The Sustainable Ranger Project features eight rangers, otherwise known as ‘Rapid News Gathering’ vehicles, that run throughout the UK and used for live broadcasting and editing purposes on location.
Before the implementation of the project, a Ranger vehicle's engine would be left running for many hours of the day whilst broadcasting or editing, which resulted in a single vehicle producing its own weight in carbon in just two months. To address this, Sky launched the project to replace them with alternative vehicles that were effectively more sustainable by design.
Fischer Panda UK worked with Sky's Vehicle Technology department to create a hybrid payload power system for the vehicles, so they could be used daily for core functions such as news reporting with the engine turned off. To enable this, Mastervolt Lithium-Ion batteries were selected for their quick charging performance, light weight and for enabling the Rangers to easily deploy to any location at any given time.
A mains power hook-up is a key feature, which enables each vehicle to run equipment and to charge batteries whenever mains power is available, either on location or back-at-base to ensure on board Payload power system is always deployed 100% fully charged, to ensure the maximum of Zero emission broadcast and editing time on site.
Solar panels are installed onto the roof of each vehicle, to address standby power losses and/or when the vehicles are parked up outside when not in use, plus provide some small additional charge to further extend zero emission times and keep the batteries topped-up.
The Payload power system onboard the Rangers is also recharged while driving by a programable Mastervolt Mac Plus DC Charger that enables maximum charge current from the vehicles’ existing Euro 6 alternator.
The new system has helped bring down Sky's vehicle emissions by an estimated 105 tonnes of carbon over the fleet of eight vehicles.