New tippers and gritters join Essex Highways fleet

Essex Highways has introduced new tipper trucks, gritters and electric vans, to its fleet as part of a refresh.

Essex Highways was also the first UK highways service to deploy Mobile Elevated Work Platform (MEWP – otherwise known as cherry pickers) with a fully electronic - and thereby greener – Versalift hoist, offering fuel savings in the region of £6,000 per year, per vehicle.

Nine new 12-tonne tipper trucks have been added to the maintenance fleet used to improve and repair highways and footways across Essex.

The new gritters have helped Essex Highways improve winter operations thanks to advances in technology that have enhanced recent work to optimise gritting routes, saving time, fuel and resources such as rock salt.

Another ten new electric vans are joining the Essex Highways Fleet, adding to the ten acquired last year. The new vans have operational ranges of 171-miles. Fast charge times also enable them to stay on the road for longer.

Elsewhere, a partnership approach with vehicle safety experts Motormax and highway vehicle specialists Acklea resulted in Essex Highways’ fleet supplier Ringway Jacobs being the first company in the UK to fit an array of bespoke safety features to new 7.2 tonne traffic management vehicles now in operation.

All vehicles will in future have this system that includes 360-degree sensors. The company was also the first UK firm to deploy a new integrated safety solution from Peoplesafe and SureCam on its van fleet.

Councillor Lee Scott, Essex County Council cabinet member for Highways Maintenance and Sustainable Transport, said: “I am delighted to introduce our new set of vehicles to the service. It is crucial that we continue to invest in our fleet to ensure that our vehicles benefit from the latest safety and technology innovations while being more efficient and kinder to the environment.

“It is well known that we have ambitions here in Essex to provide safer, greener and healthier transport solutions to residents as they move around the county. An important part of delivering this ambition is with Essex Highways being seen to be introducing and using new low carbon innovations and technologies across the organisation as it helps to build and develop the infrastructure that will allow residents to travel more sustainably.”