Electric ambulances are being trialled in the region, North Yorkshire councillors have been told.
In an update to a North Yorkshire Council meeting, representatives from Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) said EV ambulances were being tested in urban areas.
Martin Dodd, area operations manager for North Yorkshire at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, told members of the Richmond area committee that the service was currently looking to renew its fleet.
He added:
“We are looking at the electric ambulances, certainly across the other areas. We have some trials ongoing at the present in some of the more urban areas.
“Obviously, the problems in the rural areas continue with having the infrastructure available for electric vehicles, but it is something that we are abreast of and on top of.”
According to a report presented to councillors at the meeting, ambulance response times for most categories of incidents had improved this year, compared to 2024, in the Richmond constituency area.
The average response to the most serious category one incidents was nine minutes 13 seconds in 2025, compared to nine minutes 25 seconds last year.
Only category four incidents had seen response times increase.
These had gone up from 56 minutes 44 seconds to one hour 34 minutes and 42 seconds.
Response times for the more serious incidents were, however, slower in the Richmond constituency area than across the wider Yorkshire Ambulance Service area.
Handover times for ambulances passing on patients to hospitals had also improved from last year.
The handover times this year were 18 minutes 44 seconds this year at Darlington Memorial Hospital and 26 minutes and 27 seconds at James Cook Hospital, compared to 20 minutes and 42 seconds and 31 minutes and 30 seconds
The report noted that significant progress has been made in reducing handover delays across Yorkshire, with the introduction of a new ‘transfer of care’ operating procedure.
The meeting heard that work had started on the new ambulance station being built in Thirsk, with the steel frame constructed last week.
Mr Dodd said it was hoped the station would be fully operational by the end of March 2026.
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