Battery-electric Midlum. Click to enlarge.

The aim of Citymove is to develop a comprehensive transport solution including the vehicle and its bodywork so as to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and improve safety for drivers, delivery agents during loading and unloading of goods as well as other road users.

The first phase of the project involved getting a better understanding of how customers’ needs have changed in a highly strained economic context and in view of the increasingly stringent societal challenges in town centres. The workshops throughout Europe brought together carriers and the various players involved in urban mobility. These included administrative authorities, urban logistics suppliers and consultancy firms.

The second phase consisted of building an experimental vehicle choosing the most appropriate technologies capable of achieving the project's goals. This vehicle, developed by Renault Trucks and Chereau, is currently being tested under real-life conditions by hauliers Transport Jammet, based in Poitiers.

This will allow the company, specialized in refrigerated consolidated distribution, to assess a clean and quiet solution within the city center. It is an initiative which will also enable local elected representatives, shop holders and the town population to share in this test program and react to it.

This experimental vehicle is a battery-electric Renault Trucks Midlum. The vehicle has a GVW of 16 t and a payload of 5 t. Powered by a 103 kW electric motor and a 60 kWh Li-ion battery pack, the truck has an operating range of approximately 100 km (62 miles).

For its part, Chereau has developed a specific structure made up of multiple compartment bodywork (15 palettes), a two-way side door, an electric insulating curtain, an “Air Shutter-C” air curtain and an independent, all-electric refrigeration unit. The whole vehicle complies with Piek label requirements.