Trolley business wheels in fuel savings with early adoption of Euro 626 February 2014

Early adoption has paid off for supermarket trolley business KJ Pike, which acquired a Euro 6 Mercedes-Benz Actros in November 2012 and has now achieved fuel savings for more than a year.

The Dorset-based company took delivery of its 4x2 New Actros 1851 tractor unit from dealer Pentagon Commercials 13 months before the latest round of EU emissions regulations came into force.

The company runs its trucks for seven years or more, as financial director Christian Pike explains: "Our trucks don't cover high mileages, which is why we keep them for so long. We wanted... to buy the cleanest, greenest vehicle we could."

And he adds: "We were told the Euro 6 vehicle would be economical to run and so it's proved. Fuel figures vary according to the work, but whereas our older tractors are in the 7—8mpg range, the New Actros typically returns 8—9mpg."

Plated for operations at 38 tonnes gcw, the Actros has a GigaSpace cab and a straight-six engine, which transmits 510bhp output via the PowerShift 3 automated gearbox. It works with one of four Gray & Adams twin-deck trailers, each of which carries up to 720 supermarket trollies.

As well as the latest Euro 6 vehicle, KJ Pike's fleet includes two tractors from previous generations of Actros and a pair of Atego 7.5-tonners, making store collections and deliveries.

KJ Pike also runs 14 vans, all Mercedes. Most are 3.5-tonne Sprinters and three are from the Citan range.

Author
Laura Cork

Related Companies
Mercedes Benz Uk Limited

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