Cenex chats: Philip Moon, DAF Trucks
Philip Moon is the Marketing Manager at DAF Trucks – a leading UK truck manufacturer. Here, he catches up with Transport + Energy Editorial Director Alec Peachey ahead of this year’s Cenex-LCV and CAM event which takes place on September 6 and 7 at UTAC Millbrook in Bedfordshire.
Q: Tell us about yourself, your job and your organisation
A: I am Marketing Manger for DAF Trucks in the UK. DAF has led the UK market for over 28 years with a successful range of trucks to suit all applications backed up by services and support from the UK’s largest network of dealers.
Q: Why are you speaking at the event?
A: I will be taking part in the BETT workshop session which will discuss the project which has seen twenty LF Electric vehicles deployed in operation in a number of public sector fleets. My presentation will focus on the EV Rally which involved a team from DAF and Cenex who took one of the BETT vehicles through the British Isles taking in five capital cities and 1200 miles earlier this summer.
Q: What will be the main content of your presentation?
A: I will discuss the event and how we were able to use the public recharging network to make the journey, and the challenges faced when trying to charge a larger vehicle.
Q: What you would you like the delegates to take away from your presentation?
A: I’d like those with influence over the development of charging stations for EVs to understand the need to accommodate larger vehicles into their design.
Q: Do you think that most barriers have now been overcome to allow for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles? What barriers, if any, remain?
A: There are significant challenges to the deployment of electric HGVs including access to the charging network. The high utilisation, long range and flexibility that goods transport has come to expect from diesel fuelled vehicles, is not so easy to replicate with a zero emission alternative, and of course the vehicles need to be able to achieve a comparable total cost of ownership for the operator.
Q: What do you think the EV situation will look like in 2030?
A: The end of sale dates for HGVs are later than those for cars. 2035 for vehicles of 26t GVW or less and 2040 for others. Nevertheless we will need to work hard to overcome the barriers to adoption to avoid a last minute rush to acquire and operate diesel fuelled vehicles before the end of sale deadlines.
Q: Tell us about your company’s latest innovations, vehicles and technology
A: DAF continues to expand its range of zero emission electric models and has just announced the New XB in both diesel and electric variants making available options that will enable more applications to move to electric. DAF continues to explore hydrogen alternatives – both ICE and FCEVs.
Q: What do you see as your company’s greatest opportunity leading up to 2030?
A: There are great opportunities to deploy zero emission vehicles into specific operations that can recharge back at base.
Q: What is your company’s greatest challenge leading up to 2030?
A: The challenge we have is to make longer and less predictable zero emission journeys a possibility by enabling a network of high speed chargers that can be accessed whilst away from base.
Transport + Energy are the Content Partner for this year’s event and will be on Stand C4-204.
