Source: City of Plymouth
and trading manager and Marie Wellington, street trading and event technical officer.
Cool running is all the rage on the waterfront with Plymouth’s ice cream vans now clean and green, thanks to a Council initiative.
Plymouth City Council has installed five electric chargers at key points on Hoe Road so that ice cream vans can run on clean, green electricity rather than chugging out fumes from their engines.
It means that the ice cream sellers who have concessions there not only save on fuel costs – as running freezers on their engines all day is expensive, but it also cuts the amount of fumes coming out of the exhaust – not a nice combination with your cone.
The project has been warmly welcomed by the sellers, especially as the Council installed chargers that meant that some sellers could convert their vehicles with transformers rather than fork out around £150,000 for a new van.
Cabinet member for community safety, Councillor Sally Haydon instigated the idea and the Council’s street trading team worked with the vendors and liaised with contractors to make it happen.
The installation was a challenge as there were a number of services beneath the pavement, with one charger installed on a specially made build-out from the pavement.
The Council employed a company called Kerbo Charge to install the cables and infrastructure – the first time the company has operated in the city. Metpow provided the submetering of energy use so that the Council can remotely monitor carbon emissions as well as charge for the energy used.
It took a while to get the logistics sorted but with some Government lolly – £40,000 through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund – sprinkles of support from Plymouth Waterfront Partnership and a magnum of ingenuity from South West Highways to make it happen on a busy and popular road.
Councillor Haydon said: “There’s nothing like an ice-cream on the Hoe in the summer. It is one of the great joys of Plymouth life. But diesel fumes is hardly the nicest topping with your 99.
“Make no cones about it – we now have a greener waterfront overlooking our amazing Plymouth Sound National Marine Park and we are helping our ice cream sellers to save fuel and money!”
Ice cream seller Kelly Pitcher welcomed the move, especially as it means the van is cooler on warm days. She said: “We don’t have to keep the engine running which means the van doesn’t get so hot inside – which is great for me.
“It is definitely quieter to run and we have had regulars already commenting on how much quieter it is and less fumes. We’re really happy to see this happen.”