INDEPENDENT councillors for Peasedown St John have raised concerns about plans to electrify refuse trucks across the region.

Bath and North East Somerset council’s leadership is currently considering proposals to spend £2.6-million on replacing several of their Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCV).

A report published for the council’s climate emergency & sustainability panel earlier this year indicated that should the fleet of RCV’s undergo electrification, the current 30 vehicles in their fleet would not be needed due to the new vehicle’s higher capacity.

Research conducted by the Independents for B&NES group suggests that an indicative cost assessment of using Renault trucks showed that a 27 tonne electric vehicle (EV) would have an estimated annual cost of £54,340, while producing six tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

This is in comparison to a 26 tonne diesel vehicle, which is estimated to cost £49,096 annually, producing 38.7 tonnes of CO2 emissions yearly, and a 26 tonne vehicle using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), which has an estimated annual cost of £52,885 annually, produce 6.1 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Cllr Karen Walker, leader of the Independents for B&NES group, said: “This report contains no information regarding infrastructure costs, which is deeply concerning.

“Surely to implement the electrification of an entire fleet of vehicles, mention should be given to how they are charged? In Peasedown St John we’ve been campaigning for years to secure just two EV charging points in our local car park, so drivers can ‘top-up’ their vehicles.”

Cllr Gavin Heathcote (Independent, Peasedown) added: “Early assessments suggest that EVs are more expensive per mile than diesel and HVO, but more specific work needed.

“We’d encourage the council’s leadership to research thoroughly whether replacing all of the local authority’s diesel Refuse Collection Vehicles is actually cost effective and really does provide good value for money.”