The light commercial vehicles are a mixture of medium and long wheelbase Ford Transit chassis cabs with dual rear wheels and fitted with tipper bodies. The vans are being used to support a range of tasks across the district within the Environmental Services Team.

The council was able to purchase the five vehicles for the equivalent cost of standard diesel vans, even though the hybrids offer up to 25% more fuel efficiency than the vehicles they replace, thanks to a Department for Transport subsidy.

David White, transport services manager for Ashfield District Council, said: ‘A lot of green vehicles do cut carbon but come at a premium price, require extra driver training and usually the installation of refuelling or recharging infrastructure.

‘The Ashwoods Hybrid Transit vehicle doesn’t have any of these drawbacks. It is cost-effective to purchase and will actually lower our fleet fuel spend and reduce CO₂ output.’

The Ashwoods Hybrid drive technology reduces fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions by 15-25%. The system is entirely self-powered; it stores energy every time the vehicle slows down then transfers it to the wheels via an electric motor, and doesn’t need plugging into a charging point.

All of Ashfield’s hybrid vehicles are also fitted with the Lightfoot driver behaviour system, which is said to be proven to deliver an average 15% improvement in fuel consumption.