The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) is offering its members the chance to hire a fully electric Renault Trucks E-Tech D 18-tonne rigid for a year, writes Peter Brown.
The battery electric vehicle will cost the end user ‘the near equivalent cost of renting a diesel HGV’.
SWA’s head of sustainability Ylva Haglund said: “The offer is for a 12-month trial rental period, with a breakout period after three months, the hope of which is to build confidence within the wholesale channel and help transition members to net-zero fleets as part of their ongoing vehicle replacement strategy.”
There are five vehicles available to the SWA by Renault Trucks UK as part of the Vertellus EV Discovery Programme.
Ylva Haglund said that as an added incentive, Vertellus is also supplying the required charger, but members can claim back £3,000, which is £1,000 each month for the first three months.
The SWA also revealed ambitious plans to reach net zero by 2040. “Through our ongoing work with both Renault Trucks and Volvo, and with other stakeholders, we have contributed to the Scottish Government’s HGV Decarbonisation Pathway,” she said.
“Our own report, ‘Decarbonising the Scottish Wholesale Sector’, explores our sector’s carbon emissions and attitudes to climate action, and shows that the majority of operational emissions for Scottish wholesalers are from vehicle fleets – in fact, HGV fuel use makes up an estimated 63.7% of operational carbon emissions in the Scottish wholesale sector.
“Our report further shows that there are differences in emissions for different sizes of wholesalers, with vehicle emissions accounting for a higher proportion of emissions from SMEs.”
