Solar and wind powered charging stations are also coming to Castle Hill Hospital
View of Hull Royal Infirmary(Image: NHS Humber Health Partnership)
Hull Royal Infirmary is soon to be the location for one of the largest emergency vehicle charging facilities on an acute hospital site, after securing £733,000 of new funding from the Department of Transport. The funding came as part of the Chargepoint Accelerator Scheme, which aims to support the roll-out of more electric vehicles across the NHS.
In total, £10m has been invested in the national drive to improve the infrastructure surrounding NHS fleet vehicles and is expected to save £59m from reduced fuel and maintenance costs across the UK. At NHS Humber Health Partnership (HPP), investment is being made in:
- Eight fast-charging stations for ambulances coming to Hull Royal Emergency Department
- Two charging stations for ambulances and HPP’s own electric vehicles at Castle Hill cardiology unit
- Upgrading existing charging points at sterile services unit
In addition to this, four solar and wind powered charging stations will be installed for HPP electric vehicles, outside the day surgery unit at Castle Hill. Marc Beaumont, head of sustainability and social value, said: “This exciting venture is also tied into the wider Future Electric Vehicle Energy networks supporting Renewables (FEVER) programme – supported by researchers at universities in Sheffield, Surrey, Portsmouth, and Southampton.
“Its aim is to develop hybrid off-grid charging stations for electric vehicles, with long-term storage solutions to take us through the winter months – allowing us to self-generate everything we need to power our vehicles. And as this year 16 of our current fleet of 19 ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles are due to be replaced with electric vehicles, this could save us more than £23,000 in fuel costs.
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“Being able to support our colleagues in the ambulance service in providing a fast-charging service for their vehicles is also a benefit to patients, visitors and staff on our sites – and the wider community too. The air will be cleaner, as these vehicles will generate less pollution as they’re travelling around and, on our sites, we won’t have the engines idling when they’re parked up outside A&E or our cardiology unit.”
Unfortunately, HPP was not successful in securing funding for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust in this round of funding. It will continue to apply for similar schemes in the hope of rolling out the technology across its sites.
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