles could work for us.

“We’ve been very impressed by the performance of the e-NV200 and it’s definitely helped to change perceptions of electric vehicles among our staff. Due to its success we will be looking at how we can expand its use across the trust.”