The MODEC electric delivery van

While the simple van may not be the most glamorous of vehicles, it's hard to argue against a practical electric version that could do the same tasks, but without burning fossil fuels. That's exactly what the MODEC does, an electric van with a 100 mile range that can shift up to 2 tons of goods from supermarket to customer's doors. UK supermarket company Tesco recently arranged a contract to upgrade its home delivery fleet to the MODEC, which has a top speed of 50 MPH with its 102 horse power electric motor. It ain't no Tesla, but it's sure got style.

[Via Autoblog Green]

[Aaron @ Aug 18th 2007 11:23PM]

Smart move, I wonder why it wasn't done sooner...?

[ToonPac @ Aug 19th 2007 12:06PM]

They did, IIRC they've been in service for at least a few months in a few areas...

[n_shakuras @ Aug 18th 2007 11:34PM]

Is it charged by solar or wind power? If not, it ain't green yet.

[bob @ Aug 18th 2007 11:36PM]

it might not be but what it is charging from may be... so yes it could be green.

[bob @ Aug 18th 2007 11:48PM]

o but it probably is really not...

[Trevor @ Aug 19th 2007 1:55AM]

In the UK you can chose your electricity supplier. There are 8 or 9 suppliers of electricity only from renewable sources, mostly targetted at consumers and many other generators offer renewable tariffs.

Because we are targetting business users with our vans, Modec partners with Bizz Energy (www.bizzenergy.co.uk) to promote its 'Green Choice' tariff.

We we can't mandate it, we expect in practice that most customers adopting a renwwable tarrif for their trucks will adopt the same tarrif for the rest of their requirements, and so its possible that many Modec vans will deliver a greater benefit than just the CO2 and local pollutants displaced by their operation.

(BTW, as you migh have guessed, I'm a Modec employee)

[Kavi Siegel @ Aug 18th 2007 11:45PM]

I hope they know it takes fossil fuel to generate their electricity. Did they think there's a hamster running on a wheel somewhere for them?

[Aaron @ Aug 18th 2007 11:47PM]

i call that hamster the sun...solar power...wind power


i wish this company was public cuz someones about to be rich.

[Aaron @ Aug 19th 2007 1:17AM]

Hey other Aaron, quit stealin' my name :)

[invincible @ Aug 19th 2007 3:25AM]

Aside from solar, wind, hydro etc, uranium also is not a fossil fuel and releases no carbon dioxide.

It's still good because a connection to the electricity grid means that it is easy to switch to a different method of power generation once it becomes available. After all, electric trains have been around for the past century and they too are often promoted as being green.

[Steve @ Aug 19th 2007 5:23AM]

Tesco install wind turbines and solar panels at many of its new stores, so yes at least part of it charge may well be "green"

[Logik @ Aug 19th 2007 12:36AM]

Someone please give me a reason why I think "Tesco" is a funny name, for a supermarket chain?

[David @ Aug 19th 2007 4:22AM]

Tesco is the worlds forth largest retailer, behind Walmart, Carrefour and Home Depot [?]. The guy who started it was called Jack Cohen and his first supplier was called T.E.Stockwell...he combined the two to get Tesco.

An exciting bit of info...hmm, maybe not. Vans are cool though! Any money they only have a few to get themselves some good publicity.

[Alex @ Aug 19th 2007 1:06AM]

Finally, and industry that can benifit from short trips and travel distances, when will my pizza boy get his civic upgraded to this system, and why not start making docking/charging stations or ports at their "berths" so as to easily facilitate operation. There are any number of situations this technology could be beneficial, I live on Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada and we're pretty much out of horizontal space in the city, and it's max 10k to pretty much most of the city from a central location, with the advances in Li-on battery technology that I've watched go by so far, this could have a serious impact on gasoline use if delivery vehicles switch to this, and it would further enable taxi and other convenience services to follow. Now that's a run-on sentance.

[splig @ Aug 19th 2007 6:53AM]

This is a good thing, but not entirely new.
When I lived in the UK some years ago, milk was delivered by electric vehicles and Harrods had used electric delivery vans since 1920.

[Ninsei @ Aug 19th 2007 7:45AM]

Some pepople say: if electricity to charge this electric/green car is generated using fossil fuel it is not real 'green' car. I can not agree with this. Ever heard about economies of scale? To generate certain amount of energy, like in power station that does it on large scale one needs less fuel and will generate less waste than doing that on small scale, like in car's engine. Second thing: local environment, like city center will become cleaner, and that is good for us.

[oxfdblue @ Aug 19th 2007 8:39AM]

Very cool idea...

Will people stop with the crap that they aren't really green because they still need to be charged from the electric grid.

These vans aren't putmping all sorts of filth out of some exhaust pipe; they are most likely a lot quieter helping reduce noise pollution; and you never know where the energy to charge them is coming from...it could be a clean energy source afterall.

No matter what, a vast improvement on what's been used.

[El Diablo @ Aug 19th 2007 9:48AM]

Only a top speed of 50mph? No WVM (White Van Man) will be seen dead in that, especially when they manage to take a stock transit to just less than the speed of light.

[dj-kenpo @ Aug 19th 2007 11:24AM]

wicked, go UK!!! and trevor pass on the congrats! I wish canadian companies would do this, then again, I guess they can't cuase almost all of the canadian companies have been bought out by the US, and the US could care less.

Hey, trevor, talk modec into buying some canadian companies!

[David Wright @ Aug 19th 2007 11:25AM]

Aaron - You said "I wish this company was public cuz someones about to be rich".

Modec itself is not yet public (though Trevor's colleague Jamie has many time hinted that it may become so next year).

And you also asked "Why has this not been done sooner?"

Well -- Modecs bigger rival SmithElectricVehicles.com did do it sooner. As well as having been doing so since 1920 (producing an estimated 70,000 electric vehicles so far), they had electric delivery vehicles on trial with Tesco rival Sainsburys a year ago - and subsequently with DHL, TNT,Ceva, Royal Mail, and others. (TNT bought 55 so far, Sainsburys 8). And Smith's parent company Tanfield Group IS listed on the UK stockmarket - and has made people rich. I bought shares at 22p last year and they are now 145p. They are also about to commence construction of a factory in the USA to produce 12ton electric trucks there.

The future is electric -- with both Modec and SmithEV leading the world.

[Timm @ Aug 19th 2007 11:44AM]

Great idea! I want one with left hand drive and a top speed of 70 to convert into a motor home. Cover the roof with solar panels and charge every night at the campgrounds. Needs a range of 300 miles on a charge though.

[Aaron @ Aug 19th 2007 12:53PM]

how do you charge using using solar at night?

[Kevin @ Aug 19th 2007 3:54PM]

Campgrounds usually have plug-ins for RVs and Motor Homes. Solar during the day, plug-in at night.

[hays315 @ Aug 19th 2007 11:52AM]

2 tons? Yikes. Gonna need to be able to haul more than that.

[Kevin @ Aug 19th 2007 3:51PM]

This vehicle is for delivering groceries from the store to houses. If you have a grocery deliver that's over two tons, I'm scared to meet your family.

[Maff @ Aug 19th 2007 1:33PM]

doesn't it make like a ton of carbon pollution when you manufacture a battery??

[kombizz @ Aug 19th 2007 4:49PM]

what a great idea.
I guess Ecotour could use them at night practice !
http://www.ephotozine.com/u30254/gallery/675425

[Flalex @ Aug 19th 2007 9:31PM]

More important than any earth saving system - where are the doors?

[pacot @ Aug 19th 2007 11:10PM]

Looks good! they should fit some nicer wheels.

[macona @ Aug 20th 2007 12:20PM]

Only 100 miles round trip??? For a delivery van??? Useless!

Most delivery van I know of put double or triple that daily.

[rcappo @ Aug 20th 2007 12:56PM]

They get in the same way they do in the Dukes Of Hazard. They slide in through the windows. It takes less time than opening and shutting doors when making deliveries, and door handles aren't aerodynamic.