A company that ‘rents’ out Christmas trees before they are collected again to continue growing has used a 100% electric Citroen e-Dispatch van to undertake the distribution.
London Christmas Tree Rental started after founder Jonathan Mearns realised that more than seven million Christmas trees end up as landfill each year.
The new business encourages customers to hire Norway Spruce trees for the holidays that are supplied in pots and collected again after Christmas so they can continue to grow.
Customers can even rent the same tree year after year.
Mearns said joining forces with Citroen had created a “great relationship” that saved nearly half a tonne of CO2 emissions – the amount estimated to be absorbed by more than 1,900 Christmas trees over the festive period.
“As a new company we are always looking at how we can be more efficient and using an electric van is one of those significant steps,” he said.
“It’s all about sustainability after all, so we’ve been really up for this exciting collaboration.”
Citroen said the zero emission van covered more than 2,000 miles as part of the initiative, saving more than 428kg of CO2 compared to an equivalent diesel van.
The all-electric powertrain also helped to reduce running costs due to the low cost of battery recharging.
