The Big Issue Group has begun its switch to electric commercial vehicles after announcing a three-year partnership with manufacturer Citroen.

The social enterprise鈥檚 fleet of 16 diesel vans currently covers 350,000 miles a year, transporting more than two million magazines to 3,300 vendors across the 海角视频.

The first electric vans will be used in Bristol, Bath, Bournemouth, Norwich and Newcastle from today (August 15) and will be gradually rolled out across its operations by 2025.

The move comes after The Big Issue launched a pilot e-bike hire scheme in Bristol earlier this year, to encourage sustainable travel and tackle unemployment.

The organisation said its adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) had come at a 鈥渧ital time鈥, with many cities now becoming Clean Air Zones, including Bath and with Bristol set to follow, where older vehicles are charged for travelling in city centres to reduce pollution.

The Big Issue said that as well as reducing its CO2 emissions, the move would also tackle 鈥渟oaring鈥 fuel costs.

Copies of The Big Issue magazine are delivered to a vendor by Weston-super-Mare train station.
Copies of The Big Issue magazine are delivered to a vendor by Weston-super-Mare train station.

Russell Blackman, Big Issue Group managing director of commercial, said: 鈥淥ur partnership [with Citroen] will allow us to make even greater strides in the support and services we provide for the most marginalised across the country. In cities and remote, rural locations, we will be able to respond quickly when our vendors need us the most.

鈥淭his is a great demonstration of how two leading brands are working together, driving change for good.鈥

Eurig Druce, Citroen鈥檚 海角视频 managing director, added: 鈥淲e are thrilled to partner with Big Issue Group in their important work 鈥榗hanging lives through enterprise鈥, and in particular to support their transition to electric vehicles so they can become more sustainable."

Laurentiu Lukacs, who sells the magazine in Bristol, said it was "good" the company was starting to go greener for the planet.

鈥淢y customers like it when the magazine covers political issues 鈥 so, I think they will be happy that we are starting to use electric vehicles," he added.

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