Savona is testing Tevva electric truck with refrigeration
Oxford-based Savona Foodservice is the latest company to trial one of Tevva Motors range-extended electric trucks. The food supplier is the first such service to use a multi-temperature truck as part of Tevva’s Electrify initiative.
The Electrify programme allows businesses to hire a 12-tonne eTruck for six months. Announced last year, the now started scheme includes a neat starter package, that Tevva says has “bespoke battery packs and management system, advanced cloud-based software that uses geofencing to control a range extender autonomously”.
Savona Foodservice is the second British client to sign up for the trial. The company has depots in Oxford and Ilfracombe and will hire a 3.9-metre wheelbase, 12t GVW truck with a tail lift. The electric vehicle comes with a multi-temperature body capable of operating at -20 degrees to enable the transportation of frozen foods from its depot in Kidlington to businesses in central London and Oxford.
The refrigeration option was a deal maker for Savona as managing director, Mike Morgan, describes: “We have been on the search for a suitable delivery solution for some time, but conversations with other companies stopped dead in their tracks as soon as we start discussing running refrigeration down to -20 degrees.” Naturally, the manager was “delighted” to have found a partner in Tevva. He added that Savona “anticipate that this solution will prove to be at least as commercially viable as traditional, diesel-based options.”
Indeed, Savona will trial the eTruck in a “variety of conditions and environments”, also with a view to incorporate this vehicle as part of its permanent fleet and will consider additional vehicles during 2020 as part of its ongoing fleet renewal programme – assuming a successful trial period.
Overall, Tevva plans to deploy 50 vehicles across over 200 fleets in at least five countries over two years through the Electrify initiative. In the UK, seven early adopters will be taking delivery of a collective total of eight eTrucks.
Besides, Tevva has been around since 2013 and managed to sign major deals. In March 2019, the logistics giant UPS brought out 15 electric vans with range extenders onto British roads. In the EVs developed in cooperation with Tevva Motors, a small diesel engine charges the batteries. The British company has been offering its range-extended system for over two years now and claims it can convert any truck up to 7.5 ton into an electric vehicle.
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