- Scottish Water has joined a growing list of UK organisations making the switch to electric vehicles, after it added the first electric HGV to its fleet this month.
- The first such vehicle, supplied by Scania, will operate on the streets of Glasgow to provide waste water services to the city’s customers.
- The new electric HGV adds to Scottish Water’s wider EV fleet, which also includes over 500 electric cars and 187 electric vans.
Scottish Water begins to electrify its trucks
With a maximum charging speed of 240kW on the new truck, a full recharge will take approximately three hours, allowing the vehicle to be used during the day shifts and recharged during the night. This electric truck is likely to be the first of many for Scottish Water, as it looks to further electrify its heavy vehicle fleet to help achieve its net zero goals.
Mark Hunter, Development Services General Manager at Scottish Water, commented:
“We did a pilot several months ago working with all the teams involved in operating the tanker, to make sure that this vehicle would be fit for purpose. It is vital that as well as helping Scottish Water reach its net zero targets, that it is a functional vehicle for the teams that use it and can deliver what they need – which I’m very pleased to say it does.”
Elaine Pringle, Fleet Manager for Scottish Water, added:
“The addition of our first fully electric HGV to our fleet is a key milestone in our transition journey, helping us to make the leap from decarbonising the smaller vehicles used across Scottish Water to focusing on the next steps that we need to take in order to reach net zero.
There was a lot of work done to ensure that we ended up with a vehicle that the waste water team could have confidence in using on a daily basis and I’m delighted to see the tanker now in operation and helping to deliver vital services to our customers in Glasgow.”
Scottish Water joins an ever-growing list of organisations in the UK that are beginning to adopt electric HGVs, and that’s no surprise, with the range, charging capabilities, and performance of electric trucks continuing to improve. The Royal Mail, for example, also recently added the first electric trucks to its fleet.
