Heathrow to trial electric vehicles

HEATHROW Airport is to host multiple electric vehicle (EV) trials in an attempt to lower its carbon emissions.

Contractors working at the two-runway site close to the junction between the M25 and the M4 will trial the Nissan Leaf, Peugeot iOn, Vauxhall Ampera and the Renault Kangoo Z.E. for various everyday roles.
British Airways, LSG SkyChefs and Gate Gourmet will be using the electric vehicles within their normal fleet to “better understand the suitability or otherwise” of EVs for their operations, according to a press release from STS, the company that manages the Heathrow Clean Vehicles Partnership (CVP) and will coordinate the new trials.


STS director Dr Ben Lane said: “Given the current availability of high quality EVs, and need to reduce ground based vehicle emissions, STS are recommending an increase in the use of electric vehicles at Heathrow.
“In addition to the fleet of almost 700 electric baggage tugs already in use, we see considerable potential for other electric ground support equipment (such as cargo loaders and pushback tractors), as well as the latest on-road electric cars and vans now available in the UK.”
David Vowles, Air Quality and Noise Policy Manager at Heathrow Airport Limited confirmed the plans and objectives, the chief of which is to ascertain the suitability of the selected EVs for roles at the airport.
Renault’s Head of Electric Vehicle Programme at Renault UK, Andy Heiron also commented: “We were keen to work with CVP members to accelerate the uptake of low emission vehicles and practices for ground use at Heathrow.
“The EV trial will allows vehicle operators on the airport to experience and better understand the capabilities of Kangoo van Z.E. in this environment. With around 600 ‘conventional’ Kangoo vans already in service at Heathrow we know this van is well adapted to airport use and are confident that this trial will demonstrate that the Z.E. version is ideal for the type of duty cycle most operators demand.”
Initial findings will be reported at the next CVP seminar on December 6.