Nigel Grainger brings together a related set of skills that all fleets require, to greater or lesser
degrees, but which may not have the staffing or the skills to fulfil those needs.
Bringing his wealth of experience in all areas of fleet management he offers a bespoke service through his company Fleet Risk Consultants, providing you with a cost effective fleet that complies fully with your 'duty of care' requirements.Zeroed – The Vehicle of the future?
Fleet Risk Consultants were recently asked to write a risk assessment on a new home delivery vehicle that had been developed to reduce the carbon emissions produced when the supermarkets deliver your weekly shop to your home.
The vehicle is produced by Zeroed Ltd and is powered by electricity gained from the normal mains system. It differs from most electric vehicles in that it is based on an existing chassis. Zeroed use an Isuzu chassis as a base for their vehicle and they use the space where the diesel engine used to be to place the electric motor. The chassis is ideal in that it is high enough to allow the battery strings to be mounted on the chassis rails and therefore not reduce the load space of the vehicle. It also drives in the same manner as a standard diesel vehicle, but with a limited maximum speed of 55mph.
This vehicle created some interesting challenges for us at Fleet Risk Consultants in that is in excess of 3,500kg due to the base weight of the vehicle. The reason the vehicle is in excess of 3,500kgs with the same payload as a normal refrigerated van is because of the batteries required to deliver power to the vehicle. There are a large number of batteries required to provide the range required by the end users. The higher Gross Vehicle Weight could cause issues for the potential end user if it were to fall subject to operators licensing and/or EU drivers hours regulations.
So, whilst conducting the risk assessment for Zeroed Ltd we also needed to check the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 and the Community Drivers’ Hours and Recording Equipment Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/1457). The legislation was critical to the client and in keeping with our philosophy at Fleet Risk Consultants we made a thorough examination of all the relevant clauses and were able to give Zeroed Ltd some important information on how their product fits in with the legislation.
Crucially the vehicle is currently exempt from the operators licensing regulations by virtue of it’s electric power source, this same power source allows the vehicle to be exempt from the EU Drivers’ Hours’ Regulations on the proviso that it remains within a 50km radius of it’s operating base.
As for the risk assessment? Well we found the vehicle to have no greater risks in operation than a normal diesel engined vehicle, with the one exception that it was very quiet. In fact there are fewer items for the driver to check daily so it could reduce some time at the commencement of the day. You just need to make sure that the drivers realise that the pedestrians and vulnerable road users may not be aware of the vehicle.
Zeroed Ltd can be contacted via their website HERE.
Nigel Grainger
Senior Consultant