Burnley, Lancashire: CoolKit has a conversion ready for the Kangoo zero emissions Maxi, a battery-powered electric van.
Rupert Gatty, chief executive, CoolKit, said: “While the core of our business remains traditional fossil-fuel based van conversions, we cannot ignore the fact that electric vehicles are the future.
“We have an increasingly eco-aware population, the government has pledged to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and many regional authorities are looking to follow London’s lead and accelerate plans to introduce low-emission zones and clean air zones.
These include Bath and Birmingham launching their clean air zones in March and June of this year respectively, followed by Transport for London expanding the present ultra low emission zone to the area within the North and South Circular Roads in October.
“We want to ensure that we are ahead of the curve in devising innovative and eco-friendly solutions for our customers. And we have certainly achieved this with the Kangoo ZE,” Gatty said.
What makes this particular vehicle unique is the combination of the Thermo King B100-20 electrically-powered refrigeration unit with the utilisation of power from the vehicle’s own battery. This avoids the need for complex re-charging arrangements which would otherwise be necessary if auxiliary batteries had been used instead, Gatty said.
When stationary, the unit can be plugged into mains electricity to preserve the temperature on board and when on the road, those temperatures are easily maintained using the van’s battery. “We are delighted to be able to offer these vans to the market and have two Kangoo ZE’s converted and ready to go right now,” he said.
“We are also well advanced in developing our conversions for other BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) including Mercedes-Benz’s eSprinter, Renault’s Master ZE, Nissan’s e-NV200, and Maxus’s eDeliver 3 models.
“Many people believe that operating an eco-friendly fleet comes at a financial cost, but it can actually be a very smart business decision.
“Electric vehicles are very cheap to run and open up a whole host of other benefits to the cost savvy and ethically minded business owner.
“There are no high fuel costs, no road tax to pay, they can enter London’s ULEZ as well as other CAZ’s around the country without Congestion Charge. Plus, a full battery charge can provide up to a 100-mile range, which is generally plenty for urban delivery routes,” Gatty said.
