ENVIRONMENT: HAULIERS OPERATING IN LONDON CAN MAKE E-VEHICLES ‘VIABLE’

Hauliers operating in London can now make the total cost of ownership of an electric 3.5-tonner viable, it has been claimed.

Paul Sanders, MD of AllPorts Group, said its first electric Citiloaders will go live in September with operators replacing ICE equivalents.

Paul said: “They can carry four to six pallets, depending upon weight, so depending upon the distance to base, they can do several trips without challenging their range,” he says.

Although the cost of electric vehicles is still challenging outside London and at higher weights, he says that the market will learn a lot over the next two years.

Learning

“We will also have some 18-tonne electric rigid demonstrators to go out to pallet network operations next year and we’ll learn a lot from that,” he said.

AllPorts has set up a new brand Evolution Electric Vehicle Solutions, designed to take fleet operators through the entire process of planning and acquiring an EV fleet. Paul said they first inform the operator and understand the business before looking at the infrastructural requirements.

This is planned into the TCO and feasibility studies before ever speccing the vehicle.

Vehicles and infrastructure must be planned together, and Evolution has brought in infrastructure specialists of its own to fill this gap.

First Published by RHA – James Evison