NEWS
Hermes plugs in to Sprinter
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arcel company Hermes has placed an order for 168 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter vans, all of which should be on the roads by the end of the year. The vans will operate through the Hermes ParcelShops service, which operates through more than 5,000 convenience stores nationwide. The move follows a successful trial of two eSprinter vans from the firm’s depot in Enfield, north London. Those vans were supplied by local dealer Intercounty Truck & Van and the dealer will fulfil the larger order too, along with 132 diesel-engined Sprinter vans for longer haul work. Pod Point UK has been commissioned to install charging points at Hermes depots, initially in London and other cities with low emission zones. “The transition to a zero-emission electric fleet is integral to our environment, social and governance agenda and we’ve been keen to take the next major step forward towards this goal,” said David Landy, head of fleet at Hermes. ”However, we are under no illusions, this will not be an easy journey. From a purely operational standpoint and given the current state of the technology, whichever way you look at it, whether in terms of range, payload or volume, a van with an internal combustion engine beats an electric one hands down. “Only when it comes to tailpipe emission does the battery-powered vehicle outshine the diesel. So we know there are constraints and compromises to make and we recognise that this
is going to put extra pressure and increased demands on those colleagues out in our depots who are doing a difficult job, day in and day out.” When specifying diesel Sprinters, Hermes takes an L3H2 van, offering 14m3 of load volume. However, the eSprinter is only available as an L2H3, with an 11m3 volume. This means that Hermes will have to allocate the electric vans to those routes best suited to the smaller cargo area and lower operating range. However, the deal with Intercounty not only allows Hermes to swap some of its diesel vans to electric as its charging infrastructure comes on line, but also allows the company to move to newer, longer range elec-
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The transition to a zeroemission fleet... will not be an easy journey
TEVVA LAUNCHES UK EV TRUCK Electric truck company Tevva has unveiled a new 7.5-tonne truck designed to be mass produced in the UK. Offering a range of up to 160 miles in pure electric form, or 310 miles with Tevva’s range extender technology, which can now use a hydrogen fuel cell, the Tevva Truck can haul over 2-tonnes of payload in a body that can hold 16 Euro pallets. The company is establishing a new production facility in the London Thames Freeport area, with an 11,000m2 manufacturing plant that will provide up to 1,000 mechanical, software, engineering and manufacturing jobs over the next 24 months. The Tevva London facility is expected to begin manufacturing up to 3,000 trucks a year by 2023.
Spie extends electric option
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echnical engineering solutions provider SPIE UK is aiming to replace 98% of its fleet with alternative fuel vehicles by 2025. To that end, the company has taken delivery of 60 Nissan e-NV200 vans. To maximise the efficient use of the vans, SPIE has equipped them with three accessories from Rhino Products, including the PipeTube Pro, SafeStow4 and the DeltaBar. Each of the vans is kitted out with two PVC-lined Rhino PipeTube Pros, to carry lengthy pipe and conduit safely and securely. The DeltaBar system 8 VANUSER • OCTOBER 2021
tric vans as the technology becomes available. For now though, service and backup, from the manufacturer and from a network of experienced dealers, was key to the decision to go with MercedesBenz and Intercounty. “This is a new technology, so product support will be crucial,” said Landy.
selected by SPIE is a durable roof bar system made of high tensile alloy steel, while SafeStow4 is a ladder storage and handling solution. “Build quality, safety, security and reliability were the key areas of focus that we looked into when purchasing our fleet accessories,” said Keith Atkins, head of feet at SPIE UK. “We are notably impressed with the SafeStow4 ladder storage, installed to ensure our engineers can safely and securely stow and deploy their ladders from the roof of our vehicles, all from ground level.”
