Decision

To award a contract to Motus Commercials for the supply of:

2 x Ford E Transit Trend 425 L3 H1 Chassis Cabs c/w MVCS Cage Tipping Bodies (Spec 1) @ £67,730.12 plus VAT and 1st Ref Fee of £55.00 at a total cost of £135,570.24.

plus

1 x Ford E Transit Trend 425 L3 H1 Chassis Cabs c/w MVCS Cage Tipping Body (Removable Sides) (Spec 2) @ £68,049.12 plus VAT and 1st Reg Fee of £55.00

Total cost: £203,674.36

Pricing includes the current OZEV Grant of £5,000 which can be removed at any time.

Reasons for the decision

The Council’s service provider Ubico, delivers environmental services including manual removal of weeds with vehicular support and other grounds maintenance activities.

The vehicles being replaced are now old and at the end of their natural life meaning they are becoming unreliable and expensive to maintain, or have already been taken off the road and disposed of due to break down.

These internal combustion engine vehicles are considered suitable to be replaced with electric vehicles.

The Cabinet report dated 30 November 2021, which approved the transition to electric vehicles or the use of HVO instead of diesel to support net zero refers.  The report also acknowledges that HVO is an interim step until, in the longer term, alternative charging/fuelling infrastructure is available at the depot site for the whole fleet, including heavy goods vehicles and equipment. Fortunately, these new vehicles will be electric.

Procurement was undertaken by Ubico via the TPPL framework.

Alternative options considered

Officers have considered whether the service could continue to be delivered without these vehicles and concluded that it could not.  As set out above alternative fuel types were considered and electric was considered suitable to replace the previous internal combustion engine vehicles fuelled by diesel.  There are sufficient charging points at Swindon Road to accommodate these additional vehicles.