Chestertons, one of London’s largest estate agents, has made a decisive move to help improve London’s air quality by becoming the first major estate agency group to replace its entire fleet of company cars with electric vehicles that produce no emissions.
The company currently has a fleet of around 60 vehicles on the roads in London, all of which will be replaced by all-electric BMW i3s over the coming months, with the first 30 vehicles hitting the streets in July, which combined will contribute a tailpipe emission reduction of over 20 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
Guy Gittins, Chestertons MD said, “We are constantly embracing new technology to improve our efficiency and are very proud to now be using it to do our bit to reduce pollution and improve air quality in London.”
He added, “We have been wanting to make the move to electric vehicles for a while and this year, after switching to electric for a couple of the branches, we decided that improved electric car technology and the increased availability of charge points across the city have now made it entirely practical to replace our entire fleet. Our staff have been involved with the trials and are all extremely supportive and excited about our road to becoming the first zero-emissions estate agency.”
Alex Williams, Transport for London’s Director of City Planning, said: “Toxic air pollution leads to thousands of premature deaths in the capital every year. London’s lethal air is a public health crisis and it is fantastic to see a company like Chestertons helping us to reduce road transport emissions across the capital. Zero-emission cars, along with public transport, have an important role to play in tackling this toxic air, which is why we’ve worked with London’s boroughs to install more than 1,000 new charging points across the capital.”
Chestertons’ fleet of electric vehicles will be provided by Lombard Vehicle Solutions via its partner, ALD Automotive. Matt Dale, Head of Consultancy at ALD Automotive, said: “We’re delighted to be able to support Chestertons with this bold and industry-changing move. We hope they can now be the benchmark that other companies can follow.”
Showing how deep this commitment goes at Chestertons, the owner and chairman of the company has already taken delivery of his own BMW i3.
In an additional move to reduce the business’ carbon footprint, Chestertons is also in the process of changing the energy supply so that all of its 33 London branches use only renewable energy.
