Electric van anybody?

By John Cranage on Apr 15, 08 03:03 PM in Automotive

It's good to think that a region whose prosperity has been based on planet-destroying (if you believe the eco doomsters) internal combusion engines is quietly whirring its way to a battery-powered future.
That is the scenario that emerged when Birmingham vanmaker LDV announced that an electric variant of its successful Maxus light van will go on sale as early as July.
LDV will be joining Coventry-based Modec, which has come from nowhere to global leader in about two years, in the zero emissions commercial vehicle field.

Modec's van are already on the road in the Tesco and UPS liveries and the company is about to begin testing the water in the USA.
The harnessing of the West Midlands' vehicle building expertise with rapidly improving battery technology could produce the perfect marriage - one that could put the region right back in the forefront of the automotive business.
Too optimistic? May be. But after years of seeing car factories bulldozed such news is very welcome.

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5 Comments

Barry Kellow said:

Gosh JC, you are well out of touch if you believe that Modec are world leader in this field.

Oldest and biggest maker of roadgoing electric vans and trucks is Smith Electric Vehicles. They've been around since 1920, and today announced a huge tie-up with Ford for European and north American expansion of their product range which already far outweighs and outsells Modec's. (Mind you, they are based in the north-east, which is maybe why they don't show on your radar?)

I wish Modec well - and LDV. There is a market big enough for all of them, especially in depot-based local delivery fleets.

April 15, 2008 4:36 PM

David North said:

One thing that I'm confused about with Modec is where the electric power comes from.

If the van needs charging then this isn't quite as eco friendly as it sounds because that power has probably generated by a coal fired power station.

Also I don't think the national grid could handle loads of new electric vehicles appearing on our roads.

I'm don't know a huge amount about the subject but this has never rung true for me. I'd appreciate others views on this.

April 15, 2008 5:21 PM

andylockran said:

Great to see Midlands Engineering making bleeding edge progress once again. Let's hope thing continues for a long long time. Congratulations to both companies.

April 15, 2008 6:57 PM

Barry Kellow said:

David - electricity generation companies have surpluses at night which they would be delighted to find users for. So overnight recharging would suit them fine (it helps iron out the inefficiences of turning generators off and on again between low and peak demand). Overall the UK grid is well able to cope for several years with the demand should EVs catch on at the pace that seems likely.

If you visit the modec.co.uk website, and those of other EV makers, you will see it explained that electricity can be bought from renewable sources if customers request it - satisfying the concern you mention. Meanwhile, even with the dirtiest of electricity generation, it is far easier to control and filter emissions at one coalfired power station than beneath the bonnets of ten thousand petrol or diesel engined vehicles operating in various states of maintenance and in often congested traffic circumstances.

At last year's CV Show there were two vehicle makers offering electric vans or trucks. This year there are eight. It is a concept whose time has come. Or rather, whose time has returned; in the early days of road transport a century ago, electric cars outnumbered petrol engined ones.

April 16, 2008 9:12 AM

David Bailey said:

This is great news, and it's good to see LDV and Modec rising to the challenge even if they are catching up with Smiths as Barry suggests.

Not only can the vans be recharged at night when peak demand is low, and in a green way if customers specificy it, but also this can reduce CO2 and other pollution emissions in our cities when there is a massive problem of asthma linked to pollution.

I wonder whether there is a role here for procurement policy by Birmingham City and other councils, by universities (Birmingham Uni already has electric vans - they're great), hospitals, Royal Mail, bus companies in the future and so on...

Indeed, procurement policy can play a critical role when new technologies emerge which are expensive and it allows private sector firms to experiment at public expense and to come down the (initially steep learning curve) thereby reducing costs and opening commercial markets.

If you think this is crazy, read your economic history books. Many of the key industries and technologies that we take for granted today (computers, microchips, aerospace, flat screens) were initially stimuluated by the US government through a de facto industrial policy which procured hi-spec and expensive equipment with obvious commercial applications. That ran (and indeed does today) through the Pentagon (chips, computers) but also the Post Office (aerospace) and the Census (computers).

Civil servants are bad at second guessing the market (witness probelsm with procuring the latest generation of trains in the UK) but are just as good as anyone at specifying their own needs. In the early days of new technologies, such as electric vehicles these needs are the same as the commercial sector (here it's about improving range, cost and performance).

April 16, 2008 5:51 PM