TNT Builds up its Green Fleet with 100 Smith Electric Trucks

13 May, 2008 04:00:00

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TNT is doubling its effort to cut carbon emissions of its road fleet with the introduction of over 100 electric trucks in the UK, China, and Australia.

Britain's leading business-to-business express delivery company, TNT, launched the world's largest fleet of zero emission vehicles, enabling it to reduce its carbon footprint by 1.3 million kg of CO² a year.

TNT Express and Smith Electric Vehicles launched the world's largest fleet of zero emission electric vehicles with 100 battery-powered 7.5 ton 'Newton' delivery trucks which will replace diesel equivalents over the next 18 months.

The Newton models, manufactured by Smith Electric Vehicles in Tyne and Wear, are the first ever pure electric vehicles in their class that can compete in performance terms with diesel equivalents and, at the same time, deliver a 100% reduction in CO² emissions and exhaust air pollutants at the point of use.

The first tranche of 50 trucks will initially operate from TNT locations in London, Basildon, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Enfield, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Northampton, Oxford, Paisley, Preston and Wolverhampton. In addition, TNT is also piloting other Smith Electric battery powered vans and trucks in the Netherlands, with a view to rolling them out across its wider European operations.

TNT Express Services, in partnership with vehicle manufacturers, Smith Electric Vehicles, is unveiling the first trucks in the £7-million (US$13.6-million) fleet at the London Wetland Centre.

The Newton is the world’s largest igh-performance electric truck, weighing more than 24,000 lbs.
A Zebra battery pack and a 120 kilowatt drive system from Enova propel the vehicle up to it stop
speed of 50mph.
Fully charged, the vehicle has a range of up to 150 miles, while the regenerative braking system
returns power to the batteries every time the vehicle slows or stops.

Powered by four large sodium nickel chloride 278v batteries located underneath the vehicle, each Newton can be fully charged from flat in approximately eight hours, using a standard three-phase industrial electricity supply which is common to any commercial premises. The Newton also provides additional environmental features such as fully recyclable, ultra light body panels manufactured by Omnia. This reduces the body weight and increases the payload capacity to 2,000kg for the TNT vehicles.

Tom Bell, Managing Director, TNT Express Services UK & Ireland, said: "This is a huge step forward for our fleet in both environmental as well as economical terms.

"On average it costs just £40-a-week to power a zero emission vehicle as opposed to around £200 spent on diesel fuel. The electric vehicles are also exempt from the London congestion charge - approximately £1,750 a year - and do not incur road tax in the UK. It's a clear win-win situation and one that we hope others will follow.

[source: TNT]

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