Harris Transport has taken delivery of a new Renault Trucks E-Tech 4×2, their first electric vehicle to join the fleet. Dedicated solely to ALDI store deliveries out of Chelmsford, it marks a significant step for a business that’s been partnered with Norfolk Truck & Van for several years.
The handover
The truck was collected from our Enfield depot, where Group Sales Manager, Mark Pitcher, took Billy Harris on a full site tour to show him around the depot workshop and operations before the handover itself.
Billy also sat down with Martin Stroud, our Managing Director, and Aymeric Larcher, Managing Director of Renault Trucks UK & Ireland, to talk through the business and how the vehicle would fit into its operation. With a contract the scale of ALDI behind it, it made sense to have both of them involved.
The handover itself was carried out by Jack Millington, Renault Trucks UK Energy Transition Manager, ensuring Billy had everything he needed to get started with confidence.
As Mark put it “It’s a great opportunity to put an electric vehicle into their operation. Harris Transport has been a customer of ours for about six years, so it was great to have Billy over to meet the wider team and see the full operation at Enfield before taking the truck away.”
The livery on the truck tells its own story. ALDI’s logo features because the truck works solely on ALDI contracts, Harris Transport’s branding is there as the operator, and Norfolk Truck & Van’s sits alongside them too, marking out the depot that’ll be looking after the truck day to day, with servicing based at our Enfield site.
The vehicle
A 4×2 configuration might appear modest next to some of the heavier units on the road, but it’s the ideal spec for the job. ALDI’s store delivery work runs to a 40-tonne combined weight, comfortably within what a 4×2 tractor unit can comfortably handle, so there’s no need to step up to a heavier axle configuration. It’s a case of specifying the vehicle to suit the operation, rather than paying for capability that would never get used.
That approach matters just as much when it comes to going electric. Store delivery work like this suits an electric truck well. The routes are defined, the truck returns to base at the end of each run, and there’s no need to plan around long-haul stints or unpredictable mileage. That kind of pattern is exactly where vehicles perform at their best, and its part of why this switch made sense for Harris Transport’s ALDI work specifically, rather than electric being pushed across the board.
Why they’re making the switch
This is Harris Transport’s first fully electric vehicle, and it arrived off the back of a demonstration that proved the model worked for their operations. ALDI is working to reduce its carbon footprint, and Harris Transport’s move to electric supports that goal while working towards their own sustainability targets too. Once the demo showed the electric truck could handle the ALDI workload without compromise, the switch to a fully electric, zero-emission vehicle was the logical next step.
Norfolk Truck & Van’s role
As a Renault Trucks UK dealership across Enfield, Ipswich and Norwich, we’re able to offer operators the widest range of electric commercial vehicles available from Renault Trucks. For businesses like Harris Transport considering the move to electric, that means access to the right vehicle for the job, backed by dealer support from a team that knows the range inside out.
If you’d like to talk through your own move to electric, or your next fleet addition more generally, send us an enquiry to get in touch with your local depot in Norwich (01603 253 300), Ipswich (01473 834200) or London (0208 804 1266).