High profile, organic fruit and vegetable, home delivery service, Abel & Cole has taken delivery of twenty additional 3.5 tonne, chilled home delivery vehicles and ordered an additional twenty one to service its rapidly expanding network.
Wimbledon based Abel & Cole is intensifying its expansion to become the leading national organic vegetable online retailer and is increasing its regional distribution hubs by 25%. The company’s current distribution network that covers most of England from the South Coast to Leeds in the North, will be further extended with a new centre in Exeter in the Autumn.
The 3.5 tonne Iveco Daily vehicles have bespoke box bodies featuring Hubbard 360 AM Chiller units. The Chiller units have been specified to meet a demanding requirement of around 140 door openings per delivery round. Hubbard Product’s units are specified exclusively for Abel & Cole’s current 108 vehicle home delivery fleet, undertaking approximately 30,000 deliveries each week.
The Hubbard 360AM units chill to +8° C and to achieve the correct performance a prototype unit was built and tested in a hot room environment in conjunction with Hubbard. After extensive testing of the Chill unit and various door location and bodywork opening permutations, Abel & Cole have achieved the right fridge for the right bespoke vehicle.
Nick Cannell, Abel & Cole’s Transport Manager explains; “Our entire fleet will now be equipped with Hubbard Product’s units, and we are very satisfied with their performance under extremely demanding conditions. The units have a proven track record for reliability, and servicing has been faultless, with Hubbard Product’s engineer’s on-site within 24 hours of our call”. He continues; “With our experience of Hubbard’s approach to customer service, and the support they have given us throughout the development period of this product we had no qualms about choosing the Hubbard 360 for our new vehicles”.
The Hubbard 360AM is suitable for temperatures down to 0°c. The system is driven using a compressor that is mounted within the engine compartment and belt driven from the crankshaft. The 360 series use environmentally friendly R134a refrigerant.
The system is operated by the easy to use in-cab, digital controller that is fully programmable and provides constant temperature read-out.
The 360 series comprise a low profile condenser, an evaporator and a compressor. Standard options include a condenser bracket for box body mounting, 24v version and single fan evaporator.
Hubbard Products
Tel: 01473 892218
Email: transport@hubbard.co.uk
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