North West Ambulance Service is set to introduce electrically powered rapid response vehicles into its fleet.

The service will be one of the first in the country to introduce electric cars as part of its standard fleet.

It is expected that it could save them up to £2.5m in fuel costs over the four-year lease period.

RRVs are cars that have been converted into emergency response vehicles.

They are designed to be able to attend emergencies more quickly than regular ambulances because they are smaller and can get through traffic more easily.

Although they don’t generally carry patients to hospital, they are staffed by a paramedic who is able to administer life-saving treatment at the scene of an emergency.

Neil Maher, assistant director for North West Ambulance Service, said: “The introduction of these electrically powered cars will not only provide huge cost savings for the Trust, it will also have a huge impact on our carbon footprint, reducing the carbon contribution from our RRVs from 1379.28 tonnes to 100.8 tonnes, a reduction of 73%.”

NWAS currently has 174 rapid response vehicles throughout the North West and will initially be introducing four electrically powered vehicles as a trial.

The service will look to replace all rapid response vehicles with the new electric models in the coming years.