Islington Council has added an all-electric Schmidt eSwingo 200+ compact sweeper to its growing electric fleet as it moves towards its Net Zero carbon target in seven years’ time. The Council declared a climate emergency in June 2019, recognising the need to drastically reduce carbon emissions and a pledge was made to work towards being a net zero borough by 2030. The resulting strategy, Vision 2030, provided in detail how the Council would achieve its objective with five main priorities: buildings, transport, sustainable and affordable energy supply, green economy and planning, and natural environment and waste, with action plans for each priority area.
Easy to operate, quiet and powerful
Chris Demetriou, Head of Corporate Fleet, Transport & Accessible Community Transport, said the Council now operated over 80 full battery electric vehicles out of a fleet of around 530 vehicles in total. This comprises around 50 cars, 240 light commercial vehicles, 45 buses, 20 minibuses with the remainder heavy commercial and specialist vehicles, such as refuse trucks and sweepers. “We have around 20 sweepers on the fleet of various sizes and have now added three different electric sweepers for appraisal purposes before making a final decision on which model to move forward with in future,” he said. “Our drivers love the eSwingo and feedback has been very positive with favourable views on how easy it is to operate, how quiet it is and how powerful the suction power is. They find it easy to manoeuvre and, by switching to electric power, there has been no discernible loss of payload. We charge the eSwingo overnight at our central depot on one of our 7kWh chargers and it is then ready for a six-hour shift without any problems the next day. It has been very impressive,” Demetriou said.
Electric sweepers offer more than just emission-free operations
Islington Council has put in place clear plans to achieve Net Zero carbon by 2030 with transport one of five focus areas. The eSwingo can play a key role here as it offers local authorities excellent sweeping power with the cleanest possible emissions. Moreover, with a near-silent electric drive, it also delivers noiseless sweeping. As a result, it can be deployed at night or in the early hours of the morning in built-up areas without disturbing the residents, ideal for local authorities operating in tight, urban locations. For the authorities, sustainable cutting-edge technology is offered with an all-inclusive package covering service, maintenance and performance needs. “We are confident that our eSwingo compact sweeper will fit well within the Islington electric sweeper fleet and form a mainstay of sweeping operations, hopefully for years to come,” John Saint, heads of sales at Aebi Schmidt, said. “We are seeing increased demand from local authorities for the eSwingo and a growing order bank, as councils across the country underline their carbon-free commitments for the future.”