Do the groundwork now to prepare for electric transition, urges Vertellus

Infrastructure remains a challenge for commercial vehicles even when a fleet operator has been offered the best solution for its business.

That’s the view of Ian Seager, business development director at Vertellus, the contract hire company specialising in electric trucks.

The business partnered with Renault Trucks last year to offer fleets trials of electric trucks and vans on the EV Discovery Programme and has 16 rigid trucks of 16-18 tonnes available for three-month testing. It hopes to add refrigerated units by the end of the year.

“Either operators don’t know enough about their business to be able to take them on or transport managers don’t know enough about the business strategy,” Seager told Fleet News at the 2023 Road Transport Expo.

“We know when the clock stops but when will people recognise the point at which they have to change? It can’t be right at the last minute.”

He added: “Now is the time to do the groundwork and due diligence while there is time in the supply chain to position the proposition properly – don’t wait for the tipping point where you have no option.”

One outcome of the trials is educating fleet operators about what they need to do to make electric vehicles work. The test routes are pre-determined and tightly controlled to provide the fleets with quality information to enable them to make the right decisions about how, where and when these vehicles will fit into their business operations.

“You can make vans work because of the existing charging infrastructure, but the primary reason for not progressing on trucks is the infrastructure. This includes return-to-base charging where there is a lack of capacity,” Seager said. “It also requires sufficient overtime for drivers to be able to charge on route.

“When the infrastructure exists, and it is coming, electric trucks will fly.”