Most of the items we own have spent time in the back of a truck. Many have been transported in a van, train or the hull of an airplane. Large vehicles are the workhorses of the global economy, moving goods and people across the world. But the planet is struggling to cope with the emissions created by their powerful engines. These four smart, UK-based entrepreneurs are inventing ways to reduce our environmental impact.
Tevva Motors
Asher Bennett, founder and CEO of Chelmsford-based Tevva Motors, has created what he is sure is the “world’s greenest truck”. Asher and his team have developed a complex set of systems, enabling a 7.5 tonne truck to be powered by a large, lithium ion battery, rather than a diesel engine. However, Tevva’s truck differs from other electric models thanks to its patented range extender technology. This means the vehicle can recharge while in transit, ensuring the battery won’t run out of power. This eliminates the “range anxiety” associated with many electric vehicles. “Trucks carry valuable goods, so you can’t afford to ever run out of power. So, usually, electric trucks are used only on short journeys. But on our truck, you can use the battery to the maximum.”
Tevva has completed a one year trial with delivery company UPS in east London, and is now building a further 15 trucks for the company. Other clients in the delivery and logistics sector are in the pipeline too, and the business is seeking funding to scale up production.
Somi Trailers
Pauline Dawes is managing director and founder of Somi Trailers, which she founded in 2004 after many years in the logistics industry. She had her eureka moment sitting in a traffic jam on the M6. A large truck was stopped to her side and as she looked under its trailer at the large gap between the wheels, she wondered: “why aren’t we using that space?”.
Over the following 10 years, Dawes’ Lincolnshire-based company developed an innovative new trailer, which has space for an extra six to eight pallets, compared to a standard model. “In a trailer, you are fighting for millimetres – everything is about getting as much cargo in there as possible. I want to make this the new, global standard for trailers,” she says.
Somi’s trailer has an additional compartment between the wheels. Loads are placed and retrieved from this gap by patented pneumatic systems. Although the truck carries heavier loads, the fuel cost is offset by improved aerodynamics, created as a result of the space beneath the trailer being filled. The business is now working with retail clients, as well as seeking investment. For Dawes, it’s been a long, hard journey. “It’s taken 22 patents, £3m, 10 years of my life, and a second mortgage,” she says. “But we believe that if this technology is rolled out globally, we can take up to one in four trucks off the road.”
Perpetual V2G Systems
Andy Ling, CEO of Perpetual V2G Systems, has developed an energy-recovery system which captures excess energy from a delivery vehicle’s alternator and stores it in a lithium ion battery for later use. The energy is used to power the vehicle’s on-board refrigerators once the engine has been switched off, cutting down on inefficient engine idling.
Ling was previously a sergeant in the British Army, where he worked in the bomb disposal unit of the Royal Logistics Corps. He says he learned an unconventional approach to electronics, which helped him to conceive of the idea.
He says that in the Army: “We completed in-depth electronic courses that taught me to look at problems in a different way. The circuits inside bombs are often improvised, so we got used to solving problems in unconventional ways.”
The Wales-based company has installed its systems in 250 of Sainsbury’s home delivery vehicles and has more in the pipeline. Perpetual has also agreed a major deal with BT, which will see its systems installed in over 9,000 vehicles used by the telecoms giant’s maintenance teams. Ling says his technology has obvious benefits when compared to diesel-powered generators, which are usually used by the maintenance teams. “We allow them silent, green power for up to five hours, and they can recharge the system with just 40 minutes of energy harvesting when the van is driven between jobs.”
Green Fuels
James Hygate is CEO of Green Fuels, which manufactures biodiesel technology from waste oils such as chip fat. The business has sold its equipment across the world, even supplying the British Royal Train with biodiesel. Hygate has now set his sights on the aerospace industry with a bio-jet fuel.
The product has already been tested in a fighter jet, which flew across the Nevada desert. It has been certified for use by airlines, and Hygate says British Airways is a likely future customer. He is now in the process of raising funds to buy a site in California where the fuels will be made. Hygate says there are many advantages for airlines that mix bio-fuel into their supplies. “When compared to fossil jet fuel, it’s cleaner and reduces the carbon emissions of an aircraft. Plus as a synthetic fuel it will be free of any other impurities found in fossil jet fuel, providing great performance benefits.”
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