• Despite backing from the green lobby, electric CVs are
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still a rarity: only seven of the 40 exhibitors at the Electric Vehicle Association's Move Electric 93 show had vehicles in production.
For the smaller commercials the weight of the battery pack remains a problem. The ELMO electric pickup, based on the Skoda Foreman, offers a payload of just 350kg including the driver. The Elcat, a converted Subaru microvan, is already in use with the Finnish Post Office.
Since Peugeot Talbot introduced its electric Express van/minibus variants in 1991, it has built 350 and expects to sell another 200 this year.
A purpose-built electric pickup came from Cushman ZEV (zero emissions vehicle) of Ipswich, but the largest vehicle on show was a 7.5-tonne rigid from W and E Electric vehicles in the Express Dairy livery.
Massey Bodyworks of Westbury pro duced the insulated sand wich panel body as part of an order for 10; payload is 2,490kg.
The 6/75 WE uses a 17kW (23hp) fan-cooled, series-wound traction motor powered by a 96V battery pack which gives a range of 85km (53 miles) at 32km/h (20mph).
Battery technology continues to restrict the wider acceptance of the EV
To overcome this problem the Advanced Lead Acid Battery consortium has awarded research contracts to Norvik Technologies of Canada, CMP batteries of England, CSIRO of Australia, and Varta of Germany.