AA adds fully-electric recovery trucks and vans to its fleet

There are still plenty of motorists who believe electric vehicles are the spawn of the devil, so who would not want to be there when the AA turn up to fix such a person’s stricken ICE car in a spanking new, all-electric truck?

This week the AA become the first UK-based roadside assistance firm to introduce full electric recovery vehicles to its fleet, launching them at a fleet decarbonisation event held at their Oldbury Operations Centre.

Three new recovery vehicles have been added to the 3,000-strong fleet in what the company describe as a ‘test and scale’ approach, which has been adopted because of the complex requirements of vehicles performing these sort of roles.

At the event, Edmund King OBE, AA president and Duncan Webb, their head of fleet, discussed the company’s plans to extend their range of low emission concept vehicles.

They then introduced the three new vehicles:

Volvo FE Boniface Slidebed (pictured above)
This electric version of the Volvo FE 19T can carry 6,000kg on its recovery bed and up to 2,000kg on its 2nd car lift. The vehicle has a range of 170 miles and a recharge rate of 2.25 hours with a 150kWh rapid charger. The vehicle is likely to be used to recover vehicles in and around low-emissions zones such as London and Birmingham.

Iveco eDaily 7.2T Dyson Powerload
The Iveco eDaily Powerload features a Roger Dyson designed loading system which deploys the loading ramps remotely. The electric concept vehicle has a range of 100 miles, described as adequate to cover its intended low-emission zone applications, while the 3,000kg payload can carry a variety of vehicle types. It can be charged from low to full in less than an hour using an 80kWh rapid charger .

Iveco eDaily CRT Van
This compact recovery vehicle features a twin battery set-up which gives it a range of around 160 miles, again charging  in under an hour from an 80 kWh charger. A large, comfortable passenger area behind the driver is provided for AA members. It can carry vehicles of up to 3,250kg.

Edmund King  said: ‘Introducing these exciting new concept vehicles to our fleet is an important step towards our goal of becoming a net zero company by 2035.

‘As a market-leading organisation, we are committed to showing the way as the country transitions to a zero emissions future.’

Duncan Webb added: ‘We’re excited to introduce these groundbreaking vehicles to our ‘test and scale’ approach to fleet decarbonisation. All the vehicles on show today are subject to structured tests in real-life settings and include both hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), electric in the highest emission intensity HGVs and across our wide range of Van applications. These vehicles form the foundation of learning for scale deployment in the near and long-term future for our customers.’