DfT launches £20m low carbon van procurement programme
Wed 07 November 2007
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The Department for Transport has announced that it is making £20m available to support public sector procurement of low carbon vans with the aim of 'kick-starting' this part of the market. A further £30m is earmarked for the programme for 2008-11 providing the initial implementation proves successful.
The programme will procure lower carbon vehicle models for use in public sector fleets. The £20million was initially proposed as part of the Low Carbon Transport Innovation Strategy, to speed up the development of low carbon vehicles for the UK market using public sector spending power.
The largest part of the funding will be used to procure lower carbon vans in the first instance, with smaller demonstrations of lower carbon minibuses, all-electric vans and, potentially, plug-in hybrid cars.
Initial public sector participants are expected to include the Metropolitan Police, Environment Agency, Transport for London, the Royal Mail, HM Revenue and Customs and the Government Car and Despatch Agency.
The first tender for vehicles is likely to take place early in 2008/9 with the majority of vehicles delivered in 2009/10 and 20010/11, providing the initial programme is successful. This would allow the project to be expanded to include other public sector organisations such as local authorities, schools and hospitals.
Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "Bringing cleaner, greener vehicles onto the market as soon as possible is a priority for the Government, but we want to direct our efforts where they will have the biggest impact in reducing emissions and tackling climate change.
Vans account for around 15% of carbon emissions from road transport, but currently there are no mass market low carbon models on offer to the UK van buyer - although the technology to create them exists.
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