Making milk deliveries more eco-friendly
Why one firm thinks its modern EV fleet has the white stuff
THE nuts and bolts of being a milkman haven’t changed dramatically in the last 100 years. The job still involves getting up at an unsocial hour, delivering bottles of milk to customers’ doorsteps, and bringing empties back. That’s not to say there haven’t been any changes, but some are less drastic than you might think.
For example, even though there are an increasing number of women delivering milk, the overwhelming majority of people in this occupation are still male, hence the term ‘milkman’ remains largely accurate.
But one area where changes have been notable is the mode of transport. In 1920, for example, the horse and cart was the favoured vehicle for the job, since early vans were noisy and expensive. Then, 1947 saw the advent of electric milk floats as most people know them, chosen because as well as being affordable, they were also quiet – an excellent characteristic for a vehicle that operates close to homes at hours of the day many would consider ungodly. Electric floats proved so perfect for the job that they were used exclusively until the mid-eighties.
Supermarkets
But then change was on the horizon again. With the growing popularity of supermarkets, delivery dairies were haemorrhaging customers, and those who stayed lived further apart, so many rounds had to cover larger areas.
With this came a new problem: electric vehicles at the time didn’t have enough range for the greater distances. So the industry turned to diesel, converting vans to have the open but covered beds that identify a float.
Now, nearly 40 years on, the picture has shifted again. Diesel, once hailed as clean and economical, is now controversial for its emissions. But that has dovetailed with huge leaps in EV technology, with milk delivery firms in the process of phasing out diesel vehicles in favour of new electric models, such as the LDV EV80, an EV van with a range of 118 miles when fully loaded.
One firm that’s embracing electrification is Milk&More, the UK’s biggest milk delivery company, with roughly half a million customers, and its fleet of around 1,300 vehicles is halfway through a five-year electrification process.
The split is roughly 50:50 between diesels and EVs, with the latter dominating the organisation’s urban depots. But by 2022 nearly all of Milk&More’s delivery vehicles are set to be electric. To find out what life is like for a modern electrified milkman, we set our alarm clock nice and early, and went to ride shotgun on a milk round.
It was 6am on a rainy morning when we met Ian Beardwell in Southfields, South London. A previous Milk&More Milkman of the Year, Ian had already been on his round for five hours, but was more than happy for us to join him in the passenger seat of his LDV EV80, 159 of which have joined Milk&More’s fleet, with another 100 or so on the way. The LDV was chosen because Milk&More felt it was the easiest EV to modify into a milk float, although it doesn’t come cheap, with the total cost of buying and converting an EV80 coming in at £65,000.
Ian seemed at ease behind the wheel of the LDV – which has now rebranded as MAXUS in the UK – but his
“The biggest change has been the internet. Online orders are now 75 per cent of the job” IAN BEARDWELL
Milk&More Milkman
only complaint was the fact that it was right-hand drive. He’s normally assigned to a StreetScooter electric float, which has its steering wheel on the left, enabling him to get out at the pavement rather than the middle of the road.
Nevertheless, Ian was still able to deliver the right goods to the right houses with rapid precision. That’s no surprise, though; he’s been doing the same round for nearly 20 years.
As with many people in his job, milk runs in Ian’s blood. His father was a milkman for 30 years, while his uncle made deliveries for 50 years. Ian delivered his first pint on his dad’s round in 1978, when he was just nine years old.
Ian originally trained to be a land surveyor, but switched to milk in 1991 following a redundancy. Although he intended it to be a summer job, all these years later he’s still doing the same round in Southfields and Wimbledon.
“It’s a job I really do love,” he told us. “I wouldn’t be here still if I didn’t like it. I’ve seen lots of changes, the
biggest being the internet and online shopping. Online orders are now 75 per cent of the job.”
Ian explained that the internet was a big factor in stopping the industry’s decline. In normal times (see previous page) customers can order any of Milk&More’s 200 products before 9pm, to have them delivered by 7am the next day.
Another big influence in getting more people to have deliveries is the environment. “Three quarters of the milk that Milk&More delivers is in the iconic one-pint glass bottle, which is reused 25 times on average and then recycled,” Ian explained. “And 97 per cent of the packaging we use now is returnable, recyclable or compostable; plus we’re moving towards 100 per cent in the very near future.”
Back on the round, we got to try our hand at delivering some milk to a domestic doorstep. The owners of the particular house we chose had already invested in one of Milk&More’s ‘Minder’ units – an insulated milk bottle holder that keeps their milk cold. With Ian watching on, we placed the fresh bottles of milk in the Minder, then headed back to the float with the empties ready to be reused.
Ian has a total of 600 customers, most of whom receive three deliveries a week. That means he’s making around 300 deliveries each night, starting at 1am. He finishes all his deliveries to domestic properties by 7am, in line with Milk&More’s promise to its customers. This six-hour round is about average for any modern milkman.
After this Ian then spends another half an hour making deliveries to commercial properties such as garages, which aren’t accessible during the night.
With our round done, we arrive back at the Wimbledon depot – which is home to around 60 vehicles, of which all but five are battery-powered – in time to meet Marc Ling, Milk&More’s development manager. Marc, who is
“Three quarters of the milk that Milk&More delivers is in the iconic one-pint glass bottle, which is reused 25 times on average, and then recycled” IAN BEARDWELL Milk&More Milkman
a former milkman himself, highlights the circular nature of the return of the electric milk float.
“A lot of guys started their careers with electric vehicles, then moved across to diesel, and some of the older chaps now are finishing their career on electric; they’ve come full circle,” Marc explained to us. “But where those guys are perhaps not towards the end of their career, we do train and familiarise drivers.
“It’s not about teaching them to drive, it’s about teaching them to drive differently, because going from a diesel to an electric vehicle is very difficult.”
In spite of this, Marc went on to reveal that once drivers get used to the electric milk floats, they love them, and would certainly protest if they had to return to a diesel.
Milk&More charges all its EVs at its depots, buying one dual charger – essentially two chargepoints housed in a single unit – for every two electric floats it takes delivery of.
The floats are recharged in around three hours, so they’re ready well in advance of when they go out each night.
All of the new electric floats are being bought, rather than leased, and the firm is making significant financial savings by reducing its use of diesel, Marc told us.