‘It will save the charity so much’
Volunteer rider John Baxter of Blood Bikes Scotland goes electric with a Zero SR/S
“Keep Scotland Beautiful were running a Climate Challenge Fund initiative, which involved a fund of £3.2 million to help drive climate change action. Blood Bikes Scotland applied for a grant to buy an electric motorcycle and a charging station as part of this green initiative. As a charity we cover over 136,000 miles a year delivering urgent supplies such as medication or blood to the NHS within the Lothian region, Borders, Fife and Forth Valley and we thought that getting an electric bike made perfect sense. Happily, Keep Scotland Beautiful agreed and we now have a brand new Zero SR/S.
“We have a fleet of 14 bikes and three cars which our team of 130 volunteers ride and drive. The Zero will operate mainly in the Lothian region as a shift will cover roughly 100-120 miles, which is bang on the range of the SR/S and means it will work perfectly where in other regions a bigger range would be required. “The bike will be used mainly for going from hospital to hospital, generally shorter routes but possibly heading out from the city centre hospital to more out-lying locations such as pharmacies or a patient’s house. And it will be working nearly every day so will probably cover more than 15,000 miles a year.
“Using an electric bike makes so much sense. As a charity any fuel costs are taken out of our funds, so the fact the Zero costs so little to run will represent a massive saving. Also, we are all volunteers and a major perk of the job is the fact we get to ride bikes, which we all love doing, and the Zero is brilliant fun to ride.”
Visit bloodbikes scotland.co.uk for more on the team.