Will electric trucks change the future of haulage? by Declan EllisHeavy haulage has become an integral feature of the UK’s infrastructure. Travelling 19.2 billion kilometres and lifting 1.89 billion tonnes of goods across the UK in 2016 alone, heavy-goods and courier Newcastle vehicles are definitely a key part of transporting food, materials, machinery and all sorts of other goods around the country. However, there have been complaints about these vehicles on the roads. Whether its about lorries hogging the roads or causing pollution, people have a large range of opinions when it comes to haulage, but there’s no denying how important haulage Newcastle is to the country’s industry.With pollution and global warming becoming a hot topic in the past decade, companies have been looking for ways to lower their carbon footprints for a while. Whether it’s been the implementation of more efficient or economical engines and components or trying to develop bigger storage areas to allow for more efficient movement of goods to cut emissions, the haulage Newcastle industry has definitely been trying to be more environmentally friendly.The latest breakthrough has come in the shape of developing electric trucks in order to cut emissions. Whilst it may be a while until we see these vehicles on the roads of the UK, a couple of companies have already created working prototypes of the sorts of designs we may see. The first company to reveal their design was Cummins, one of the biggest makers of diesel and natural gas engines for commercial and storage Gateshead trucks.Earlier in the year they unveiled AEOS, a Class 7 heavy-duty, 18000-pound tractor cab. Named after one of the four-winged horses that pulled the chariot of the Greek god Helios, the cab features a 140kWh battery pack that currently has a 100-mile range, and an hour charging time. These electrics trucks could revolutionise the way that haulage Newcastle operates, saving trucking companies millions in fuel costs and lowering their emissions drastically. However, the business said that these trucks likely won’t go into production until 2019, meaning that we are still a couple of years from seeing fleets of electric goods and courier Newcastle lorries on the roads.Not to be outdone by Cummins, Elon Musk, one of the biggest proponents of electric power, and his company Tesla revealed their own version of the electric truck not long after. Nicknamed the Tesla Semi, the truck boasts some impressive figures. It can travel up to 500 miles at maximum weight at American highway speed. Whilst diesel trucks can travel up to double that, it costs a lot more to run one. The lorry also has great acceleration, and can go from 0 to 60mph in 5 seconds when empty, or 20 seconds when at the maximum US highway weight limit of 80,000lbs. Some people were worried that due to the sheer size of the battery needed to power this beast of an electric vehicle that there would not be much storage Gateshead space, but Musk assured the crowd at the unveiling that the battery would not get in the way, and that the truck would be able to pull a variety of trailers.Whilst this implementation and development may not be put into place for a few years, there are still plenty of commercial courier Newcastle and goods lorry companies that can be relied on to provide great customer service. Mann Haulage, based in Gateshead and established in 2004, are a family run haulage company that have an excellent reputation for customer service and time management. They have a range of different sized trailers and a warehouse to offer superior storage Gateshead options.Article Source: eArticlesOnline.com