Citycare Water gets behind the wheel of LDV e-V80 Van

Citycare has taken another stride towards sustainability with the introduction of its first electric large cargo van.

The LDV e-V80 panel van is one of the first 10 of these vehicles to arrive in New Zealand, and is now in use by Citycare Water on the streets of Christchurch.

“The LDV80 is the first working, large tradie-type electric van to be available here new with manufacturer’s back-up in New Zealand,” according to Warren Willmot, Sales and Marketing Manager at Great Lakes Motor Distributors, importers of the first shipment.

With its 56 kilowatt hour battery the LDV EV80 van has a range of around 190km with a half load of 500kg before needing a two-hour charge (from 30kW DC charger).

“The availability of an electric vehicle of this size in New Zealand is a huge development and great news for us at Citycare,” says Citycare Group Chief Executive Onno Mulder.

Onno Mulder says Citycare already runs two electric cars on its Citycare Property contract with Auckland City Council and two light commercial vehicles on its Citycare Property contract with Christchurch Airport, “so a new, bigger van with a battery powerful enough to take it through a day’s work is a very welcome addition for us. We are very pleased to get our hands on the first of these vans in New Zealand.”

Citycare expects to order more of the larger vans to use around New Zealand. Citycare customers Christchurch International Airport and Christchurch City Council have been among the first to see the new van being put through its paces.

“Looking for sustainable options in every aspect of our business is really important to Citycare and that’s why this new van is so important to us,” says Mulder. “We already use a lot of electrically powered small tools and commercial-grade electric mowers.”