DAF Trucks sets off today on the 2024 edition of the EV Rally; a five-day, 1400-mile electric vehicle driving event taking in an ‘A-to-Z’ tour of locations across the UK, and featuring over 50 EVs from various manufacturers, including passenger cars, vans and trucks.
The company’s 19-tonne GVW DAF LF Electric will once again fly the flag for the market-leader having proved its performance credentials on last year’s EV Rally. The vehicle is also fresh from the recent Battery Electric Truck Trial (BETT) – an 18-month fact-finding study into the efficacy of EVs in operation – where 20 DAF LF Electrics entered service with a range of public bodies including the NHS and Local Authorities. Now complete, the final report has now been published – https://bett.cenex.co.uk/assets/reports/BETT—End-of-trial-report.pdf
The same vehicle also starred in DAF Trucks’ own EV Relay – a whistle-stop tour of its UK DAF Dealer Network to present the vehicle to specialist sales and service staff, in addition to various other customer demonstrations. The truck has consistently delivered outstanding reliability and single-charge range performance, with Team DAF confident of another exceptional outcome this week.
Team DAF, alongside its other participants, departs from the AA & Drivetech Innovation Centre in Oldbury this morning and finishes the day in Carlisle. The next four days see multiple check points, many of which highlighting the UK’s steadily growing EV and charging infrastructure, before completing the rally on Friday at the Zero Carbon Rhug Estate and finally nearby Chester.
Team DAF will also stop-by its UK assembly plant at Leyland Trucks in Lancashire on day one. Leyland is the design and manufacturing home of the DAF LF, and now XB, range, including electric models. Day four will include a stop at DAF Trucks’ head-office in Haddenham, and there will be other stops at DAF Dealers on the journey. DAF Dealers across the UK are all signed up as DAF Electric Truck Centres to handle the sale and support of DAF customers as they transition to zero emissions.
The DAF LF Electric is also equipped with a PACCAR box-body, it too designed and manufactured in Britain at Leyland Trucks. Team DAF will be supported by its own TRP electric van acting as a support vehicle; one of 125+ parts vans supporting the distribution network for TRP, the all-makes truck, trailer, LCV, lubricants and consumables programme from PACCAR.
“The EV Rally certainly grabbed the attention of the truck industry last year,” said Adam Bennett, EV & Sustainability Manager at DAF Trucks, “and this year’s event is bigger and better, and perhaps even a little more challenging given the extended route. Our LF Electric is a proven performer, however, and we’re confident that the 19.0-tonner will take the five days in its stride.”
