ELB Partners, the Wimbledon-based member of the Pallet-Track network, has invested almost £3m in an upgrade of its entire 50-strong fleet to Euro-6 compliant vehicles, meeting the new ULEZ emission standards which were introduced in April, 17 months ahead of schedule.
Due to the ULEZ’s early arrival, many big logistics companies like ELB Partners, had to act quickly to replace fleets or face a £100 daily charge to drive vehicles through central London. ELB claims to be the first London haulier with a 100% Euro-6 fleet. The fleet consists of 50 vehicles, most being a mix of Volvo and IVECO artics and 18-tonne rigids.
Talking to Commercial Motor, ELB Partners’ MD Peter Eason, said: “The artics do most of the overnight work, while the rigids operate mainly during the day. All of our routes centre on going into and out of London.
“There is plenty of talk about electric trucks but we’re not yet at the stage where that’s practical or cost-effective. We could use them for short delivery drops in London but they lack the range for the double-shift jobs – which, as we all know, is where we see the most efficiency.
“We’re currently averaging 500 pallets a night through the Pallet-Track network, which it simply wouldn’t be possible to manage with EVs.”
But, Eason said that the new Euro-6 trucks cost a lot of money to acquire, and despite the premium, he said “the Euro-5s could carry more, especially the 18-tonners”, but the “drivers are always happy with new trucks, especially the Volvos”.
