Twelve electric vehicles have joined the Island Roads fleet as part of the company’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.

Island Roads began using electric vehicles in 2013 and has since been upgrading its fleet continually as vehicles need replacing. The company now has 21 electric vans, which are used by highways inspectors and district stewards to carry out their work around the Island.

The latest arrivals to the fleet are five Renault Ekangoos and seven Peugeot Partners, replacing 12 diesel vans. Island Roads has charging infrastructure at its base at St Christopher House in Newport and also its depot at Stag Lane. Staff can also make use of the Island’s network of public charging points across the Island if needed.

Steve Ashman, Island Roads service director said: “As a business we do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint. While there is clearly more to do, we are pleased to add further electric vehicles to our fleet as part of the journey to net zero.

“Electric vehicles are just one way in which we are trying to minimise our impact on the environment. We also use recycled materials in our road improvement programme and recycle waste materials from our gully cleansing work into aggregate.

“We’ve also reduced our water usage by streamlining our processes and have made sure our buildings are as energy efficient as possible by using photo-voltaic and thermal power, air source heat pumps and rainwater harvesting systems.”