Published: March 08, 2007
Cenex to support Modec with the early adoption of electric commercial vehicles
Coventry, 8 March 2007 - Cenex, the UK's national centre of excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, announces a project to support Modec, which designs, develops and produces electric commercial vehicles, at the launch of its brand new innovative electric van range.
Cenex has committed a six figure sum in support of the Modec dealer network in London, which will accelerate the roll out of customer demonstration electric vehicles within Greater London.
"This is exactly the kind of project that Cenex was formed to support," said Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex.
"This is a pioneering initiative which will pump prime the emerging market for electric vehicles and thereby support the UK's automotive supply chain investing in low carbon vehicle technologies. Cenex looks forward to working with Modec and many customer fleets interested to operate electric commercial vehicles in the UK. This pilot will help validate the proposition that the low carbon vehicle technologies can meet or exceed customer's operational requirements whilst simultaneously delivering big gains in environmental performance. We will be working through the Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technology Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) to disseminate the results of the field trials to actively encourage fleet operators to include electric vehicles in their fleet renewal plans, as a step on the road to sustainable mobility."
Commenting on the Cenex involvement in this project, Jevon Thorpe, CEO of Modec, said: "We feel that the support we are receiving from Cenex will play a significant role in accelerating the adoption of electric commercial vehicles in the UK. The funding not only presents a valuable financial investment into the start up costs of the dealer network but a real vote of confidence that will help to drive take up by flagship retail organizations and commercial operators."
CENEX is working with ING to provide funding in the form of "upfront" leasing support for three existing commercial vehicle franchise holders. These dealers will each take four vehicles (standard, box, tipper and refrigerated) together with infrastructure support equipment. Part of the Cenex investment will be recoverable from the resale of vehicles in year two and the passover of capital equipment to the dealer.
The agreement comprises three key elements:
The establishment of a joint project team to evaluate Dealer and User experience in London, using the KTN to publish relevant reports
Cenex will become an official "observer" of the fleet trials of vehicles purchased by Modec's first customers
In collaboration with ING and other funders, the establishment of an electric vehicle leasing experts' panel in conjunction with Residual Value (RV) experts CAP (www.cap.co.uk). This will help speed up the process of establishing stable RVs for the Modec vehicles and thereby facilitate the market for leasing new electric vehicles, as well as the second hand market
The announcement of the agreement comes in the week that Modec officially opens its new factory in Coventry, which occupies a 25,000 sq ft facility with a two shift capacity to produce close to 5,000 vehicles a year.
Cenex is already supporting a project for electric smart cars involving Zytek, which is a supply chain supplier to Modec.
End.
Notes to editors
About Cenex
Cenex is the UK's first Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies. By encouraging the early market adoption of low carbon and fuel cell technologies in automotive applications, Cenex aims to assist the UK automotive supply chain to compete in global markets, as well as showcasing UK expertise to encourage inward investment. Cenex is an initiative funded by UK Department of Trade and Industry and led by a core group of member organisations, representing the broad cross-section of UK industry investing in low carbon and fuel cell technologies. Members include Air Products, Caterpillar, Johnson Matthey, Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, Millbrook, MIRA, Ricardo, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), TRW Conekt and the UK Petroleum Industries Association.
Cenex is manager of the newly formed Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technology Knowledge Transfer Network (www.lowcarbonfuelcellktn.org.uk). The KTN is designed to provide information services and networking opportunities for the many organisations in the UK interested in investing in low carbon and fuel cell technologies.
About Modec
Modec's mission is to build an exceptional, light commercial vehicle that's also environmentally friendly and affordable - offering businesses, large and small a real alternative to conventional diesel vans.
Heralded as the future of urban commercial transport, the Modec vehicle is the first of its kind. Quiet, efficient and well designed, it harnesses the power of modern high energy batteries to meet the medium range, high performance needs of urban deliveries from groceries and postal services to newspapers and local authority deliveries.
Covering over 100 miles the vehicle can accelerate swiftly to a governed maximum speed of 50 mph with a payload of up to two tonnes - all in one overnight charge. What's more, on a whole life or pence per mile basis, the Modec is comparable in running costs to a conventional diesel equivalent.
Incurring zero congestion charge, zero road tax and zero operator licence the Modec makes all-round commercial sense.
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