LV Britannia Rescue (LV BR) has partnered with LAR Traffic Services to launch an electric car service to its customers who break down in Central London.

As part of the new service, a qualified technician with the tools and diagnostic equipment necessary for repairing electric car breakdowns at the roadside will attend customers in an electric van – offering a fully end-to-end electric breakdown service, said LV Britannia Rescue.

The service will use the Renault Kangoo ZE roadside assistance service van, equipped with an electric car recharge unit. LV Britannia said it will complement LAR’s London fleet of solely Euro 6 compliant service and recovery vehicles, it said.

Henry Topham, managing director at LV Britannia Rescue, said: “Our independent recovery network has been assisting electric car recoveries for a number of years, but this is the first time one of our partners is doing it in an electric recovery van, so we’re really pleased to be working with LAR Traffic Services on this project.

“Arriving at roadside in an electric vehicle, possibly to help the increasing number of electric drivers on the road, will only instil customer confidence in the service we and LAR are providing.

“It also goes to demonstrate the investment our network and the independent vehicle recovery operators are putting in to reduce their carbon footprint, on top of the investment that they have already made in order to be compliant with the clean air zones (CAZs) that have and continue to increase across the UK.”

A third (34%) of commercial vehicles will not meet the emssions standads of CAZs, such as as Birmingham and London as they are Euro 5 or below, research by R2C Online has revealed.

Jason Longmore, LAR Traffic Services, added: “It is vital we remain ahead of the ever-changing needs of our industry and electric car technologies are going to play an increasing role going forward.

“The needs of our customers, who are adopting this technology, will ultimately shape the services we and our close partner LV provide, and this step demonstrates our joint commitment to invest heavily in the support this growing sector of our business.”