The order is not Center Parks’ first for a fleet of electric vehicles, as the Renaults replace a number of Axiam Mega MultiTrucks and Modec box vans. Fleet management firm CLM, which handles Center Parcs’ business vehicles, elected to make the change based on the fact that the Kangoos are “more robust… more suitable for purpose and have a six-hour recharging cycle”.
Chris Allgood, team manager at CLM, said: “The existing vehicles have not proved hardy or durable enough for the job in question so we have selected models from a more mainstream manufacturer.
“Also important is that the Kangoos use lithium-ion batteries, which can be recharged to full capacity in external conditions, while with the lead-acid batteries of the previous models, we found they were affected by the cold weather and could not be fully recharged in temperatures that dropped down to -10ºC in winter.”
Center Parcs, which has a minimum green standard for vehicles, is also in the process of adding seven Honda Insight hybrids and a series of clean diesel LCVs to its fleet.
