Roadrunner 4x4 goes Electric
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• Southern Electric has acquired the first three Roadrunner 4x4s to be converted by Leyland Daf from military to civilian spec (CM 9-15 May).
The 11.6-tonner was unveiled at the Institute of Road Transport Engineers show in Telford this month. Vaile of Sturminster Newton, Dorset, is adding dropside bodies and Hiab cranes; the trucks will carry cable drums, transformers and poles and will be used on overhead cable work.
They will be based at Oxford and Bournemouth and will spend about 60% of their time off road, says transport engineer Cohn Jackson.
Southern Electric is likely to buy others after a "settling in period", he adds. The company runs AWDs, Renault Midliners and Leyland Daf rigids and drawbars and also looked at AWD's 11.5-tonne 4x4s for this operation. "However, we were familiar with the Cummins engine in the Leylands and liked the tilt cab which the AWD doesn't have," says Johnson.
Leyland Daf had not then come up with a civilian version of the military Roadrunner. "We approached them early this year and asked them to come up with something to our spec," explains Johnson.
Leyland Daf hopes to sell about 40 4x4 Roadrunners a year: "There was a lot of interest when we showed it at IRTE," it says. Johnson says he has spoken to engineers from other water and gas companies who are keen on the spec. Southern Electricity plans to show the vehicle at the Institute of Waste Management show at Torbay on 11 June. J Roberts of Tamworth has already come up with its own civilian version of the truck (CM 23-29 May).