23 April 2021
Product
In the week that a Freight in the City webinar discussed the electrification of refuse collection vehicles, in particular discussing their viability in rural operations, Powys CC, which with a population of just 130,000 spread over 1,600 square miles has one of the most sparsely populated territories in the UK, was launching its first eRCV. The Powys vehicle is a Dennis Eagle eConnect, based on the RS Elite narrow 6x2 rear-steer chassis with Olympus 19m3 body.
Among the operational trial results shown by Dennis Eagle during the webinar was a recent set from a rural operation in Cheshire, which covered 94.6 miles in 10hrs 23min of driving. In this time, it lifted 727 bins containing 13,080kg of waste, and returned to base with 15% charge remaining.
23 April 2021
Product
Gist has begun a trail of the Vector eCool electric refrigerated trailer. The engineless trailer system developed by Carrier Transicold and Gray and Adams is a 13.6m fully-electric trailer and is being used for store deliveries of fresh and chilled foods to well-known UK supermarkets.
An under-mounted battery powers the refrigeration system kinetic energy generated while driving is transferred through the trailer’s axle to recharge the battery pack and power the fridge unit creating a fully autonomous system that produces no direct carbon dioxide or particulate emissions.
The fridge system is also said to be lighter than the standard fridge and fuel tank and without the need for an engine is also quieter than other cooling systems making it suitable for overnight urban deliveries.
A social housing project which is the first of its type in Powys has been completed. Pave Aways Building Contractors has handed over seven energy efficient Passivhaus homes in Sarn to Powys Council after completing the £1.3 million development. The homes – four two-bedroom bungalows, two two-bedroom and one three-bedroom houses – have all been certified to Passivhaus standard, the method of advanced low-energy construction. The properties were built with heat recovery units to use excess heat that is produced to warm the properties, thereby incurring lower heating bills. Each home also has 4.2 KW of solar panels to generate electricity. Pave Aways also built the county’s first ever Passivhaus school for the council – the new Welshpool Church in Wales School that was finished in November last year.
The creation of a £150 million rail testing centre in the county has taken another step forward with the submission of plans to Powys County Council. The Welsh Government’s new ‘Global Centre of Rail Excellence’ – the first of its kind in the UK – is expected to be fully operational by 2025, bringing up to 300 jobs to the area. It will be constructed at Nant Helen opencast coal mine, near Ystradgynlais, and Onllwyn coal washery and distribution centre, after Celtic Energy ends its operations at the mine later this year. Under the plans, a 6.9 kilometre high-speed testing track and 4.5km low-speed high-tonnage testing track will be built at the Nant Helen site along with a dual platform station.