News round-up 12/4/16

With news on; Hammersmith & Fulham charging points increase; Fife council monitoring station; Optare Scotland electric bus milestone, and; Dearman low emission research.

EV charge points installed in Hammersmith & Fulham

Hammersmith & Fulham have installed the first seven of their new electric vehicle charging points in the first phase of a plan to improve air quality and drive down emissions.

A new EV charging point goes live in Standish Road, Hammersmith (photo: Hammersmith & Fulham council)

Each charging location has two bays and a further 13 charging points are planned for August — creating 40 new on-street parking bays in addition to the 40 already located at the Westfield shopping centre.

By 2017, it is hoped that a total of 80 parking bays will mean residents with plug-in hybrids and fully electric cars will, on average, have access to a changing point for every square kilometre of the borough.

The charging network is owned and operated on behalf of the council by Source London, a subsidiary of French firm Bollore.

Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham council, councillor Stephen Cowan, said: “As more residents take up electric vehicle use, these first few bays going live are just the beginning. We will continue to look for areas where residents tell us there is need and will investigate opportunities to expand our network wherever we can.

“More residents using electric cars will help to reduce CO2, NOx and particulate matter emissions that have detrimental effects on health and the environment” – Stephen Cowan, Hammersmith & Fulham council leader

“More residents using electric cars will help to reduce CO2, NOx and particulate matter emissions that have detrimental effects on health and the environment. We are determined to become the greenest, most environmentally-friendly council in the country.”

Standish Road, Gayford Road, Shepherds Bush and Farm Lane are just some of the locations with new charging points. Residents in other areas are able to request charging points if needed and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Fife council expand roadside air monitoring system

Fife council has expanded its roadside monitoring of air quality with the installation of new equipment alongside a busy Kirkcaldy road.

The new air quality monitor installed on St Clair Street in Kirkaldy (photo: Fife council)

The latest monitor, installed at a junction at St Clair Street, follows a similar installation on Admiralty Road in Rosyth last year and comes as part of a trial air quality monitoring expansion funded by a Scottish Government Air Quality Grant.

Using the latest monitoring technology supplied by Air Monitors Ltd, the new equipment can observe principal pollutants from road vehicle emissions such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5).

Senior manager for protective services at the council, Roy Stewart, said: “Air quality is fast becoming one of key public health priorities in our society, and the trialling of this latest monitoring technology for road traffic pollutants will allow us to have a greater understanding of these pollutants and the means by which to tackle these issues.”

The outcomes of the trial are to be reported later this year in the council’s air quality annual progress report. It will then be decided whether the scheme will be rolled out to other existing monitoring locations.

Scotland’s first electric bus celebrates 100,000 miles

Scotland’s first electric bus with zero tailpipe emissions has celebrated 100,000 miles as part of a local bus service, following its launch in November 2013.

The Optare electric bus operating in Stranraer, Scotland

The Optare Solo battery-powered bus is operated by transport firm McLeans as part of a local bus service linking the ferry ports at Cairnryan to the railway station in Stranraer, West Scotland.

William McLean, owner of McLeans of Stranraer, commented: “We’ve had some really positive feedback from customers using the bus, who are impressed by its environmental credentials and how quiet and smooth the vehicle is in service.”

The bus received part-funding and support through the Scottish Government’s Green Bus Fund and the regional transport partnership in Dumfries and Galloway, SWestrans.

Optare said recent independent testing “has proven the Optare electric bus as one of the most efficient currently in service in the UK, reducing well to wheel carbon footprint by over 50% in comparison with equivalent diesels”.

Dearman presents zero emission report in NZ  

Engineering technology company Dearman presented its latest paper on zero emission transport refrigeration — ‘Driving Clean Cold’ — at an international conference in New Zealand last week (April 7-9).

Unveiled to an audience of industry representatives at the 4th IIR International Conference on Sustainability and the Cold Chain in Auckland, the paper details the environmental impact of fossil-fuelled technology in the growing transport refrigeration market whilst offering cleaner alternatives.

Demand for transport refrigeration units (TRUs) has grown rapidly with upper estimates suggesting there could be over 16 million TRUs in operation by 2025 — an increase of 2.1 million, according to Dearman.

Research by the company found that vehicles overall NOx emissions would reduce by more than 70% by moving from a diesel TRU to a zero-emission alternative. Diesel TRUs can emit up to six times as much NOx and 29 times as much PM as a modern truck’s main engine, Dearman claims.

Similarly, according to the paper, a fleet of only 13,000 zero-emission TRUs would reduce NOx emissions by the same amount as taking 1.2 million diesel cars off the road.

“Switching to zero-emission transport refrigeration presents real opportunity to improve air quality, reducing emissions of NOx and particulates, both in the UK and internationally” – Etienne Teyssandier, Dearman

Etienne Teyssandier, lead author of the paper and lead analyst at Dearman, said: “In the UK, more than 90% of fresh produce relies on refrigerated transport, making it a vital part of the retail sector. With zero-emission alternatives available to operators, and infrastructure in place to support deployment, it is simply unnecessary to continue powering this refrigeration by burning diesel.

“Switching to zero-emission transport refrigeration presents real opportunity to improve air quality, reducing emissions of NOx and particulates, both in the UK and internationally.”

The company also confirmed that its zero-emission transport refrigeration system is currently preparing for certification and due for commercial deployment this spring.