SECURICOR TEST DIESEL
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ii One major van operator that is reviewing its diesel/petrol policy is Securicor.
Until recently its fleet of around 2,500 Ford Transits was entirely petrol-powered, using the two-litre engine. The company's fleet engineer Roy Carlton explained that petrol Transits were always specified because of their "on the road highspeed performance."
When Ford introduced its 2.5-litre direct injection diesel last year Securicor decided to re-assess diesel. It now has a batch of 50-60 Transit 2.5di diesels operating in the Manchester area.
"I wanted to see how well they performed in the winter, particularly where cold-starting and waxing is concerned," said Carlton.
With a reasonably harsh winter under their belt, the diesel transits are impressing him. They experienced no cold starting problems and their performance is adequate for even Securicor's schedules.
Their fuel consumption is ,much better. On the frequent stop-start work the petrol Transits average 18.8 lit/1.00km (15mpg) whereas the diesels are recording around 11.3 litilOOlun (25mpg). Since Securicor keeps its vans for 290,000km (180,000 miles) the dividends are obvious.
Despite this, Carlton does not envisage going 100 per cent diesel in the near future. "We will probably switch to about 50-60 per cent diesel."