Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download

trailer world issue Two 2010

Dossier     Issue Two 2010  19 the North of Paris. Deret has specialised in producers and retailers of luxury goods and cosmetics. In making deliveries of these high- class products to the boutiques usually located in the centre of town, company boss Frédéric Deret noticed that while the city authorities wanted to put new life into the city’s shop- ping streets, at the same time they imposed increasing restrictions on deliveries by van or truck in the interests of the quality of life for the population of Paris. In order to counteract this development, Frédéric Deret looked for a suitable delivery vehicle with electric drive. The vehicle needed to be large enough for sev- eral pallets while offering an adequate range and being good value for money. Deret found an all-round winner at Modec in the United Kingdom. Together with Michel Albrand, former boss of MAN in France, Deret formed the company ElectruckCity as sole importer of Modec vehicles for France. At the moment, they are currently establishing a national sales and service network. The Deret vehicle with its box body and airlift platform is 6.20 m long, 2.15 m wide and 3.20 m high, weighing altogether 5.5 tonnes and capable of trans- porting up to six pallets with a total weight of 2 tonnes. When the battery is fully charged (which takes 3 to 4 hours), it can travel 100 km at speeds of up to 80 kmh. The operating costs are no more than €3.50 per 100 km, compared to €20 for a diesel de- livery vehicle of the same size. However, the purchase price of €75,000 is twice as much as a conventional vehicle. Luxury cars for luxury boutiques Deret already operates around 50 of these vehi- cles in 21 cities in France. The pallets with the goods for the morning deliveries are brought to Gennevillier during the night by a truck-trailer combination from Deret’s central warehouse near Orléans and stored according to the delivery routes. The elec- tric vehicles are also parked here where their batteries are recharged over night. First thing in the morning, they then set off to make their deliveries to the shops in the city centre. Deret’s first key account customer for test- ing the system over a twelve month period throughout the country and in Paris is the perfumeries chain Sephora that belongs to the luxury commodity group LVMH. It is hoped that Deret’s success with Sephora will attract other major customers, preferably in the fashion and cosmetics sector. Deret is convinced that multi-customer routes even running several times a day will make this special delivery network profitable in a few years, even with the relatively expensive elec- tric vehicles. (rkl) Coping with the urban grid- lock in Paris: city hubs with railway siding, classic delivery situation, electric vehicles by Colizen and Deret.

Pages