No electric waste lorries for North Devon yet

Replacement waste lorry will be diesel because of cost

North Devon Council can’t afford to replace diesel waste lorries with electric models any time soon.

Green councillor Ricky Knight (Heanton Punchardon) describes the situation as“frustrating”

He says the council should be “investing to save” and putting more emphasis on getting to net zero, a target which the authority admits it won’t reach by 2030.

It may be possible by 2034, if it all council vehicles run on electricity. But that will cost £18 million, double that of diesel replacements.

The council’s strategy and resources committee heard that the first new waste and recycling lorry is needed since the council reinforced its commitment to reducing carbon emissions.

But an electric model would cost an additional £162,000 plus the cost of installing an HGV charging point, and the money isn’t in the budget.

The council set a balanced budget last week after a reduction in government grants and half a million pounds of savings.

Councillors were told it would have to become more entrepreneurial to avoid a big budget deficit.

Whilst electric HGVs appear to be too costly, officers said a trial one “could not quite do the job” because of North Devon’s hilly and rural terrain.

The council will seek to replace small and medium vehicles with electric where it can be shown to save money over lifetime of the vehicle.

Cllr Ricky Knight said electric waste lorries were an ‘invest-to-save option’ like the millions spent on Bynsworthy waste and recycling centre where an expensive new baler can process much more material.

The council would save £644,000 on diesel a year if it went electric, the meeting heard.

Cllr Knight said he would like “significantly more of the council’s budget” put into net zero aims “with a clear intention to generate our own renewable energy from sun and wind, and address fossil fuelled car use that crams our car parking here.

“A leisure centre in Lancaster is carbon neutral, as the council has surrounded it with a solar farm. We surround our great huge infrastructures like the hospital and leisure centre with car parking as far as the eye can see. It’s the antithesis of what we should be aiming to encourage.”

He said it was difficult to speak against the officers’ recommendation not to switch to electric waste vehicles, but it added “to the frustration felt by everyone following the report that we cannot reach net zero by 2030.”

Members agreed with officers but want the policy development committee to discuss vehicle replacements in more detail, together with other carbon reduction ideas.