Electric in the mix for Tarmac
Tarmac has put an all-electric 27-tonne concrete mixer into service. The first of its type to be deployed in the UK, it is based on a zero-emission Renault Trucks D Wide E-Tech chassis. Steve Banner reports.
McPhee Mixers
has equipped the Renault D Wide E-Tech with a 5.8 cu m mixer drum powered by the truck’s traction batteries. Based at Tarmac’s site in Washwood Heath, the 6x2 rigid is achieving a range of 72 miles making up to seven deliveries of ready-mix concrete daily around the UK’s second city of Birmingham. McPhee’s parent TVS Interfleet (TVSI) estimates that the new arrival will save 42 tonnes of CO2 a year when compared with its nearest fossil-fuel equivalent. It has joined a 2,500-strong fleet at Tarmac. During the vehicle’s development Renault Trucks, Tarmac and TVSI analysed data from existing diesel-powered mixers to see how energy usage could be reduced on an electric version. Weight-saving initiatives drawn up with the aim of extending the battery truck’s range included constructing the mixer drum out of Hardox 500 Tuf special steel. Its hardness and strength allow a thinner gauge of metal to be used than would otherwise be the case. At just shy of 50kg the weight saving is modest, but every kilo removed helps. Hardox 500 Tuf is in many respects the ideal material for a rotating mixer drum because it takes so long to wear out.
16 destination net zero | issue 7