The Kent council’s cabinet member for operational services, Emma Morley, said it would cost about £12m to switch to a fully electric fleet, plus ‘considerable investment’ in charging infrastructure. Gravesham’s fleet is made up of 134 vans, 18 oh which are electric, and 24 heavy good vehicles (HGVs).

The fleet consumes about 320,000 litres of diesel per year, making up 22.4% of the council’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The council plans for all non-electric vehicles to be running on HVO from April. Cllr Morley said: ‘The beauty of HVO is converting to it is much simpler.

‘It’s a direct replacement for diesel and so there is no need to make any modifications to our vehicles and we can use the fuel tanks already in place for storage.’

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