The University has replaced five diesel vehicles in its fleet with new electric vans, bringing the total number of electric vehicles it has to 14. Funding for the five new vans came from the Department of Transport's Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme.

Based on the Ford Transit panel van design, the electric vans will be operated by the Estates Services Department, Estates Commercial Group and Warwick Accommodation.

Warwick is one of only two UK higher education institutes selected to take part in the Department of Transport's £20 million Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme.

Graham Hine, the University’s transport manager said:

"This is great news for Warwick and will go a long way to helping us meet our environmental targets on campus."

"Being involved in an innovative programme aimed at stimulating the market for low carbon and electric vans in the UK is an exciting opportunity for Warwick to lead the way in the deployment of such vehicles for everyday use."

An element of taking part in the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme means the University is also signed up to a research programme designed at improving the performance of the vans.

Throughout the first two years of the vehicles' lives they will regularly go for telematics testing to check the performance of the battery and to measure the amount of CO2 given off.

The new vehicles have been supplied by Smith Electric Vehicles.