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Aware that every kilo of payload counts so far as many light commercial operators are concerned, body builders are doing everything they can to cut the weight of their products. 

In some cases that means resorting to materials not usually used in bodies, such as carbon fibre. That is the direction Coventry-based Penso has taken with its aerodynamically styled Blue Ocean Home Delivery Pods for refrigerated and dry freight fleets.

Designed to be mounted on 3.5t chassis, they employ material from 5,000 recycled plastic bottles in their structural core. The closed-cell foam sandwich panels used to construct them are wrapped with lightweight carbon fibre to prevent water ingress.  

It is an approach that can boost the payload of a triple-compartment temperature-controlled body fitted to a 3.5-tonner delivering groceries by 47%, Penso contends. Payload capacity increases from an average 850kg to a much healthier 1,250kg

The pods can carry 140 totes – the plastic crates householders are becoming increasingly familiar with – apiece, compared with a typical home delivery body’s 110 to 120, says the firm.

Use a lightweight Penso e-Grocery Pod and your 3.5-tonner will return 34.1mpg on grocery work compared with a less-impressive 24.0mpg if you do not, states the manufacturer. Furthermore, the pods come with a 10-year structural warranty.

“Our e-Grocery Pod can deliver 2,500kg of products across two delivery cycles, versus three delivery cycles for the traditional bodies used in this sector,” says Penso managing director Daniel Hurcombe. “This allows fleets to reduce stem mileage [the mileage to and from a delivery zone], fuel and labour costs and emissions, making more efficient use of their capital expenditure.”

The ability to run 3.5-tonners that can deliver the same weight of goods in two journeys that a traditionally engineered vehicle delivers in three is bound to appeal to supermarkets. Twenty-five pods have just gone
into service with Asda on 3.5t medium-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis. 

Penso is also producing a Luton body-style dry freight e-Delivery Pod for 3.5t applications using the same materials. It can offer 19m³ of cargo space and is said to be able to handle a payload of around 1,500kg compared with 900kg to 1,000kg for a conventional Luton.

Penso is not the only company that has made significant strides when it comes to increasing the payload capacity of temperature-controlled vehicles. Leicestershire’s Maxi-Low has come up with a low entry-height refrigerated body for chilled applications that it says can offer a payload capacity of up to 1,400kg on a 3.5t Sprinter chassis.

A big weight saving is not the only reason why some manufacturers use materials other than steel and aluminium.

Strongs Plastic Products of Tamworth, Staffordshire, is using copolymer plastics to construct bodies for 4x4 pick-ups in service with operators such as Severn Trent Water and Western Power Distribution. The latter ordered 96 Isuzu D-Max pick-ups fitted with Strongs bodies earlier this year.

They do not corrode, and their rigidity means that the way in which a four-wheel drive pick-up constantly flexes when it is used in rough off-road terrain will not cause them to crack and let in water, says Strongs sales and marketing manager Peter Anderson.

What is more, they will last a phenomenally long time, he contends: “Some of the bodies we’ve built are now more than 20 years old and they could last for 40, 50 or even 60 years.”

That means they should exceed the life of several vehicles and could potentially be reused several times.

“The bodies are self-supporting and don’t have to be constructed around a frame,” he continues. “They don’t  impose a weight penalty. I would describe them as weight-neutral.

“They are also eminently recyclable. Doing so requires 20-30% of the energy required to recycle aluminium.”

While employing different materials brings its advantages, they can come at a price.

“One of our pick-up bodies costs £4,000 to £5,000,” says Anderson – twice the cost of a typical canopy from a producer such as Truckman.

Ease of repair can be an issue too. 

“A lot of accident repair shops have got plastic welding equipment so getting minor damage to one of our bodies fixed shouldn’t be a problem,” says Anderson, and if it is dented then it may be possible to push the dent back out again, he adds. But he admits that if the damage is serious “then the body will have to come back to us”.

On the positive side, any vehicle fitted with one is likely to enjoy strong residual values, Anderson claims, and Strongs is looking at launching a mobile repair service.

Elsewhere, Bevan Group is developing dropside bodies with plastic sides plus a plastic tailboard and headboard. The floor and subframe are made from aluminium. 

“They’ll carry a five-year warranty,” says sales director Roy Shelton. “They’re out on trial with customers at present and we’ll have them available early next year.

“We’re thinking about producing a tipper model too.”

Tipper bodies made partially or wholly from plastic have been constructed in the past – Strongs has built them – but they are not suitable for some types of work. They are unlikely to react well to hot asphalt, for example. 

“So we won’t be using plastic to build an insulated version,” Shelton says.

“Something else we’re intending to do is introduce a very lightweight Luton body on a front-wheel drive Sprinter chassis, but we won’t have that available until next March,” he adds.