Fingal County Council launches fleet of electric vans
July 3rd, 2018
Fingal County Council has added five new electric vehicles to its fleet in an effort to promote sustainability and tackle climate change.
The fleet of fully electric Citroen Berlingo vans are the beginning of Fingal’s transition to electrification, the Council said at today’s launch at Malahide Castle.
Twelve charging points were recently installed across Fingal and electric vehicles are expected to take just 30 minutes to completely re-charge at the installed fast charging points.
The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Paul Reid, said that the county faces “huge challenges” in tackling climate change.
“We have been implementing a number of initiatives to help us achieve progress in this area and the five new electric vans are an example of the commitment being made to protecting our environment,” he added.
The Mayor of Fingal, Anthony Lavin, emphasized how important Fingal’s environment and natural landscape are to its residents and its visitors.
He said that it is “vital” the Council takes steps to “protect and preserve them”. This initiative is just one example of the efforts being made to do so,” he added.
The launch follows the Government’s move to introduce a toll charge reduction scheme for electric vehicles.
The scheme means that electric vehicle owners will only pay half the toll rate and plug-in hybrid vehicles will get a 25 per cent toll reduction.
Eligible private car owners may be able to accumulate up to €500 in toll savings per annum and up to €1,000 in savings for goods vehicles. Drivers can avail of the discount by signing up for an EV tag with an approved Toll Tag Provider.
The Irish EV Owners Association (IEVOA) welcomed the initiative and told The Green News that it is “a step in the right direction” to incentivize the uptake of electric vehicles in Ireland.
The Association added that, while they are pleased with the introduction of reduced tolls for low and zero emissions vehicles, there is still a “lot more work to be done” to make Ireland a “more EV friendly country”.
[x_author title=”About the Author”]
Friends of the Earth, An Taisce, and Stop Climate Chaos lead the charge to amend the Climate Bill before it Read more
TV channel ARTE are looking for Irish people to take part in a programme which will air during the COP21 Read more
The Environmental Pillar wishes to make clear to consumers and public that it rejects the awarding of an environmental certificate Read more
The environmental and heritage group are rejecting calls from the Irish Farming Association to shorten the hedge cutting times. An Read more
