SPONSORED BY
we travel per day. Instead of going to technol- sions from vehicles. We did some freight mod- need a high degree of intervention in all those
ogy in vehicles engine-wise, we are looking at elling and found that there would be about a policy packages in order to achieve that type
telematics. That will be the short-term strate- 30% increase in van mileage to 2025, but we of reduction. Just tinkering around with low
gy until we can say, ‘Yes, electric vehicles are cannot accommodate that increase in the interventions in each of these policy packages
the future, and you can refuel them and the roads. You will have gridlock. does not really have much of an impact.
battery life will be correct’.
Tom Idle: Nestlé and United Biscuits have Nick Coad: When it comes to transport it is
Tom Idle: So, who is at that stage? How close been sharing lorries. How did that partner- simple because there are only three things you
are you to closing that big order for alterna- ship come about? can do. First, you can manage demand. You
tive-fuelled vehicles? can improve efficiency. Or you can do model
Rob Wright: Nestlé has similar types of vehi- shift. And it doesn’t matter how excited you
Rob Stubbs: We are about there now with cles, with similar dimensions and we started get about eco-driving. If you look at the
electric vehicles. In the City of Westminster, collaborating. growth in road transport by 2020, you are
we’ve 120 waste trucks running around in the looking at about a 20% increase. We will have
four and a half square miles and these will be Richard Hastings: We had issues to deal with to do much more in terms of reducing car use.
dual-fuel. We believe that the hybrid technol- because marketeers do not particularly like
ogy is right for our operation – but we are the idea of your biggest selling line of biscuit Richard Hastings: To get people out of cars,
generating our electrical power from stop- being on the back of your competitor’s truck, the way we are taxed has to be changed. If you
start operation and braking action, so it is not but we have worked our way through that. put the tax on the fuel, people would equate
for the guys driving on the motorways. Crucially, we have worked through the most the amount they spend on diesel for the jour-
difficult thing, which was to sort out the cash. ney far more easily.
Richard Hastings: As a food and drink
industry we are tackling consolidating, shar- Ian Berrill: That is commendable. I can’t even Dean Kerwick-Chrisp: Technology will go
ing trucks, telematics on the trucks, changing get my own group of companies to share vehi- some way, but there is actually a behavioural
the network, and other bits and pieces. But cles, let alone competitor companies. How did change needed.
the problem we have is: what targets should that first conversation go? ‘Excuse me, boss.
we go for as individual companies? I’ve got this great idea!’ Rowland Hill: Owning a car is no longer
quite as aspirational. And as oil prices peaked
Colin Marriott: At British Gas, the opportu- Rob Wright: What was clear from both in 2008, as a retailer we saw a real fall-off in
nity to operate electric vehicles (EVs) is high. organisations was that we had support from visits to edge-of-town locations as well.
We have an operating model that is home- the senior level.
based and the engineers do 50 to 80 miles a David Bellamy: It has been the biggest con-
day. Work scheduling is all about minimising Tom Idle: Mark, you have done quite a bit of tradiction from the Government, in a way. If
driving time and maximising productivity. We transport planning. You did some work for you mention recession, with people buying
are offering manufacturers a carrot because by TFL, didn’t you? fewer cars, what do they do? They throw
2015, we want to be operating 500 EV vans. more money at people to buy more cars.
Mark Browning: Yes, we did. We modelled What sort of message is that sending out
Steve Davis: We operate 51 electric vehicles, how achievable it is to reach a 60% reduction about society’s values?
mostly in and around London. They three on 1990 levels in CO
2
abatement by 2050
times more expensive than a diesel equivalent. across the transport sector. We are looking at Rob Wright: The one thing the Government
But there is not one mainstream truck manu- other cities now around the world. It was all could do, which would significantly reduce
facturer who is remotely looking at electric. about looking at the impact that different pol- carbon emissions from freight transport,
icy packages would have in meeting that tar- would be to extend the length of trailers.
Colin Marriott: We run three hybrids, and get, and what they would contribute to that. There is a great opportunity in having the 2m
they are not paying. There were about 13 policy packages from longer trailer, which would potentially reduce
eco-driving to the use of new technology – growth rate freight by 15%.
Nick Coad: We have been trialling them…but principally in cars but also in vans. You can
they are not close to what we are hoping to see it on a website called VIBAT. This Round Table Debate was supported by
achieve. Not even close. New regulations being brought in for cars Halcrow, a multi-disciplinary consultancy
will make quite a big contribution, as will eco- specialising in planning, design and
Stephen Steele: It is interesting that the dis- driving. When you model it, and project out management services for infrastructure
cussion has focused on improving the emis- transport increases up until 2015, you really development > halcrow.com
20 February 2010 ❘ Sustainable Business
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