Electric cars added to East Midlands Ambulance Service fleet

The cars have been converted so that they can carry all the equipment, medication and supplies.

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) has added three new electric solo response cars to its fleet.

The cars (two manufactured by Skoda and one manufactured by Kia) have been converted so that they can carry all the equipment, medication and supplies to allow the solo responder paramedics to reach patients quickly under emergency driving conditions.

Andy Watson, Head of Operational Support said: “We received the first of these three fully electric, zero emissions vehicles last week, which was instantly put into active service to help us respond to our patients in the community.

“We look forward to welcoming the additional two vehicles to our fleet in the coming weeks.

“We are always looking to improve the quality of our vehicles for our staff by constantly listening to valuable feedback.

“As part of this, we invited colleagues to review the three design prototype models, getting them to share their honest feedback before we proceeded with the conversion of the vehicles.

“Safety, comfort and practicality are our main priorities for our staff who will be using these vehicles to respond to patients.”

Paramedics will be able to recharge their solo response cars at numerous charging points across the region.

Steve Farnworth, Assistant Director of Operational Support said: “These vehicles have an excellent range as the cars are capable of up to 256 miles when they are fully charged.

“Our solo response cars complete around 39 miles per day on average, meaning one charge should last a full 12-hour shift without the need to charge again.

“This means these life-saving vehicles can spend more time on the road to be able to respond to patients who need us in an emergency."

East Midlands Ambulance Service aims to have net zero carbon emissions by 2040.