New energy for the New Year
In late December 2018, the Mayor of London announced a scrappage scheme for London’s commercial vehicles. The £23 million scheme aims to help smaller business owners scrap older, more polluting vans and switch to cleaner vehicles.
The scheme will initially help London’s micro-businesses — defined as those with fewer than 10 employees — to switch to the cleanest commercial vehicles, which include the upcoming Euro 7 diesel and all electric vehicles. It is planned to be in place ahead of the introduction of London’s new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which from 8 April 2019 will bring in charges for commercial vehicles which do not meet stricter emission standards. The ULEZ will apply 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Diesel vans which do not meet the latest Euro 6 standard will have to pay £12.50 a day to drive in central London.
For London’s businesses, their costs and carbon footprint can be further reduced by having fuel delivered directly to their vehicles. By delivering fuel directly and removing the need to drive to and from the petrol station, Zebra Fuel reduces congestion, wasted time and excess emissions. A single Zebra Fuel delivery vehicle can mitigate over 700 daily journeys to fill-up. To date, we have saved over 55,080 journeys to the petrol station equating to 242,352 miles and 468,033 kgs CO2. In labour terms, every 1000 commercial vehicles switching to Zebra Fuel will save 268,275 hours each year. That’s the equivalent hours of an extra 167 employees.
In 2019, Zebra Fuel is working to provide mobile electric vehicle charging to the city. This will revolutionise the flexibility of electric vehicle usage, providing the convenience and time savings that our current customers are accustom to. Businesses maintaining Euro 6 or adopting Euro 7 diesel vehicles, will soon be able to further reduce their emissions by using Zebra HVO, our next-generation Biofuel. Existing diesel fuelled vehicles can be run on HVO with no modifications to the engine or maintenance schedules. Zebra HVO provides a substantial positive environmental impact by reducing CO2 emissions by 50% to 90%.
At Zebra, we are striving to accelerate London’s green air goals while also saving residents and businesses time and resources. Our goal is to rapidly facilitate the transition to next generation, cleaner fuels. In a period of significant change to the way our city’s vehicles are powered, Zebra will be ready to deliver energy to your vehicles.