Heathrow's electric milestone

A key milestone in a pledge by Heathrow to help the environment through a ‘Go Electric’ programme has been reached with the delivery to the airport’s fleet of cars and small vans of the 50th electric vehicle. 

The airport has promised to make the whole fleet electric or plug-in hybrid by 2020 to help to improve air quality around the airport. The 50 electric vehicles are said to cut emissions by 165 tonnes of CO2/year, equivalent to the amount of energy used by 18 homes.

Since launching ‘Go Electric’, Heathrow has won two environmental awards and spent more than £4m in charging infrastructure, with a total of more than £5m committed to be spent by the end of next year. 

The airport is also working actively in collaboration with Transport for London (TfL) to install seven rapid-charging points, some of the first in London, for black cabs before the end of this year. 

Officials say this move, along with Heathrow’s efforts to provide new public transport options into the airport such as Crossrail and a potential Western Rail access, will reduce emissions and congestion related to airport traffic. 

www.heathrow.com

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Andrew Sharp, United Kingdom

All the trains serving Heathrow are powered by electricity, and always have been.