A long time in the planning, this brand-new industry show with its “all about the truck” mantra, attracted more than 170 trade exhibitors, alongside a host of expert speakers to the Midlands venue.

The latest technology took centre stage, from manufacturer product launches through to a Ride & Drive opportunity for visitors and live demonstrations.

A topical seminar programme was also hosted inside to keep operators up to speed with the latest industry regulations.

The show even hosted a dedicated Drivers’ Day on the Saturday to welcome professional HGV drivers and their families to take part at the weekend, as well as bring some head-turning show trucks to display in the Convoy Zone.

“We are delighted with the support we’ve received from industry for this exciting new event,” said Vic Bunby, divisional director at show organiser and MT publisher Road Transport Media.

“We listened to what you wanted from a trade show designed for HGV fleet operators and we’ve worked tirelessly to bring this vision to life this summer.

He added: “This inaugural show has proved a huge success and firmly established itself as the go-to event for anyone involved with running a truck fleet, be it one vehicle to 500-plus. We look forward to seeing it continue to grow in future years.”

The Road Transport Expo will be back again next summer.

Full coverage of this year's event will be published in a supplement inserted into MT 25 July.

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This exciting show, now in its sixth year, provides a showcase for the latest urban delivery vehicle technology and brings together leading logistics experts for topical debate.

A bustling exhibition hall gave visitors the opportunity to get up close with a wide range of vehicles aimed at making goods deliveries into towns and cities a safer, more sustainable operation.

While a number of models also picked Freight in the City Expo to made their UK debuts, such as the launch of the brand-new 7.5-tonne Tevva battery electric truck, and an innovative last-mile product from If.Vehicles that enables delivery drivers to both drive it  on the road and carry out pedestrian porterage.

Take a look at our highlights video to get a glimpse of some of the action during the event.

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The company teamed up with Iveco dealer Guest Truck and Van to produce the electric 7.2-tonne IVECO Daily.

It has a range of up to 220km, is fitted with a caged tipper body and is now part of the fleet of London-based highway services firm Ringway.

The conversion saw Astra remove the standard diesel engine and gearbox and replace it with a fully-integrated zero-emission electric drivetrain.

Astra Vehicle Technologies owner, John Chadderton, said: “This is a first for the UK in terms of converting a vehicle in this weight range to electric.

“The conversion process is not just about removing an engine and bolting on a motor, it’s about seamlessly integrating electric power into all of the primary and ancillary systems of the vehicle, such as steering, braking and original manufacturer control systems.”

Ringway is making a significant investment in greening its fleet, and converting existing fleet to deliver best practice.

Scott Wardrop, Ringway chief executive, said: “We are committed to creating a greener future – taking responsibility for the things we can change now, that make a difference for future generations. This means improved air quality, quieter operations and safer working for our teams and the communities we work in.”

Guest Truck and Van supplied the vehicle and supported Astra in ensuring that the conversion was fully integrated.

Robert Spittle, managing director of Guest Truck and Van, said; “We hope this is the first of many conversions of its kind, not just for highways companies but a wide variety of operators using five to seven tonne vehicles.”

Astra Vehicle Technologies team will also be displaying Clearview, the company’s low-level passenger-side window, which meets all the requirements of the Direct Vision Standard.

Freight in the City Expo is a free-to-attend one-day event focused on best practice operation and latest technology for urban freight deliveries. It takes place on 28 September at London’s Alexandra Palace, so register today for your free pass.

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The announcement supports the manufacturer’s ambition to ensure its fleet is carbon-neutral within 30 years, with a view to stopping the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2040.

Renault Trucks already offers a range of all-electric vehicles from 3.1 tonnes to 26 tonnes, comprising the D ZE, D Wide ZE and the Renault Trucks Master ZE, which are aimed at the urban distribution and waste collection sectors.

It now plans to extend this to offering an all-electric ZE tractor unit for regional transportation and a model designed for construction sector use by 2023.

This will be followed later this decade with a range of hydrogen fuel cell powered trucks for demanding, heavier long-haul operations.

To achieve its zero-emission ambitions, Renault Trucks has created a dedicated electro-mobility R&D outfit within the business.

"Electric mobility is the pillar of our strategy and we aim to lead the field," said Bruno Blin, president of Renault Trucks. "We're aiming for 35% of our sales to be electric in 2030. By 2040, all our vehicle ranges will be 100% fossil-free."

Renault Trucks will be developing strategic partnerships within its R&D work, as well as working with parent Volvo Group to increase volumes and reduce costs. This includes sharing work carried out by Volvo Group's new development unit dedicated to medium-tonnage vehicles, which Renault said is a core segment for the phased introduction of electro-mobility for trucks.

It will also work with Volvo Energy to tap into its work around second life and recycling of batteries, as well as charging solutions.

A purpose-built team has also been created to help market the new electric range and support Renault Trucks’ customer base in getting the right technology for their individual requirements. Support will also be provided to customers when it comes to batteries, charging facility installation in depots, energy optimisation, vehicle maintenance, finance and insurance.

• Why not listen to Renault Trucks exploring the role of electro-mobility in urban operations in a free-to-watch Freight in the City Webinar.

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And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the benefits operators can glean when using the latest generation of telematics and digital tachographs.

MT is therefore carrying out exclusive reader research on how operators are tapping into the potential of their fleet telematics and digital tachograph data.

We’d love to explore how your fleet is making use of such technology and would appreciate a few moments of your time to complete our short reader survey.

You will be able to read the results in a forthcoming report available for free, hosted online.

The questionnaire takes around 5 - 10 minutes to complete.

As a thank you, all survey participants will be entered into a £250 quarterly prize draw open to anyone who has responded to a survey from any Road Transport Media brand.

• Please note that your answers and comments will remain anonymous and will not be affiliated with you or your company. Commercial Motor/Motor Transport have commissioned Edge Insight, an independent market research agency to conduct this research study. All data will be processed in accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct and your answers will be anonymised and used in aggregate only. Further information regarding the data held by Commercial Motor/Motor Transport is available here.

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The project will see the world’s first trial of a fully-electric Volvo FH with a gross combination weight up to 60 tonnes.

Starting in March, the truck will operate between two DHL Freight logistics terminals in the cities of Gothenburg and Jönköping over a distance of approximately 150km each way.

It will be charged at DHL’s hub in Jönköping and the Volvo Truck Centre in Gothenburg.

The trial is expected to provide robust data regarding the set-up and operation of adequate charging infrastructure. This will help to optimise the right balance between operated distance, load weight and charging points in daily road freight operations.

“Our aim is to reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero,” said Uwe Brinks, CEO at DHL Freight. “Important milestones have already been achieved in meeting this. Compared to 2007, our Group’s CO2 efficiency has improved by 35%. However, we need innovative technological solutions and strong partnerships along this journey.

He added: “Volvo Trucks is driving the necessary shift towards fossil free road transport by making the transition to electrification as seamless and efficient as possible. This is done by considering every aspect of the eco-system for electrification, including charging, route planning, vehicles, service and other support.”

Roger Alm, president at Volvo Trucks, said: “We offer effective transport solutions that help make a fast transition to fossil-free fuels such as electricity.

“We have a longstanding relationship with DHL. Their broad and global expertise in logistics allows us to study the conditions to progress with this technology shift, adapting it to customer needs and their type of transport operation.”

To support its sustainability strategy, DHL Freight has also introduced a climate-focused shipping program in Sweden. Customers using the program pay a fixed surcharge for every parcel or pallet shipped and the income generated from the surcharges is fully invested in clean technologies within the Swedish network.

The Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric trucks, for city distribution, are already in serial production.

In the UK, DHL Supply Chain recently put a new Volvo FL Electric into operation in London, while at the end of last year, Volvo Trucks in North America started sales of the VNR Electric, and this year will mark the sales start in Europe of the heavy-duty electric product range.

“Our commitment is that our entire truck sales range will be fossil-free by 2040 at the latest,” said Alm.

The post DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks to trial heavy-duty electric HGV in Swedish regional operation appeared first on Motor Transport.

Chairing the first of the Freight in the City webinars, MT editor Steve Hobson acknowledged how the Covid-19 pandemic had led to fundamental shifts in freight traffic in city centres, as people left offices to work from home.

As things recover, while delivery patterns may change, the key challenges of air and noise pollution, congestion, road safety and climate change are still going to exist.

“So, in a way, the pandemic perhaps gives us an often-used phrase, ‘the chance to build back better’, and hopefully this will happen. We can also see that electromobility is going to play a huge, huge role in this process,” he added.

Collaboration drives innovation

Rikesh Shah, head of commercial innovation at TfL, spoke about the organisation’s partnership approach with industry to encourage innovation to help improve the lives of Londoners.

TfL recognises the importance of freight in the capital to keep the city functioning, with 90% of goods moved in London travelling by road.

But with a 39% increase in freight kilometres travelled in the past 25 years and road space remaining the same, significant challenges around congestion, pollution and road safety need tackling.

TfL’s FreightLab scheme was therefore launched in November 2019 to encourage innovation to focus on some of these themes.

“The first thing we did was to target innovation and ideas from across the world. And you could be anyone: you could be a start-up, you could be an academic, you could be a corporate or someone else we wanted to hear from about an idea,” said Shah.

“All you needed was an idea that had been tested in some shape or form and wasn’t just a conceptual diagram.”

TfL provided seed funding and subject matter expertise from its own workforce and partners, as well as offering up land for people to test out their innovation without cost.

New ideas are then tested out on the road with major freight carriers, including Ceva Logistics, DPD, Royal Mail and UPS.

The six successful trials chosen for FreightLab will explore innovation around digital kerbside management; reduction in air and noise pollution; energy efficient tyres for electric vehicles; non-motorised last-mile deliveries; behavioural analysis for accident and near-miss prevention; and a courier smart connection platform.

“So you can see that we've got six very different ideas, which we want to test. And we'll be running trials from three months to up to 12 months,” said Shah.

“At the end of that we'll explore which ones are scalable, which ones are working, we'll be sharing data with each other. And then hopefully, that results in new solutions coming in, that creates a sustainable difference in London.”

Electro-mobility for urban freight

Carlos Rodrigues, MD of Renault Trucks UK and Ireland, focused on the significance of electro-mobility to decarbonise urban freight.

“It starts in the urban environment, and it starts now,” he said. “There is no need to wait for a better technology, the technology available today and what we provide for urban transport, I think fits most of our customer needs.”

Highlighting the typical well-to-wheel CO2 emissions for an electric truck travelling around 150km per day using a typical EU electricity mix (comprising power from both sustainable and non-sustainable sources), Renault’s data shows an approximate 60% reduction compared with its traditional diesel counterpart.

This benefit is even more pronounced when looking at the “cradle to grave” lifespan of a 16-tonner, from the raw materials used in production through to recycling parts at the end: for a country such as France, with a highly decarbonised electricity grid, the CO2 impact can be reduced by as much as 80% over a typical 12-year lifecycle (or 500,000km).

“And that for me is a strong message,” said Rodrigues. “Because what we know that there is a strong commitment as part of the UK government’s Green Deal that there is huge investment into wind and solar, so we know that in the coming years the electricity in UK will become even more decarbonised. So that means that the decisions made today on electric vehicles will only improve in the coming years in terms of impact on CO2.”

Step by step

The shift to electrification for the freight sector will come segment by segment and market by market, noted Rodrigues, as it is not yet an option for all operations.

Electric vehicles are already viable today for both urban distribution and waste sectors, he said, but will be expanded to cover regional operations and other key sectors, such as construction, with different demands on vehicles.

“But clearly today, I think we could almost say that - and maybe I'm a bit ambitious - but electro-mobility, technically speaking, can become mainstream very quickly in the urban environment for HGVs.”

Renault Trucks has simplified the process of buying a new electric truck for customers. It will work with them to provide a complete package from helping pick the right-sized battery (which all come with a vehicle lifetime guarantee) and exploring charging requirements, through to maintenance, finance and insurance guidance.

“So we take away that that risk and that fear from the customers to help them move to the next step,” said Rodrigues. “I think that's the big move forward with electro-mobility and electric vehicles.”

Renault Trucks has a full range of electric vehicles on the market for the urban sector, starting from 3.1 tonnes up to 26 tonnes. It is working in collaboration with a number of bodybuilders to offer a large variety of chassis cab platforms for customers to suit their needs.

Latest customer orders in the UK include bakery Warburtons and waste contractor SUEZ. Warburtons will be operating a 16-tonne D ZE to transport bakery goods in London, while SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK will be operating the first fully electric Renault Trucks D Wide ZE 26-tonne refuse vehicle in the UK, to be used in Bristol city centre.

To highlight its global commitment to sustainable transport, Renault Trucks has committed to 35% of vehicle sales being electric by 2030, with parent Volvo Group having aligned to the Paris Climate agreement of being net-zero by 2050 at the latest.

It also aims to protect resources by working with customers to remanufacture or refurbish trucks to increase their lifetimes and support a circular economy. “That's another way to protect our planet and to decrease CO2,” Rodrigues added.

Electric pathway for Carlsberg

Carlsberg Feldschlossen in Switzerland has been a long-time advocate of electric trucks, starting back in 2008 with delivery of five UK-built Modec 7.5 tonners.

The well-known brewery brand was recognised as being an innovator at the time, with the decision to use e-trucks welcomed by customers.

This led to Carlsberg working with a Swiss company back in 2013 to develop its first 18-tonne electric truck, with an overwhelmingly positive response from drivers who wanted to see more rolled out on the fleet.

Roll on to today, and Carlsberg is on track to order 20 electric vehicles from Renault Trucks for use in its operation delivering to 10,000 bars and restaurants in urban areas.

With 23% of market share in Switzerland, and being the number one beer producer, it was very important to Carlsberg to ensure its deliveries were sustainable, both from an environmental perspective and brand positivity.

“The connection between sustainability and connecting with the brand has huge benefits for the whole company,” said Thomas Stalder, VP Integrated Supply Chain at Carlsberg Feldschlossen.

Stalder explained that in Switzerland, road tax is not payable on electric trucks, which helped with the business case for the purchase.

While the company’s ambition for zero emissions and zero accidents was also supported by the transition to cleaner fleet vehicles, as was the positive experience for drivers.

Up for debate

In a lively Q&A session, MT editor Hobson posed topical questions from the audience to presenters on a range of subjects, including:

• Can electric vehicle technology inform city regulation, such as the London Lorry Control Scheme?
• What is the effect of cold weather operations on real-life battery range?
• How will smaller operators make the leap to electric vehicles?
• Is the carrot or stick better for encouraging clean technology transition?
• Is there a trade-off between range and payload?
• How can innovation improve kerbside space and management?
• Is there appetite for quiet, out-of-hours deliveries?
• Is the right recharging infrastructure in place?

You can find out the answers and watch the original webinar presentations on-demand, free of charge, on freightinthecity.com

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‘Unlocking the potential of connected technologies’: Darren Hall, MD, Fraikin

“With less than a third of respondents to this survey looking to invest in fleet technology in 2021, there is an argument to be made that the road transport industry can be slower than other sectors to embrace the benefits new technologies have to offer.

“Take telematics for example... When used correctly, these systems can provide a significant return on investment through better fleet management and improved operational efficiency. As one of the largest commercial vehicle contract hire and rental companies in Europe, Fraikin is ideally positioned to guide its customers on how best to utilise the technology available to them.

“The majority of those in this survey saw telematics primarily as a way of tracking a vehicle’s whereabouts, alongside certain driver behaviours. A good telematics package can offer so much more, providing a real-time operational view of every vehicle in a fleet.

“For example, simply by monitoring key vehicle operating parameters, it is possible to take preventative action to avoid unexpected downtime and costly repairs, as well as combat poor driving practices to help reduce parts wear and increase fuel efficiency. Plus, the right telematics solution can help develop better route planning to cut mileage, support regulatory compliance and even reduce insurance premiums through monitored load security or the use of integrated camera systems. The list goes on!

“The most comprehensive packages provide a wealth of real-time data, offering a detailed overview of a fleet’s operational dynamics. Understanding this information is the key to unlocking significant efficiency improvements, as well as a potential reduction in operating costs. But it’s the ability to competently de-code this data which is often the biggest stumbling block for operators; and that’s where Fraikin can step in. By combining telematics and maintenance/repair data, Fraikin can provide much greater operational insight, including any cost implications for your fleet.

“Our skilled team can use telematics data to proactively suggest steps which can have a significant impact. For example, for one major home delivery fleet our telematics analysis led to a saving of more than £1.5 million over three years, which certainly provides some food for thought.

“We believe connected technologies should be designed with the future in mind, delivering results for the life of the vehicle. No matter the type of business or size of fleet, we have extensive expertise at finding the right solution, and then using the resulting data to unlock a fleet’s full potential. That, in essence, is the trick to unlocking the potential of these connected technologies and making them work for your business.”

• Download your free copy of this insightful report today.

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AL Now will enable London businesses to offer its customers a specific two-hour delivery window.

Addison Lee said the service is designed to help independent businesses compete on a more level playing field with retail giants such as Amazon by giving more control and choice over delivery times.

Liam Griffin, CEO of Addison Lee, said: “Since the first lockdown last March, we’ve seen our courier services grow by 30% as shopping behaviour shifted online. At the same time, we have seen shoppers come to expect that their purchases will be delivered at a time and date of their choosing.

“We created AL Now in response this trend – offering a simple, speedy and seamless delivery solution designed to help London's local businesses meet changing customer demands.”

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The vans will operate out of DHL’s Docklands depot, where they will be charged overnight using onsite facilities to serve central London.

Renault’s ZE Masters have a range of 75 miles, making them well suited for deliveries in urban areas.

DHL said the new vans will help improve air quality in London and bring down overall fleet emissions for the business.

Scott Laird, VP of operations at DHL Parcel, said: “Bringing down emissions from commercial vehicles is crucial if we want to make a difference to air quality and the environment. The launch of these vehicles in London is an important step towards our target of zero logistics-related carbon emissions by 2050.

“Recent enhancements in battery life and load capacity have made the use of electric vehicles in urban areas a reality and we’re committed to extending the roll-out in other parts of the country.”

Charging facilities have been installed in a number of DHL Parcel depots in readiness for more electric vehicles and all plans for future upgrades and new builds have charging facilities planned as standard.

Laird added: “As electric technology continues to advance, we have every intention of investing in future models that can serve larger, more rural areas.”

A key target on DHL’s journey towards zero emissions is operating clean pick-up and delivery services. The electrification of the DHL Parcel fleet is a major contributor to this.

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