The world’s cities are crying out for the potential environmental benefits of electric lorries. Research by King’s College in 2014 found nitrogen dioxide levels on London’s Oxford Street to be the worst on Earth – a shocking revelation that is prompting new restrictions on the type of vehicles permitted to enter the city.
Dr David Carslaw, Environmental Research Group, was quoted in relation to air pollution levels on Oxford Street. He said: ‘To my knowledge this [level] is the highest in the world in terms of both hourly and annual mean. NO2 concentrations [in Oxford Street] are as high as they have ever been in the long history of air pollution.’
Diesels emit the bulk of emissions that endanger health, causing asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart disease and cancer, and such vehicles will from 2020 have to meet the strict Euro 6 emissions rating if they are to escape a proposed daily 24-hour toll on top of the congestion charge. Most diesel cars have yet to meet Euro 6.
There had been high hopes for Modec, a company that manufactured electric lorries with a useful payload of 2.5 tons, but despite orders from a series of high-profile companies it went into administration in 2011 following poor sales. It was unique because it was an electric commercial vehicle from the ground up – unlike current vans such as the e-NV200 from Nissan, which is a converted internal combustion engine model.
According to Denis Sverdlov, the founder of British electric vehicle start-up ‘Charge’, “We find trucks today totally unacceptable. At Charge we are making trucks the way they should be – affordable, elegant, quiet, clean and safe. We are removing all the barriers to entry for electric vehicles by pricing them in line with conventional trucks, giving every fleet manager, tradesman or company, no matter how big or small, the opportunity to change the way they transport goods and make our towns and cities better places to live in.”
A barrier to electric vehicle ownership, particularly for commercial users, has been price, but Charge claims to have used ultra-lightweight composite materials and custom-built hardware, to reduce operating costs by more than 50% when compared to conventional diesel vehicles.
The company plans a range of electric lorries from 2 to 20 tons with a range of 100 miles, which can be increased to 500 miles using an auxiliary motor.
Like a modern-day Ford Model T, a simple design aids mass production. One person can assemble two entire Charge lorries each day.
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Jim Clark
Not only are trucks totally unacceptable to-day but yesterday, last year and ten plus years ago. We live a mile or so from a main line railway. We moved here in 1980 and were amazed at the length of goods trains going to Holyhead port, thence to Ireland. Now all this freight goes via road, they even built a new road for it.
However with Trump and his friend (master) Putin both fossil fuel fools, the most powerful people in the world and our own government weak and lacking direction, I think its’ goodbye electric trucks (and planet).
Perhaps these new vehicles could block phone signals like my car does. I thought there was a law against using them whilst driving. This doesn’t seem to apply on the A55 on Anglesey. I was even confronted on a roundabout by a driver of a ten wheeler with a phone to his ear.
j eaton
Hello Jim Clark I’m a haulier and I’m always amazed at the zero knowledge people like you have about lorries and what they do and how rail works and lorries work together .. First of all road haulage is the oldest industry going (please look at YouTube’s London traffic 1900) with horse being the the main engine then steam lorry ,petrol/diesel and now hybrids and electric engines.. You seem to think Jim we could do away with lorries ? Yet how do you think goods are delivered / collected ?? How do you think farms get there feed and there meat, milk ,vegetables collected ? Imagine the farmer loads 28 tonne of wheat in a bulk tipper lorry on his farm to then go for flour/bread .. How do you think supermarkets would cope without a lorry reversing up to the back door or the little local shop with its big delivery every day ? Yep without lorries the shelf’s would be empty..then there’s industry big or small direct contact from source to end product all done by lorry just like horse and cart days ,, only diferance now is speed and demand ,lorries have got bigger due to volume of goods required (people buying more and population growth) then there multi drop ,most lorries collect and deliver to several homes/industries ,, order a bed ? That 7.5 tonne bed lorry may have 20 deliveries a day ,so lorries will always be needed unless we slow life and go back to horse and cart ..now trains I’m a big fan of trains but when i hear people condemn lorries for trains makes me angry ..so let’s start ..lorries/hauliers love trains because we get work !!! Trains are good at big bulk loads but you can’t deliver 30 tonnes of timber to a building site 60 miles from a rail yard sooo here comes the 44 tonne lorry to deliver it ,, yep without lorries the train would be just sat in a yard full of stuff eg fertiliser the train loads fertiliser takes it to avonmouth and there’s a massive que of 44 tonne artics waiting to load to deliver around farms .. Now you could arugue that as a island we are not big enough for rail eg..why spend a day loading a train just to travel 200 miles then to meet a que of 44 tonne artics to take the goods to shops/farms/industry taking roads it would take if you just cut the middle man out (the train) and when to load lorry direct use the motorway ?? Anyhow that’s rare because trains and lorries work well together ( British rail in the good old days had the biggest lorry fleet and could argue rail invented the articulated lorry the scammel scarab) trains work well but youre see the biggest 44 tonners loading and delivering to rail heads ,, I’m not having a go Jim but you need to learn how dependent we are on lorries and learn how freight works , haulage is the most heavily regulated industry in the country with most 44 tonners doing 7 to 8 mpg and payments for there service averaging £1.40p to £2. Loaded mile and we all need a operators licence governed by a traffic commissioner with lorries by law having 6 weekly maintence checks it all cost money with little reward/profit so we don’t run lorries for fun . so when we read negative comments it just shows a lack of knowledge for the freight industry .. Especially when you think most farmers are taking a lot hauliers work using big tractors and trailers grossing more then 30 tonnes with no mot driven on a car licence
carrying excavaters and feed stuffs
j eaton
As a haulier what I would love to see is possible retro fitting electric or hybrid engines into older lorries .when a engine blows up in seat a year 2001 model lorry instead of rebuilding the diesel we should be givern the chance to to retro fit hybrid or electrc power to the lorry possibly fitting straight to the gearbox already in use .. Lorries are the oldest industry in the land with most hauliers today having origins starting with horse and cart ..you will never replace vans and lorries its not possible or else we wouldn’t of used the horse and cart and ox (have a look at YouTube London traffic 1900) we’ve had steam lorries then petrol diesel lorries and electric lorries isn’t a new idea !!! In the past electric was tried.. Shop shelf’s would be empty without delivery lorries ,homes wouldn’t be built without bricks /timber etc delivers ,, grain from farms wouldn’t being collected 28 tonne at a time in bulk tipper lorries to take for flour ,hospitals wouldn’t have there products delivered to the door ,,waste / water just think how life would change if lorries parked up for a week ..the 18 tonne tanker delivering heating oil to your house the 26 tonne lorry collecting sewage the 44 tonner delivering eggs and milk to the shop etc.. Lorries (mostly the trailer ) have only got bigger because of the population in growth requiring more goods on each vehicle.. Rail works with lorries with lorries trains would just be sat in a rail yard you still need lorries up to 44 tonnes to collect from the rail head to deliver to the final destination like tesco the train takes the trailers up north but the 44 tonne lorries still deliver there trailer loads ..rail can’t multi drop or reverse up to a back street shop..plus British rail in the old days had the biggest lorry fleet and could argue invent the artic lorry the scammel scarab ,British rail wanted a lorry to turn on the spot like a horse and cart and swap trailers like a horse, most old lorries used to haul old horse carts on a dolly and tow them ,steam lorries use to use horse carts… If you think of people as freight just think how many methods one person has on land to travel ?? Walk,cycle,car,bus and train now if you had 12 tonnes of potatoes in your shed that needed delivering to 5 fish and chip shops in a 150 mile radius in towns etc you get the lorry ..the past and future will always involve lorries its up to technology to make them clean ..and if people don’t like lorries regardless there just snobs ,,they only like trains because there stuff in there minds is hidden from there view
j eaton
Rail is rose tinted glasses . rail only works because of lorries working with rail .. Rail like ships are just another type of freight movement..each one having contact with lorries and vans at all times . the size of lorries havnt changed much in lenght since the 60s.. And steam lorries pre war with there trailers were prob as heavy as todays wagons on the road .. But theres no room on the roads because of cars !! Take london town ,,they hate lorries yet without lorries there shops would be empty and without tippers and cement lorries nothing woukd get built.. Now if you took a massive leap and banned cars monday to friday and spared the roads up giving more room for cyclists and lorries/busses to pass safely .. Half the problem over taking a bicycle in a lorry is pressure from cars ..ban the car simple..clean air /no hold ups safer cycling and freedom for lorries / vans to do there job .. Your never sort pollution when the car is king .. People would sooner be snobs and ban a lorry the very vehicle that supplys there life because it prob slowed them up on the road or sounds noisey in town ,yet wouldnt park there car up and walk or cycle take the bus or train yet expect to see freight took of roads for rail ?? That 10 wheeler or in uk terms 6×2, 26 tonne rigid you saw proberly doing local deliveies has more right to the road then a car !! So my advice is a hard ban on non commercial use of cars in the week (private car runs for no reason ) free the roads up making lorry times quicker making less fuel use and less que times..and giving cyclist and lorries more freedom .. Harsh for cars but so is hating lorries.. More money spent on lorry fuel ideas, hybrids to electric to better diesels using veg oil or other ?..more lorries using waste products turned into gas fuel and even just water they say you can run a diesel on water ?? But what ever the lorry hasnt will never go away !!.. We also need more bicycle vans for small parcel town /country deliveirers like the old days. My last point to snobs who hate lorries spend a day learning how lorries/haulage works ,have a look at the old british rail freight yards full of horse and carts to lorries then say lorries in the uk are not needed !!