Speedy to use electric taxis for tool delivery
UK hire company Speedy has announced plans for a trial and test phase to deliver equipment and tools via electric taxi firm London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC).
The move will see Speedy join other businesses such as Royal Mail and logistics firm DPD with LEVC with the delivery of the vehicle manufacturer’s TX taxi. It will come with a full interior van conversion and enable trials ahead of the roll-out of LEVC’s VN5 van later in the year.
LEVC’s trial phase is taking place over the autumn of 2020 and will see more than 25 partners take delivery of test vehicles, ranging from tool & equipment hire to energy suppliers and delivery services. The companies have been specifically chosen to put the vehicle through a variety of different use cases.
Speedy has more than 200 depots across the UK and severs more than 85% of the country’s top contractors, it claims.
Speaking about the move, LEVC CEO, Joerg Hofmann, said: “(Speedy’s) business is based on delivering tools and equipment to construction and infrastructure sites, often in and around large cities: the kind of working day our new flexible, zero-emission capable one-tonne van was built for.
“We are looking forward to developing our relationship with Speedy over the coming months.”
Launched this winter, the VN5 van is based on the same architecture and proven eCity range-extender technology as LEVC’s TX electric taxi and gives a pure EV range of 61 miles and a total flexible range over 300 miles.
It’s cargo capacity accommodates two Euro sized pallets with a gross payload of over 800kg. It has been built with a large side-loading door and a 60/40 split door at the rear to make loading and unloading easy for the driver.
Speaking about the trial, Head of Fleet at Speedy, Aaron Powell, said: “The construction sector accounts for 10 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions and we recognise that the hire industry is uniquely placed to introduce innovative, sustainable solutions that can reduce this.
“This new electric van will set a new standard for small electric commercial vehicles, LEVC’s powertrain technology has already saved 36,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere through its use in the taxi and shuttle market.
“Energise, our environmental and social responsibility programme, sits at the heart of how we operate and together with satisfying demand for low-carbon products, we’re committed to revolutionising how we collect and deliver them for our customers. We look forward to growing our partnership with LEVC to bring greener transport options into the sector.”
