Jays trials electric lorry as it looks to a greener future

10 January 2024

Transport and logistics business, Jays, has been trialling an electric lorry with a view to reducing emissions from their current fleet of vans and trucks.

The company provides collections and deliveries from Portbury, Wellington, Minehead and everywhere in between and has been trialling a 18T E-TECH D vehicle in partnership with Renault Trucks UK.

Commercial Sales Manager, Ben Walker, said: “There are many ways to look at the vehicle in regards to the pros and cons. From a business point of view, both cost and practicality play a big part in the decision to run a vehicle of this nature.

“The initial outlay for this vehicle is huge – almost four times the price of a current diesel counterpart and then you have the issue of where to charge it, if required away from base – the cost of that and then there is the operational battery range.”

Jays will be looking at comparisons to their existing fleet of diesel vehicles to assess how viable the model would be if they decided to integrate electric vehicles into the business.

Ben added: “The vehicle performed very well locally due to the regenerative braking – adding charge back into the battery, thus increasing the range.

“The main benefit to the local and wider communities is the reduced tailpipe emissions however the source of the electricity must be also considered. Secondly the noise pollution for a vehicle of this size is reduced dramatically, so for urban and local areas this is a plus point.”

The Highbridge-based firm had the vehicle on trial for two weeks, covering local collections and deliveries within Burnham, Highbridge and Weston.

Jays and sister company R T Keedwell have already trialled HVO fuel and a fuel additive technology in the last few years in an attempt to find both cost and environmental benefits for themselves, their clients and the wider environment and community.