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Local authorities are exploring new ways to improve air quality in their areas and one of the main ways they are doing this is by promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs). But EVs require charging infrastructure to be practicable and putting this in place is no small undertaking.
Cardiff City Council has joined with Engenie to launch a pilot with the aim of rolling out a rapid EV charging network across the city. It has taken two years to go-live, but it was finally announced in February 2020. ‘It has been a long road,’ Patrick Sherriff, property director at Engenie, tells LAPV. However, a huge amount has been learnt and discussed during this time, and will be extremely valuable for the future.
Cardiff Council's initial sweeper fleet consisted of 12 Johnston Sweepers CX201 compacts. The machines worked seven days a week over four shifts during the morning, afternoon, nights, and at the weekend. Apart from the standard cleansing rounds, the local authority also had internal service level agreements in place, such as car parks, and for events. The fleet was also put to work for external contracts and ad hoc assignments during specific occasions and in shopping centres.
Matt Long, service manager for Waste Services at Cardiff Council, is in charge of improving the business efficiency for the street cleansing department. So, when the fleet contract came up for renewal in 2018, he had several challenges to address. 'With Cardiff being a capital city with vivacious events, popular nightlife and student scene, the workload for the street cleansing team is hefty,’ Matt told LAPV. ‘The fleet rotation was a specific challenge for the management team. Some of our sweepers were triple shifted, and despite all sweepers being the same brand and model, the drivers were reluctant to assist with the old process during which the machines rotated. The operators all had their favourites and didn't like to drive another sweeper.'
