York to trial electric waste vehicle

The vehicle is the first of its kind, using electric to both power the vehicle and compact waste, meaning there are zero emissions.

The three day trial will give the council time to see how the truck performs. The 27-tonne truck runs on lithium-ion batteries and is designed for urban environments with short routes and can complete a full ten hour shift on one charge.

Deputy leader of the council and executive member for the environment, Cllr Andrew Waller, said: “As a council we’re always looking at ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint and emissions to improve air quality. Electric vehicle technology has progressed at an extremely quick rate over the past years, allowing larger vehicles to travel longer in between charges.

“We’re keen to see expanding our electric vehicle fleet with electric waste vehicles is a way in which we can look to reduce our carbon footprint without affecting the serve residents receive.”

Russell Markstein, Electra’s Commercial Director commented: “The City of York is the conclusion of six months of trials of the Electra in both urban and rural locations. York is the perfect environment for the Electra to operate, with zero emissions and near silent operation, the residents and businesses in the City will visibly see the Council’s efforts in reducing its carbon footprint”

The trial has been offered to the council for free from Electra Commercial Vehicles.

Electric vehicle recharging wrangle in York

There is confusion today about whether private vehicles can access the rapid recharging points at Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar.

The points were funded from a government(OLEV) scheme but are largely used by the First electric Park and Ride buses.

It appears that electric car drivers have been turned away from the points although they are shown as available on a vehicle charging “app”. The Councils iTravel web site says that vehicle charging points can be found on this map (click)

Apparently the Monks Cross rapid charge points have been recorded on the National Charge Point Register has having restricted access for cars. The Council says that a third party app has been advertising these as ‘available’ which has caused confusion for local EV drivers.

In response to an FOI enquiry the Council has confirmed that the dedicated chargers were used on 1157 occasions, using 22025 kWh of energy, during the first quarter of 2017

The Council says,

“the Monks Cross Park&Ride supervisors are able to permit cars to charge where this does not impact the bus service and this does happen occasionally however the buses have charge point priority as they have no viable alternative location. For cars, the nearest rapid charger is one mile away at The Sports Village and EV drivers are recommended to use these facilities instead”

.Range anxiety is one of the main reasons for the slow take up of electric cars. Being certain that a charging point will be available is of major concern for drivers.

Electric vehicle public rapid charging points

There are other charging points in York many of which are located on car parks and at hotels

York successful in Go Ultra Low Cities scheme

York has been awarded ‘Go Ultra Low’ city status by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles, becoming one of eight UK cities chosen as exemplars for the uptake of ultra low emission vehicles.

City of York Council continues to lead the way regionally, following today’s announcement that it’s the only city in Yorkshire to receive Go Ultra Low cities scheme funding. The Council has been awarded £816,000, following a successful bidding process that will fund an ultra low emission programme including a city wide network of rapid charging hubs. These will provide state-of-the-art, ultra fast, reliable and convenient rapid charging for key vehicle groups such as taxis, private motorists and business users.

So far use of electric charging points in York has been very low.
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York first in Yorkshire to get rapid car charging points

York is the first city in Yorkshire to run rapid car charging points. The rapid charging points can fill a car from flat to 80 per cent charged in just 20 minutes using high power 50kW chargers.

Charging points

The rapid chargers will work by using either a swipe card or by downloading a free app, both of which are available from ‘Charge Your Car’. The charging points are located at the Sports Village and Poppleton Bar (outside electric bus operating hours). They will also support the use of electric buses and taxis in the city.
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Vehicle charging points used only 60 times in 3 months

The York Council has confirmed that its 6 electric vehicles charging points were use only 60 times (in total) last year.

The charging points cost £30,000 to install.

The Council has been criticised for not running – in conjunction with the trade – an effective campaign promoting the use of electric vehicles.

Indeed its latest budget proposals could see the parking charge discounts, currently available for low emission vehicles, further eroded.

York to get more electric vehicle recharging points

Eight new rapid chargers for electric vehicles are to be installed in York, following an announcement from the Department for Transport today that an additional £244,500 funding is to be made available to support a national ‘ultra low emission vehicle’ campaign.

The new points can charge an electric car in around 20-minutes and will be located at Park&Ride sites and convenient locations across the city including the new Sports Village.

This means that electric vehicle drivers can travel around Yorkshire and be confident of being able to charge up their batteries quickly and at low cost. Electric vehicles can run for as little as two pence per mile and pay nothing for road tax.

The take up of electric powered vehicles in York has been slow.

More about existing electric vehicle charging points in York at itravelyork.com

York electric vehicle charging point network revealed

Tourists, businesses and residents in York can now benefit from the region’s first network of pay-as-you-go electric vehicle charging points.

In addition to the 12 charging points already located across York, a network consisting of six fast charging points has now been installed at five locations across city centre car parks (Union Terrace and Nunnery Lane) and Park & Ride sites (Monks Cross, Grimston Bar and Designer Outlet) to allow drivers to re-charge their cars on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The network is publicly accessible with a simple payment system so that users can pay by phone or text in a similar way drivers currently pay for parking in council owned car parks.

Each charging point allows two electric vehicles to top up their batteries at the same time with up to 22kW power output from a choice of type two or three pin charging sockets.
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