Southern Water is replacing a third of its engineering fleet, with more than 300 new vans – the majority of which will have solar panels fitted. 

The solar panels, located on the roofs, will help drivers and engineers charge equipment.

The new vans will be driven by operational, technical and customer teams across the south-east of England. 

The new vehicles, which include vans from Vauxhall and pickups from Ford, will also feature safety sensors for checking van weight, all season tyres and 70mph controlled speed limiters.  

A new livery on the vans will highlight some of the unusual technologies Southern Water uses and benefits on offer to its customers.

They include using satellite technology to find hidden water leaks and artificial intelligence (AI) to find sewer blockages. 

Martin Lock, fleet manager at Southern Water, said: “We are replacing around a third of our fleet with new vehicles.

“Vans such as the Vauxhall Combo, Vivaro and Movano, plus Ford 4x4 Ranger pickup will replace some of our older vehicles and include the new livery.”

He added: “There are some exciting new features that include solar panels on the van’s roofs to power on board batteries, reversing cameras and on board weighing.” 

There are also more than 30 new 4x4 trucks joining the fleet, which will be used at remotes sites and for off-road operational use.